From the theme park ride, Superstition.

2nd World is a multimedia game consisting of a virtual online walk. The product of Cryo Interactive Entertainment, it is published by Canal+ Multimedia (a subsidiary of Canal+ TV company). It contains a graphic database of a virtual city (a 3-D reconstitution of Paris and its streets, with virtual buildings and apartments, etc.) on a CD-ROM (for Windows). First, a user selects how their personalized digital avatar will look, then connects via the Internet to the 2nd World server. One can explore the different Parisian districts from any direction one chooses: streets, stores, monuments, as in any real city. It is hardly a rare occurrence to encounter other avatars out for a virtual walk at the same time. Not only is 2nd World a meeting place, there are other services available: games, activities, a newspaper and even a polling place. A new democracy is born!

Tian an Men is a short 3-D film made by Pasquale Croce and Arnaud Lamorlette (Buf Compagnie) for Amnesty International. This short has hardly been seen since it has been banned. It depicts the famous Chinese demonstration, where one person stopped a tank cold in Tian an Men Square. A mix of real images (provided by the BBC) and 3-D computer graphics that replicate the other tanks and the rest of the square take us into the heart of the action, besides the student confronted by a tank, as if all in one single camera movement. The new 3-D images combine perfectly with the original sequences to give an illusion of a real newsreel, even to the point of integrating the identical "white noise." Tian an Men received the Imagina jury's special mention.

GMEV1 Appliances, ILM's commercial for the electric car.

Six Conference Sessions
"Narration. Interaction"--More and more, interactive media (CD-ROM, Internet) are mixing narrative with active public intervention: possibly to change the story line, to add new characters and situations. Presentations by: Greg Roach (Hyperbole Studios, USA), Andy Cameron (Antirom, UK) Troy Bolotnick (LightSpeed Media, USA), Chris Crawford (Chris Crawford Games, USA), Ramesh Jain (University of California, San Diego, USA) and Gilberte Houbart (MIT, USA).

"Virtual Communities and Video Games: 3-D on the Network"--A journey into some of the more recent creations of some of the ambitious projects take take one into new realms of communication, where players from all over the world plug into shared virtual worlds. Presentations by: Yuzo Naritomi (Sega, Japan), Greg Richardson (3DO Company, USA), Robert Rockwell (Black Sun Interactive, Germany), Gurrminder Singh (Institute System of Singapore), Philippe Ulrich (Cryo, France)Alain LeDiberder (Canal +, France).

"From Image to Model"--New techniques, analysis and image identification, sample objects seen from multiple angles, analysis of image sequences, morphing or foreseeable manipulation of facial aspects. It is now possible to create virtual models directly from real elements. Presentations by: Takedo Kanade (Carnegie Mellon University, USA), Thomas Vetter (Max-Planck Institute, Germany), Luc Robert (INRIA, France), Steven Steitz (University of Wisconsin at Madison, USA), Duncan Rowland & Michel Burt ( St. Andrew University, Scotland) and Fabio Pettinati (Apple, USA).
"Setting in Motion"--After the shapes are modeled, the movements then must be modeled (dancing, walking, smiling, frowning) so as to animate the virtual characters and environments. This requires the use of complex movement analysis techniques, capturing the gestures, facial expressions and full body movements within a given space, or even creative techniques to invent the movements. Presentations by: Hal Bertram (Jim Henson's Creature Shop, UK), Ken Perlin (New York University, USA), Kazuyuki Ebihara (ATR, Japan), Gilles Dietrich (INSEP, France), Michiel Van de Panne (University of Toronto, Canada), Agnès Saulnier & Pierre-Emmanuel Chaut (INA, France).