Applied Technology

I took son to go see, "Sherlock Holmes", this afternoon.  Of course, I love Robert Downey Jr as an actor (needs help as a human!), I enjoy Jude Law (probably needs about as much help as RD!) and being a Sherlock Holmes fan - well what can I say?  The movie is a waste of time.  Two fine actors utterly wasted - as well as two hours.

But, the photography brought back some interesting memories and a theory.....

It was 1991 and I was working on the 777 project as the senior technology guy.  A group approached me and told me about an idea, which when it came to life brought a smile to my lips.  They figured out how to take two dimensional drawings, merge them into a three dimensional structure and then allow you to travel through the concatenated drawings.  It was stunning.  Eventually, FlyThru, became an application arena industry wide.

Back to now, and I sat watching Sherlock Holmes.  I will not profess to know how they did the photography, but for all practical purposes it appears they used FlyThru technology using old photographs and postcards to supply the images of old London.  Did they?  I have no idea.  But, it sure looks like it!

An use for a technology I never thought of back in 1991.  A use for today which allows the appearance of magic when combined with computer animation.

I may not appreciate the story line of Sherlock Holmes but the magic of the backgrounds alone might make this one a keeper.....  Knowing that Sherlock was a hashish user makes me unhappy due to his amount of smoking.  The average youth would not figure this out though.

I give it a PG-17 for occult and violence.