This year's Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences award -- the "Oscar" -- for Technical Achievement presented to Steve Hylén of SmARTlens represents technology in which Ruda & Associates played a developmental role.
Mitchell Ruda, president of the Tucson, Ariz.-based optical engineering consulting firm, was among those on hand for the presentation of the award on 7 February in Los Angeles, Calif. Dr. Ruda is a longtime course instructor, author, and Fellow of SPIE, and is on the program committee for the conference on Optical System Alignment, Tolerancing, and Verification at the SPIE Optics + Photonics symposium in August.
Hylén was honored for the concept and his continued leadership in the further devlopment of the Hylén Lens System for motion picture effects photography, the Academy announcement noted. When attached to a film or digital production camera, the aerial image device can produce a wide variety of optical effects interactively, on set and in real time without post-production image manipulation. The system is part of Panavision's suite of camera equipment, leased out to the motion picture industry.
See more about the lens system at www.hylensystem.com. For more about the awards, see www.oscars.org/awards/scitech/winners.html.