The 3D artwork presented in Sync Future is intriguing not only to science-fiction fans familiar with the original novels on which the illustrations are based, but also to those who haven't read the books and anyone who has experienced a 3D video or movie. Let's take a look at the exciting world of 3D and the significance of viewing 3D still images, instead of 3D motion images, by viewing five pieces of artwork created with the cooperation of Lucent Pictures Entertainment and Hayakawa Publishing. Regrettably, due to the nature of the website, you can't perceive the 3D effects on the web, but we hope that you'll recognize the exciting new possibilities that 3D offers by envisioning the worlds that expand beyond the 3D glasses.

Five 3D Illustrations Presented on This Website

"BIT-SEIN BEACH" Author: Hirotaka Tobi Illustrator: Mitsuo Iso

"Kugutsukou" Author: Osamu Makino Illustration: JohnHathway

"Pandora" Author: Koushû Tani Illustration: Syuichi Hirata

"Hyakuoku no Hiru to Senoku no Yoru" Author: Ryu Mitsuse Illustration: Hidekichi Shigemoto

"Mia he Okuru Shinju" Author: Shinji Kajio Illustration: Miggy

New Expressive Techniques Based on 3D!

Kozuka:
Now, let me introduce Mr. Kamagata from Lucent Pictures Entertainment and Mr. Shiozawa from Hayakawa Publishing who have joined us today to view the artwork. Mr. Nishi will emcee the session. Thank you all for being here today.

Kamagata, Shiozawa, Nishi:
Thank you for inviting us.

Eiichi Kamagata
President of Lucent Pictures Entertainment, Inc.
Produces videos centering around animation and 3D videos.
Producer of the Sync Future art book published by Hayakawa Publishing.

Yoshihiro Shiozawa
Eighth editor of S-F Magazine. Editor in charge of publishing the first issues of SF-ga Yomitai (I Want to Read Science Fiction) and the Hayakawa SF Series J Collection. Known as an editor who put an end to the "winter season of SF".
Planned the Sync Future art book together with Lucent Pictures Entertainment.

Masataro (Max) Nishi
Producer in charge of Business Development, 3D Video Business Division, Lucent Pictures Entertainment, Inc.
Long involved in 3D content production and general 3D diffusion activities. Actively visits events all over the world in pursuit of the latest 3D technologies. Also a big fan of science-fiction.

Nishi:
The first artwork we'll see is titled "BIT-SEIN BEACH". Mr. Shiozawa, could you briefly explain the world presented by this artwork.

Shiozawa:
All of the pieces that you've selected for viewing today are based on Japan's leading science-fiction novels. The original novel on which this artwork is based is a very popular series. The story is about AI (artificial intelligence) life forms who are passing an eternal summer in a virtual world created in the image of a harbor town in Southern Europe, and coming under attack by a swarm of enigmatic "spiders." This is a dark but fascinating story.

"BIT-SEIN BEACH"
Author: Hirotaka Tobi Illustrator: Mitsuo Iso

Kamagata:
Well, let's see the artwork in 3D.

Kozuka:
How interesting! It has a very different impression from the 2D image. The 3D image has achieved a completely new expression. Viewing the 3D still image makes me feel as if I'm looking at an art object in a museum, not a painting.

Shiozawa:
In 3D motion images, you can miss some small details and the viewer is always "passive." When you look at a still image, on the other hand, the viewer can be somewhat "active." This artwork makes you want to closely check every part of the image.

Kamagata:
The illustration itself expresses the view of the world presented in the original book very effectively. The mysterious "spiders" are also well depicted, and various scenes in the story are shown in frames. In creating this 3D image, each frame is given a different degree of depth and the images are designed to overlap and project toward the viewer.

Kozuka:
In addition to the vertical and horizontal expansiveness presented by the 2D illustration, 3D adds "depth," another element of expression. The use of depth significantly expands the breadth of the expression. I'd like more people in the art field to know about the birth of this 3D art and how it allows a new level of expression. I expect this new art form to bring further development to art in general.

