LATEST ADDITIONS

When an avid film-watcher came to St Albans-based FAB AV with plans for a cinema room under his roof, it didn’t look like the easiest of installs. Fitting in a 2.37:1 projector screen and seating for three people, and specifying as close to reference-level 7.1-channel sound as could be achieved, would be a challenge. But with the help of an anamorphic lens, FAB AV managed to live up to his lofty ambitions…

With its reputation confirmed by its CGI character-creation work on the Lord of the Rings movies and Avatar, New Zealand facility Weta Digital seemed the ideal choice to create the myriad simians for Rise of the Planet of the Apes. But how did Joe Letteri, senior visual effects supervisor and a director of the company, tackle the challenge of creating convincing characters?

With a legacy that includes Doom, Quake and various sequels to both, it’s hardly surprising that any new game from developer id Software carries an incredible weight of expectation.

I often wonder why I am not Tom Cruise. The obvious benefits of being minted, married to Katie Holmes and working with Cameron Diaz aside, I can see absolutely no reason why I am not yet controlling my home cinema system in true Minority Report style. Why am I still surrounded by a clutter of remote controls, rather than simply gesticulating with my fingers and issuing complex voice commands that simultaneously play Blu-ray, dim the lights and move the volume to ASBO level? There is no reason at all, other than the fact that, as yet, no manufacturer has pulled all these readily available technology components together.