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computer animation

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Stanley Osher: connecting the disconnected

Stanley Osher has won the 2014 Gauss Prize for his revolutionary impact in areas including medical imaging, sonic booms, movie animation and microchip design and manufacture.
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Career interview: Visual effects director

Alexis Wajsbrot is a visual effects specialist who has worked on a number of high-profile films including Harry Potter and the Half-blood Prince, Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix, Tim Burton's Sweeney Todd, and also on some of those visually stunning commercials you see while waiting for your film to start. His speciality is anything that behaves like a fluid: water, smoke, fire, even fur or cloth. Plus went to see him to find out more.
Article

It's all in the detail

The computer animation used in movies and games is now so lifelike, it is very hard to believe that you are actually watching a surface built from simple shapes of triangles. Phil Dench tells Plus how he uses mathematics to help bring these models to life.
Article

Digital art

Computer-generated art is on the rise, and with it comes a further blurring of the boundaries between maths and art. Lewis Dartnell looks at some stunning examples.
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Maths goes to the movies

Computer generated movies and electronic games: Joan Lasenby tells us about the mathematics and engineering behind them.
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birds

Matrix: Simulating the world Part I - Particle models

If you've ever watched a flock of birds flying at dusk, or a school of fish reacting to a predator, you'll have been amazed by their perfectly choreographed moves. Yet, complex as this behaviour may seem, it's not all that hard to model it on a computer. Lewis Dartnell presents a hands-on guide for creating your own simulations — no previous experience necessary.

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Career interview: Games developer

In the real world, balls bounce and water splashes because of the laws of physics. In computer games, a physics engine ensures the virtual world behaves realistically. Mathematician and computer programmer Nick Gray tells us about playing God in a virtual world.