Kamagata:
The expression of depth is very stimulating for artists. In other words, it gives a true "spatial effect" to an otherwise two-dimensional picture. I believe this'll affect the way 2D images are drawn in the future.

Nishi:
On behalf of the 3D Video Production Team at our company, Mr. Hosokai will introduce the stereography used for transforming 2D illustrations to the 3D visual presentations included in Sync Future. Mr. Hosokai, please.

Tadayuki Hosokai
Stereographer/Director, 3D Video Business Division, Lucent Pictures Entertainment, Inc.
A young engineer who accepted the challenge of creating the 3D images for the Sync Future art book.

Hosokai:
Hi, everyone. When I started in this new area, I pondered what it's that illustrators want to communicate the most. I felt the strongest power from the frame showing the pupil of an eye close-up, so I adjusted this visual element to project toward the viewer and made the pupil look as realistic as possible. If you compare it with the original illustration, you'll notice that the pupil in the 3D art is perfectly round. The hair that hangs in front of the pupil was also rendered carefully and applied with detailed three-dimensional processing.

Shiozawa:
The artwork does convey the message of the illustrator well. When I put on the 3D glasses, the image of the pupil leaped out. You know automatically which image the artist concentrated on the most because of the way that depth is added.

Nishi:
What was the most difficult part in creating this 3D artwork?

Hosokai:
Adding the 3D effect to the border lines of each frame was difficult. The lines are not mechanically drawn straight lines. They're hand-drawn lines. It was difficult to retain the delicate nuance of those lines clearly without blurring in the 3D image.

Kozuka:
It must be difficult to add 3D expression at the post-processing stage. But the result is fabulous. In the case of a 2D image, the artist works hard to draw the viewer's attention to the intended part. In 3D art, on the other hand, by adding a 3D effect to the key area, you can guide the viewer's attention to that area without changing the total balance. I'm sure that this 3D-based expression technique will be seen commonly in future artwork.

Powerful! Distorting Space with 3D!

Nishi:
The second artwork is "Kugutsukou". Please give us your impression.

Kozuka:
The original artwork is very dynamic, but when it's converted to 3D, it's amazing. It strikes me as a completely different piece of art.

Shiozawa:
I was overwhelmed by the feeling of the large crowd of people rushing toward me. The writer of the original novel was born in Osaka, and the stage of the story is also Osaka. The novel is about a gigantic mysterious meteor falling in the city, transforming the consciousness of people as well as space into a grotesquely distorted state. This artwork shows the world presented in the novel, rather than a scene from the story.

"Kugutsukou"
Author: Osamu Makino Illustrator: JohnHathway

Mr. Hosokai working on the 3D image creation. "I was impressed and influenced by how devoted Panasonic is to creating high-quality artwork through repeated quality checks of each and every frame."

Nishi:
In this illustration, people and buildings are drawn in high density. I was told that illustrator was determined to express as much detail as time would allow. Mr. Hosokai, how did you develop it into 3D?

Hosokai:
To respond to the illustrator's zeal, we decided to turn it into 3D artwork that would surprise everyone who sees it. We cut out each person and added 3D processing. In the end, we superimposed several hundred image parts. It took days for the 3D Video Production Team to complete the process.

Kozuka:
The illustrator's passion is expressed in this 3D artwork. It's astonishingly dynamic. Not only the number of people drawn but the background buildings accurately express the "distorted space" the writer describes in the novel, effectively conveying the scary and creepy situation to the viewer. I imagine this new 3D expression was difficult to achieve, but the detailed finish is definitely impressive. Transformed into the 3D image, the artwork completely immerses the viewer in the world it presents.

Kamagata:
Strangely, when an illustration is transformed into a 3D image, you want to see details that you overlook in the 2D image. This means that the 3D stereographer cannot cut corners. But, the effort pays off. This is one of the most well-received 3D art pieces in the book.

3D Spontaneously Expresses the Vastness of Nature, the Universe and Various World Views

Nishi:
The third artwork is "Pandora". The title happens to be the same as the name of the moon in the movie "Avatar", but in the novel, it's the name of a comet.

