History of Animation in Court

Fonar v. General Electric

rudy.ramsey — Mon, 05 Mar 2007 04:29:07 +0000

This podcast will be the first of a number of podcasts dealing with patents on medical devices. In the mid 90’s, Fonar sued General Electric for infringement of its patent on the acquisition of multiple MRI images, at different angles, during a single scanning session. These exhibits were stored on a (now old fashioned) analog video laser disc. A laptop computer was used to select the individual videos for display to the jury.

As is our usual practice in this podcast series, the video we’ve built for you consists of excerpts from the original animations, with our own new explanatory voiceover. We do this because the animations used in trial are often quite long — sometimes hours — and usually have no audio track to tell you what’s going on. When they’re presented in court, of course, these animations are accompanied by the live testimony of an expert witness. We also think that you might find some explanation useful in understanding the animations and their significance both to the trial and to the history of animation in court.

USA v. Tobacco Industry

Gary Freed — Fri, 12 Jan 2007 23:01:04 +0000

This podcast presents some of the 3D animation and interactive exhibits created for the United States Department of Justice in its recent, ground breaking case against the tobacco industry. Z-Axis worked closely with the trial team from the DOJ and 25 expert witnesses to create a wide variety of animated exhibits. We created 3D animations of how nicotine is ingested and transported to the brain along with large numbers of interactive data-display animations and still graphics. Z-Axis CEO Alan Treibitz is the narrator for this podcast.

CU Law School Presentation: Gary Freed - WTC Trial Graphics

Gary Freed — Sun, 10 Dec 2006 21:35:57 +0000

This is the fourth and final podcast to be produced from the video of our presentation to the class in Evidence and Trial Practice at the CU Law School on October 25, 2006. In this episode I show and describe the entire World Trade Center trial presentation.

CU Law School Presentation: Steve Brosius’ Case Study

Gary Freed — Sun, 03 Dec 2006 02:05:27 +0000

This podcast was recorded live at the CU Law School and is the third of four to be made from this presentation. Z-Axis producer Steve Brosius discusses the interactive exhibits he produced to help settle a ground water cleanup dispute between two neighboring oil companies. This is an example of a presentation that allows an attorney or expert witness interactive access to numerous exhibits and data without being tied down to a serial presentation.

CU Law School Presentation: Ray’s Case Studies

Gary Freed — Fri, 24 Nov 2006 15:14:44 +0000

This is the second of four podcasts derived from our talk at the CU Law School. Here, Ray Hauschel, National Sales Manager, presents some highlights of a few of Z-Axis’ key cases.

CU Law School Presentation: Introduction to Z-Axis

Gary Freed — Sat, 18 Nov 2006 14:35:51 +0000

On October 25, 2006, Ray Hauschel, Steve Brosius and Gary Freed of Z-Axis gave a presentation to a class in Evidence and Trial Practice at the University of Colorado Law School. In this introductory podcast, Ray Hauschel, National Sales Manager, discusses the history of Z-Axis and talks about some of the things to consider when using animated and still exhibits in court. This is the first of 4 podcasts we will create from this presentation.

Pepcon Explosion

Gary Freed — Sun, 12 Nov 2006 16:34:03 +0000

In 1991, Z-Axis produced the trial graphics for the insurance companies’ case against Pacific Engineering Construction Company, PEPCON, following the 1988 explosion of their chemical manufacturing facility south of Las Vegas. Z-Axis also contributed to the forensic investigation by using photogrammetric techniques to pinpoint the locations of the numerous explosions that were captured on video of the event.

These 3D models and animations were produced using an early Bosch FGS 4000 graphics computer as well as with WaveFront software running on Tektronix XD88 computers.

Royal Palm Hotel Collapse

Gary Freed — Thu, 12 Oct 2006 17:34:13 +0000

The newly built Royal Palm Hotel in Guam collapsed in 1993 after an earthquake hit the island. The investigation revealed that the contractor had left significant amounts of reinforcing steel out of the concrete structure of hotel. These animations helped the jury visualize the hotel before it collapsed and taught them the proper way to install reinforcing steel. We produced these animations between 1999 and 2001 using LightWave and Maya software.

World Trade Center

Gary Freed — Tue, 08 Aug 2006 04:39:03 +0000

Between 2002 and 2004 Z-Axis worked for the attorneys representing Silverstein Properties to help prove that the collapses of the twin towers resulting from the attacks on 9/11 were two occurrences under the terms of the property insurance policy. Z-Axis was part of the investigative team hired by Silverstein to provide engineering proof that the collapses were independent events. Our part of the forensic investigation was to use our 3D computer models of the towers and photogrammetric techniques to determine the speed and impact angle of the two airplanes into the towers. This podcast shows samples of the resulting animations, with discussion of how they were developed. In October of 2004, a New York jury unanimously decided in Silverstein’s favor, forcing the property insurance companies to pay for two occurrences.

Delta 191 (Connors v. The United States)

Gary Freed — Tue, 08 Aug 2006 04:25:59 +0000

In the late 1980s, Z-Axis produced this computer animated reconstruction of the crash of Delta flight 191 for the United States Department of Justice in the case of Connors v. The United States. The DOJ attorneys and their expert witnesses used these animations to defend the FAA and National Weather Service from accusations that these agencies were at fault in the crash. The defense was successful. The judge cited the animation in his decision that the fault for the crash lay entirely with the cockpit crew.

Introduction

Gary Freed — Tue, 08 Aug 2006 02:15:41 +0000

Welcome to the History of Animation in Court. This video podcast series will be a collection of some of the computer animations that have been used in court rooms over the last 20 years. Z-Axis Corporation was a pioneer in the creation of animated trial exhibits in the late 1980s and has continued to develop new ways to present visual information to judges and juries. This collection will include some of the landmark cases to use computer animation over the years as well as other less famous, but still innovative and interesting applications of computer graphics.