Cartoons have come a long way since the hand-drawn moving pictures of decades past. Now, the animated films at your local cineplex are made possible by sophisticated computer software created by engineers. Modeling the realistic textures and movement of such things as fur, hair and fabric, for example, takes serious computing power. Without it, the swashbuckling hero of Puss in Boots would look decidedly less so.

And when a cartoon character looks solid enough to touch, it’s thanks to a 3-D animation software package called Maya, now the industry standard. Clearly, it takes a lot of ingenuity to create characters that virtually pop off the screen.

Harry Potter Day

The Maryland Science Center invites everyone to join a “magical celebration of the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” in their IMAX theater. The film will be accompanied by a day filled with activities for kids big and small.

• Attend a Potions class with a sinister professor you might recognize.
• Use the magic of imagination in the Davis Planetarium to explore Harry Potter characters in the night sky at 2:00pm, 2:40pm, and 3:20pm.
• Plant some magic in Herbology class.
• Visit with the Sorting Hat to see which house you will be sorted into, and then make your very own crest to take home.
• While you’re here, follow the Marauder’s Map to find various horcruxes hidden throughout the Science Center.

All events are Noon-4pm, free with paid admission, and free for members.

Date: Saturday, November 20, 2010

Time: Noon-4:00PM

Location: Maryland Science Center

Cost: Free with paid admission and free to members

Who should attend: Members, Families, Muggles, and Magicians

Please check the Website for more information.

Going to the movies is always fun, but would you still enjoy it if you knew the movie was watching you?

Soon, movie theaters may be equipped with cameras that will use facial recognition technology to monitor which way you are facing; if you’re laughing, scared, or bored; and if you came alone or with friends.

In order to monitor facial expressions, the theater cameras will illuminate the audience with infrared beams and create 3-D stereoscopic images of each viewer. Aralia Systems, a British security firm, received a $350,000 grant to develop the system.

Advertisers are interested in using this technology because they could apply the data to determine how their messages are received and then adjust them accordingly. The findings would also provide movie studios with valuable feedback when they run test screenings.

But how will the public feel about another intrusion into their private space?

Tell us what you think: being watched by a screen – thumbs up or thumbs down?

Image: Alyssa L. Miller/Flickr and ToastyKen/Flickr

DEAN OF INVENTION

eGFI and the Discovery Communications are partnering to promote ASEE’s Engineering: Go For It Outreach Program and Plant Green Network’s Dean of Invention, a new television series that features futuristic visions of what science and technology can do to save our planet and improve our lives today. Viewers get the inside scoop on revolutionary scientific solutions, as seen from the unique perspective of Dean Kamen and correspondent Joanne Colan.

Inventor Dean Kamen is responsible for more than 400 patents, including the Segway, the insulin pump, and the robotic prosthetic “Luke Arm.” He’s a multi-millionaire who runs his own island, flies his own jets, pilots his own helicopters, and has a house with secret passages and laboratories filled with top-secret technology.

Dean of Invention follows Kamen and correspondent Joanne Colan as they explore the emerging technologies being developed to tackle today’s most daunting global challenges. From space-age robotics to artificial intelligence to biological breakthroughs, Dean of Invention reveals visionary scientific advancements that have the ability to reinvent the future.

Visit the Planet Green – Dean of Innovation Website to get more information about the show, see videos and sneak peeks, join a forum discussion, and explore other topics on invention and innovation.

To find Planet Green on your TV, visit http://planetgreen.channelfinder.net/. Planet Green network is an ASEE partner.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Over the years, Barbie has had many careers, from an astronaut to a race car driver.

This year the public gets to choose Barbie’s next career path: environmentalist, surgeon, architect, news anchor or (our favorite) computer engineer.

Visit http://www.barbie.com/vote/ to make Barbie an engineer. Voting ends Feb. 12th.

To meet a real computer engineer (who incidentally bears a slight resemblance to Barbie), go to this page.

Image: Flickr/Brani’s fashion dolls

You may know him as the host of PBS’s Design Squad, or for his guest appearances on The Discovery Channel in programs like Mythbusters. These days Nate Ball is an engineer on the go, whether he’s creating useful gadgets or teaching himself to do a back flip off a wall (see the video below for a demonstration). Nate received both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree from M.I.T., where he studied mechanical engineering – when he wasn’t busy being an NCAA All-American pole-vaulter, that is.

Most recently he invented the ATLAS Ascender, a rope-climbing device that allows people to quickly scale the faces of cliffs and buildings in a Batman-like fashion. This gravity-defying invention is already in use by the US Army and countless rescue squads, and won Nate the 2007 Lemelson-MIT Prize for Student Innovation.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Says Nate of confronting his less successful experiments: “The more something fails, the more I can learn from it.”

His words of inspiration for young engineers? “Anytime you’re a little bit scared, but you make yourself do and and push yourself through…and you come out on top – that’s the greatest feeling ever.”

Photo credit: WGBH / Anthony Tieuli