Shiozawa:
In the book, a number of strange incidents occur on Earth and people are compelled to engage in a devastating battle for the very existence of the human race. The illustration depicts the Himalayan mountains and a space station to express the world described in the novel.

"Pandora"
Author: Koushû Tani Illustration: Syuichi Hirata

Kozuka:
Since 3D is inherently capable of expressing the magnitude of space and the vastness of nature, it goes well with 3D art. This artwork maximizes the 3D effect to express the presence of the space station floating over the massive Himalayan mountains from a viewpoint high above the ground.

Kamagata:
This illustration is the work of Mr. Shuichi Hirata, who was the art director for "Innocence", an animation film directed by Mr. Mamoru Oshii. In a manner of speaking, animation is created by a series of "non-realities." Mr. Hirata is extremely skilled in making fictional worlds appear real and natural. This illustration renders the spaceship, which does not exist in the real world, with a natural-looking, smooth texture without any harsh visual elements.

Hosokai:
It seemed to me that the space station's presentation in the image would determine the quality of the finished 3D artwork when I was doing the processing. I was focused on achieving the correct perspective when I added depth and also on expressing the huge size and weight in a natural way. It was very difficult. Since the spaceship does not exist in the real world, I had to work on the inspiration I got from the illustration and reconstruct the image three-dimensionally in my head. I had to tweak the adjustments of the projection degree and depth repeatedly. Expressing the world of this illustration is certainly a challenge to an engineer.

Kozuka:
The metallic surface of the space station is superbly done. I really like this piece. It seems that the overall color tone has been interpreted differently from the original illustration.

Hosokai:
Yes, I made the 3D image slightly lighter. If the overall color tone were too subdued, it would be difficult to express the 3D effect.

Shiozawa:
The original illustration does have many dark bluish image areas. In the 3D artwork, even the distant area appears clearly on the VIERA 3D TV.

Kozuka:
Since the VIERA 3D TV offers superb contrast, it faithfully reproduces the vastness of nature and the metallic quality of the space station in the artwork. It lets you appreciate the world presented by this art.

Kamagata:
That's very true. In the beginning, I was using a 46-inch display of another manufacturer for verification purposes. Then, Panasonic offered their help and let me use the 103-inch plasma display in the Panasonic Center Tokyo. The 103-inch plasma display revealed a number of rough areas that I couldn't see on the 46-inch display. I started improving those areas immediately. The VIERA 3D TV contributed significantly to improving the quality of the 3D artwork.

Kozuka:
The plasma display with self-illuminating pixels is capable of expressing rich, deep black levels. Since the VIERA 3D TV used for displaying the artwork we see here has achieved an extremely high image rendering capability through the many improvements that Panasonic made in the past, it's ideal for viewing 3D images to check whether they present the effects intended by the creators.

Shiozawa:
You can clearly see the detail of the snow-covered mountains, which could easily be missed in the 2D illustration. The space station seems to be hovering right above the mountains. In another thought, if the effect that communicates ambience could be added to this still image, further improvements could be made. For example, you could superimpose motion images showing the movement of freezing cold air from the Himalayan mountains onto the still image.

Kozuka:
Expressing the presence of air is certainly an attractive aspect of 3D art. Combining still images with motion images would also create very interesting effects in 3D art.

Hosokai:
Although this artwork is complete in itself, if I look at it over and over, I find many areas that I'd like to improve.

Transformation to 3D Is a Creative Activity Itself

Here's the fourth artwork, "Hyakuoku no Hiru to Senoku no Yoru". As you can see, the illustration is powerful even though it was drawn in black and white with Japanese ink and brush.

Shiozawa:
The original novel tells a full-length science-fiction story and it's considered to be a milestone in the Japanese science-fiction field. I reckon the title is familiar to many people even if they haven't read the book. The story spans from the creation of the world to its downfall. In this long current of time, characters such as Plato, Asura, Buddha and Jesus of Nazareth appear as the story develops on a magnificent scale.

Kamagata:
The illustration is also magnificent, as you can see. I actually saw this illustrator once in person working on a creation. I couldn't tell what the final drawing would be like until he finished it. Like his other artwork, this piece also has a powerful initial impact. Then, you recognize various dramatically rendered characters.

