Lansdown Centre for Electronic Arts
Encyclopedia
The Lansdown Centre for Electronic Arts (LCEA) is a research centre of Middlesex University
in the north of London, United Kingdom. It had a significant role in the early development of computer graphics and has continued to innovate in areas such as interactive media
and sonic arts.
The Centre undertakes research and provides postgraduate and undergraduate teaching. Research-active staff include Stephen Boyd Davis (head of the Centre), Helen Bendon, John Dack (Senior Research Fellow), Magnus Moar, Ralf Nuhn (Research Fellow), Nye Parry, Nic Sandiland and Guy Sherwin. Alex Zivanovic is visiting scholar.
Principal areas of current work are Interactive Media, Sonic Arts and Moving Image.
who was its head from 1993 until 1997. The Centre for Electronic Arts originated in 1985 (it was renamed in 2000 after Lansdown's death). Its roots lie in the still earlier work of John Vince to develop computer graphics at Middlesex University (then Middlesex Polytechnic). From the 1970s, John with others developed two suites of computer graphics subroutines in the FORTRAN
programming language. PICASO (PIcture Computer Algorithms SubroutineOriented) was used to create line drawings of 2D and 3D objects and PRISM (Picaso's Raster Imaging SysteM) created full colour images with smooth Gouraud
and Phong
shading.
The aim of these systems was to give artists and designers access to the creative potential of digital technology. They were used for short courses which were attended by television creative producers from the BBC
, Independent Television companies and the French national television service. A number of television sequences were commissioned and created. Before the availability of PRISM, television titles had to be created by frame-by-frame hand colouring of line drawings plotted directly onto transparent cel. By 1980, PICASO contained about 500 subroutines and together with its complementary rendering system PRISM, was being used by over 25 academic institutes in the UK .
In 1985, with a grant from the government's Department for Education, Middlesex became the National Centre for Computer Aided Art and Design under Paul Brown, a graduate of the Slade School of Art. By 1986, Middlesex had secured an international reputation for computer animation, setting up the UK's first MSc course in Computer Graphics. Keith Waters
was the first Centre student to gain his PhD in 1988, with his development of a muscle-based model for facial animation.
The 2009 book White Heat Cold Logic records the pioneering role of Middlesex University (then Middlesex Polytechnic) in British computer art from 1960 to 1980. The book includes chapters by Alex Zivanovic (current Lansdown Centre visiting scholar), Paul Brown (former head of what is now the Lansdown Centre), Charlie Gere (who completed his MA and PhD at the Centre), Richard Wright (who completed his MA at the Centre) and John Vince (early pioneer of computer graphics at Middlesex). Paul Brown and Charlie Gere are also co-editors of the book, along with Nick Lambert and Catherine Mason. All were members of the CACHe project.
Middlesex University
Middlesex University is a university in north London, England. It is located in the historic county boundaries of Middlesex from which it takes its name. It is one of the post-1992 universities and is a member of Million+ working group...
in the north of London, United Kingdom. It had a significant role in the early development of computer graphics and has continued to innovate in areas such as interactive media
Interactive media
Interactive media normally refers to products and services on digital computer-based systems which respond to the user’s actions by presenting content such as text, graphics, animation, video, audio, etc.-Terminology:...
and sonic arts.
The Centre undertakes research and provides postgraduate and undergraduate teaching. Research-active staff include Stephen Boyd Davis (head of the Centre), Helen Bendon, John Dack (Senior Research Fellow), Magnus Moar, Ralf Nuhn (Research Fellow), Nye Parry, Nic Sandiland and Guy Sherwin. Alex Zivanovic is visiting scholar.
Principal areas of current work are Interactive Media, Sonic Arts and Moving Image.
History
The Lansdown Centre is named after the computer graphics pioneer John LansdownJohn Lansdown
Robert John Lansdown was a British computer graphics pioneer, polymath and Professor Emeritus at Middlesex University Lansdown Centre for Electronic Arts, which was renamed in his honour in 2000....
who was its head from 1993 until 1997. The Centre for Electronic Arts originated in 1985 (it was renamed in 2000 after Lansdown's death). Its roots lie in the still earlier work of John Vince to develop computer graphics at Middlesex University (then Middlesex Polytechnic). From the 1970s, John with others developed two suites of computer graphics subroutines in the FORTRAN
Fortran
Fortran is a general-purpose, procedural, imperative programming language that is especially suited to numeric computation and scientific computing...
programming language. PICASO (PIcture Computer Algorithms SubroutineOriented) was used to create line drawings of 2D and 3D objects and PRISM (Picaso's Raster Imaging SysteM) created full colour images with smooth Gouraud
Gouraud shading
Gouraud shading, named after Henri Gouraud, is an interpolation method used in computer graphics to produce continuous shading of surfaces represented by polygon meshes...
and Phong
Phong shading
Phong shading refers to an interpolation technique for surface shading in 3D computer graphics. It is also called Phong interpolation or normal-vector interpolation shading. Specifically, it interpolates surface normals across rasterized polygons and computes pixel colors based on the interpolated...
shading.
The aim of these systems was to give artists and designers access to the creative potential of digital technology. They were used for short courses which were attended by television creative producers from the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
, Independent Television companies and the French national television service. A number of television sequences were commissioned and created. Before the availability of PRISM, television titles had to be created by frame-by-frame hand colouring of line drawings plotted directly onto transparent cel. By 1980, PICASO contained about 500 subroutines and together with its complementary rendering system PRISM, was being used by over 25 academic institutes in the UK .
In 1985, with a grant from the government's Department for Education, Middlesex became the National Centre for Computer Aided Art and Design under Paul Brown, a graduate of the Slade School of Art. By 1986, Middlesex had secured an international reputation for computer animation, setting up the UK's first MSc course in Computer Graphics. Keith Waters
Keith Waters
Keith Waters , formerly of LifeFX Networks, Inc., has been involved in facial animation for the past 20 years. He development of a muscle-based model for facial animation including a physically based skin tissue model as well as a visual text-to-speech system called DECface...
was the first Centre student to gain his PhD in 1988, with his development of a muscle-based model for facial animation.
The 2009 book White Heat Cold Logic records the pioneering role of Middlesex University (then Middlesex Polytechnic) in British computer art from 1960 to 1980. The book includes chapters by Alex Zivanovic (current Lansdown Centre visiting scholar), Paul Brown (former head of what is now the Lansdown Centre), Charlie Gere (who completed his MA and PhD at the Centre), Richard Wright (who completed his MA at the Centre) and John Vince (early pioneer of computer graphics at Middlesex). Paul Brown and Charlie Gere are also co-editors of the book, along with Nick Lambert and Catherine Mason. All were members of the CACHe project.