AUBURN – Technology has followed art in imitating life, and for his part in marrying animation with human movement, Nels Madsen of Auburn University’s engineering faculty received an Academy Award for Technical Achievement Feb. 12 in Pasadena, Calif.

Probably best recognized for bringing to life the world of Gandalf and Frodo in “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy and digitizing Tom Hanks in “The Polar Express,” motion-capture technology for computer character animation involves mapping human motion onto the motion of a computer character. What these blockbuster films have in common is their creation of animation under Giant Studios’ direction using proprietary Motion Reality, Inc. (MRI) technology that Madsen helped create.

Madsen is an associate professor of mechanical engineering in Auburn’s Samuel Ginn College of Engineering. He is recognized by the Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for his role in the software solution – created by MRI and licensed for entertainment to Giant Studios – that applied a unique biometric approach that has influenced the development of motion-capture technology for motion pictures.

Madsen shares the award with three former MRI colleagues – Vaughn Cato, Matthew Madden and Bill Lorton – all now at Giant Studios. [...]