"Hyakuoku no Hiru to Senoku no Yoru"
Author: Ryu Mitsuse Illustration: Shuichi Hirata

Kozuka:
It's powerful, indeed. It must be difficult to transform artwork that doesn't employ the rules of perspective, like Sansui-ga, to 3D. Since the spatial position of each character in relation to the others must be interpreted and determined by the stereographer's sensitivity, I can image the difficulty of incorporating the illustrator's intention into 3D art. How did you interpret this artwork when transforming it to 3D?

Hosokai:
The illustrator did not anticipate that the illustration would be changed to 3D when he drew it. So the brush strokes delicately overlap, making most parts of the illustration difficult to render three-dimensionally. However, the illustrator gave me free rein so I had ample freedom to work with. First, I added the solid 3D effect to Plato at the bottom and worked from there.

Kozuka:
Hmm, if the illustrator leaves everything up to the stereographer, there are no guidelines to follow. 3D artwork based on a different interpretation would also be possible. For example, each brush stroke could be set off from others. Or all white areas could be set as a background and only black parts given a projecting effect. The fact that there's no right way to do it means that conversion to 3D is itself a creative activity and art in its own right.

Kamagata:
Yes, I agree. With artwork like this, each creator will probably have his or her own opinion. But since 3D processing aims to create a new world of expression by working with dynamic brush strokes and adding depth, it will expand the scope of expression regardless of the direction of processing work.

3D Art Depicting the World of Cel Animation

Nishi:
The last piece of artwork we'll see today is titled "Mia he Okuru Shinju." This piece features a soft watercolor-like appearance.

Shiozawa:
As effectively presented in the original illustration, the male and female characters in the story live on completely different time scales. One second for the male character is one day for the female character according to the story setting. The novel is about the heartrending feelings of the two characters living away from each other. It's a great story.

Kozuka:
Personally, I was most interested in the 3D transformation of this artwork. It uses the blurring effect often seen in Japanese cel animation. I was curious how that effect could be incorporated into 3D artwork and what kind of impression would be created by it.

"Mia he Okuru Shinju"
Author: Shinji Kajio Illustrator: Miggy

Kamagata:
The main theme of this piece is "time." The illustrator placed a large clock at the center. When transforming the illustration to 3D, I felt that it was important to make the clock stand out solidly.

Hosokai:
In actual processing, I cut out each part, such as the clock, people and background, and mixed them to add depth to the image. Though it may sound easy, it was difficult to decide which part was to be projected and which was to be set away from the viewer.

Kozuka:
How to express blurring and smearing in 3D... That depends on the sensitivity of the 3D art creator. Just like the previous black-and-white illustration, this may be difficult to transform to 3D.

Shiozawa:
The hands of the clock delicately blend in with the background and create an intriguing overall effect. I think that the 3D image emphasizes the "distance between the two characters" even more.

New Artistic Expression Forms and the Emergence of 3D Art

Nishi:
After seeing all five pieces of artwork, I'd like to hear your opinions.

Hosokai:
To tell the truth, there are still many improvements I'd like to make in the five pieces shown today, but I must say I was able to transform them smoothly to 3D. My future goal is to create 3D images faithfully to the illustrators' intentions by collaborating with the illustrators themselves. If the stereographer doing the 3D processing interprets the artwork differently, the resulting 3D image may ruin the original novel and illustration. I'd like to carefully design graphical elements by being more sensitive to what the writer and illustrator want to communicate.

Kamagata:
During the creation of illustrations to depict the worlds described in novels, the illustrators develop a passion for rendering them correctly. So the 3D stereographer has to understand the intentions of the illustrator fully in order to create high-quality 3D artwork. In the artwork shown today, 3D effects were applied at the 3D stereographer's own discretion. In the future, I'd like to design a process in which the illustrator and the 3D stereographer communicate closely during the process in order to enhance the quality of the 3D art.

Nishi:
Being able to check the image quality on the VIERA 3D TV made a big difference.

