MPEG-4 Expert Eric Petajan to Lead Face and Body Animation Authoring Tutorial at Workshop and Exhibition on MPEG-4

Eric Petajan, the leading authority on face and body animation forthe MPEG-4 standard, will lead a tutorial on authoring animatedcharacters with the latest MPEG-4 face and body animation tools at the3rd Annual Workshop and Exhibition on MPEG-4, at the San Jose FairmontHotel, 170 South Market Street in San Jose, from 11:00 am – 12:30pm on Thursday, June 27. The tutorial will demonstrate ways in whichanimated characters can be quickly and inexpensively produced fordelivery over low-bit-rate Internet connections, including wireless.The session is open to the public and does not require previousanimation experience.

Petajan will also appear on the WEMP-4 panel “ConvergenceAfter the Hype,” on Wednesday, June 26, from 4:00-6:00 pm, at theFairmont Hotel, in which he will discuss the role that MPEG-4 plays inenabling true convergence of multimedia content.

Petajan, chief scientist and founder of face2face animation, is thepremier developer of facial animation software and a growing producerof animated facial content, will also demonstrate new software MPEG-4streaming of facial characters. Petajan has helped shape the MPEG-4standard’s rules for facial animation as chairman of the MPEG-4Face and Body Animation group.

Sponsored by the MPEG-4 Industry Forum, in cooperation with IEEECircuits and Systems Society, the WEMP-4 event features experttutorials on existing and upcoming MPEG-4 technologies, as well asexhibitions that showcase MPEG-4 products. For further information onthe WEMP-4 event, visit the website at www.m4if.org/wemp2002

“MPEG-4 represents a tremendous breakthrough in the creationand delivery of face and body animation for all platforms –including film, television, the Web, and wireless – with newtools that enable the average graphical designer to ‘draw once,deliver anywhere,’” says Petajan. “This WEMP-4tutorial will emphasize that there is a new generation of animatorsthat will leverage MPEG-4 technologies for more creative, profitableproduction of animated content.”

Prior to forming face2face, Petajan was a Bell Labs researcher wherehe developed facial motion capture, HD video coding, and interactivegraphics systems. Starting in 1989, Petajan was a leader in thedevelopment of digital HDTV technology standards, which led to the HDTVGrand Alliance, the foundation of today’s U.S. digital televisionstandard. He received a PhD in electrical engineering in 1984 and anM.S. in Physics from the University of Illinois where he built thefirst automatic lip-reading system. Petajan is also associate editor ofthe IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems for Video Technology.

MPEG-4 is the interactive coding standard for all digital multimediaplatforms. Developed by the Moving Picture Experts Group that designedMPEG-2 (the digital television standard), MPEG-1, and MPEG-3. Beingobject-based and extending beyond video and audio, MPEG-4 supportsrich, interactive, standards-based multimedia from low bandwidths totransparent quality.

M4IF consists of more than 100 companies from diverse industriesevenly distributed across North America, Europe, and Asia, addressingall MPEG-4 adoption issues that go beyond the charter of ISO/IEC MPEG.Activities of the forum include an interoperability program,certification, several working groups, access to ISO/MPEG committeemembers, and the 3rd annual Workshop and Exhibition on MPEG-4 from June25-27 in San Jose, California. For more information, go to www.m4if.org