The Red Stick International Animation Festival is pleased to announce a special lecture by Scott Johnston.


Scott F. Johnston joined Walt Disney Feature Animation during production of "The Little Mermaid" and was part of the team that brought the first digital ink-and-paint system on-line for "The Rescuers Down Under." Johnston was one of the principal designers of the ground-breaking ballroom sequence in "Beauty and the Beast." As CGI Supervisor for "The Lion King", he oversaw the development and production of all the CG effects in the record-breaking film, including the climactic wildebeest stampede.


At Warner Bros., Johnston served as Artistic Coordinator on "The Iron Giant" to realize director Brad Bird's vision, weighing creative solutions and technical requirements against resource limitations. As Animation Special Effects Supervisor for "Looney Tunes: Back In Action", Johnston oversaw the integration of the traditionally drawn characters into the world of the live actors and recreated various artists' styles in the Louvre sequence.


Johnston helped to establish Enne Entertainment in Salamanca, Spain, instructing the management team on production methods and guiding the technical group on building the facility infrastructure. While at Enne, he continued his research in non-photorealistic rendering.


Johnston is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and was honored with ASIFA/Hollywood's Ub Iwerks Technical Achievement Award in 2003.


The lecture below will be T*hursday, November 11th at 4:00pm in the Manship Theatre*. This lecture is a Gold Pass event, and you can pre-register for this workshop as an add-on to the Gold Pass.


"The ABC's of alpha and gamma"


This lecture will provide background information on digital imagery to help students understand basic compositing concepts and terms including: monitor calibration, gamma curves, linear vs. non-linear composition, bit-depth, alpha channels, aliasing, pre-multiplied vs. non-premultiplied alpha, transparency, banding and film grain.


Students working in the digital arts should be familiar with these concepts to avoid common rendering and compositing mistakes.