Kamagata:
I agree. I viewed the art on a home-size VIERA 3D TV and I realized it's an exceptionally superb display. I really mean it. I've checked 3D-compatible displays in various exhibitions this year and felt that the VIERA 3D TV was the best in brightness. That impression is still the same today.

Drawing on the experience of this project, I'd like to take on another challenge for the next edition of Sync Future. I'd like to see more people enjoy 3D art and stimulate the interest of not only Japanese but people all over the globe in science-fiction work created in Japan. Japanese artists and 3D stereographers visually express the worlds described in excellent science-fiction novels written by Japanese and the visual images are then displayed on Panasonic VIERA 3D TV produced by Japan's leading company. Doesn't that sound great?

Kozuka:
We've examined a variety of ideas regarding 3D with Hollywood movie companies mainly through the Panasonic Hollywood Laboratory (PHL). Even though we have such extensive involvement in 3D, the 3D art project was very stimulating. The original novels and illustrations were extremely powerful, and Lucent Pictures Entertainment's proven technologies turned them into heart-touching 3D art. I truly felt for the first time the significance of viewing 3D images, not only 3D motion images, when I saw the artwork created by Lucent Pictures Entertainment. I believe that 3D art not only extends the expression of the original 2D artwork but elevates it to another dimension.

In Japan, there are many excellent still image materials in addition to animation. As a member of the company that took a vital part in advancing 3D technologies created in Japan, I have strengthened my desire to show Japan's high-quality 3D art to as many people as possible.

Shiozawa:
I remember the famous statement made by Mr. Masahiro Noda, the great science-fiction writer who passed away two years ago. He said, "Science fiction is all in all graphic." Today's viewing of 3D artwork really reflects that statement. Even though we were looking at a single still image, it gave me the illusion that some space of another dimension and time was in front of me. I felt as if I could touch the world narrated in the book. Even a person who hasn't read the original novel would be able to perceive a story of some kind.

From the standpoint of the publisher, I admire the capability of 3D to expand the interpretations of the worlds described in the original novels to such an extent. Presenting the worlds told by novels through illustrations will help the novels transcend the boundaries of language. When 3D art is added to it, novels can captivate the readers not only in Japan but all over the world. Japan has many excellent science-fiction novels. I hope that 3D art will be a catalyst to increase the fans of such novels everywhere.

Kamagata:
As Mr. Kozuka stated, "creation of another world with 3D" is a new form of art. At the same time, it's very science-fictional, isn't it?

Shiozawa:
Very much so. A mystical world that does not exist, cannot be seen, or could not happen can be expressed as "another reality" through 3D art, and people can experience it. That is a kind of science-fiction experience indeed.

Kozuka:
I believe that 3D can vastly expand the scope of video applications beyond movies and others. I'd like many artists in various genres, such as literature, painting and sculpture, to experience 3D art. If they see what 3D can do, it may spark their creative imagination even more.

Kamagata:
Well, when I see the surprised faces of people who happen to see our artwork in events or in-store demonstrations, I wish that more and more people could have an opportunity to see it. People are amazed at the artwork and also enjoy it. Specialists in the graphic art field, such as movie producers, museum curators and university professors, have evaluated our artwork highly. I feel a possibility of 3D art creating a new genre of art. I'd like to continue making 3D content that is emotionally stirring to not only the people who see it but those who create it.

Kozuka:
Panasonic will also continue to enhance technologies to reproduce 3D artwork as faithfully as possible. Thank you for joining us today!

These are the original novels on which the illustrations were based and the Sync Future art book. "By experiencing the world of 3D art, I feel that I'll develop a greater attachment to paper media. I think books will gain more value as a collector's item, and they may become essential for 3D art in the future." (Mr. Shiozawa)

And many thanks to everyone who cooperated with us!

(From left) Ms. Emi Iijima*, Mr. Shiozawa (Hayakawa Publishing), Mr. Kamagata*, Mr. Kozuka (Panasonic), Mr. Goto, Mr. Nishi*, Mr. Hosokai*
* From Lucent Pictures Entertainment, Inc.