The Slovenian who breathed the movement of the movement finally got an Oscar
Jernej Barbič, a Slovenian who, as a mathematics professor, works at the University of Southern California, with a team in Barbic, Essex Edwards, James Jacobs, Crawford Doran and Andrew Van Straten for the development of Ziva VFX software received an Oscar for scientific and technical achievements in the field of film. This year, the US Film Academy has awarded the 14 statues to 37 winners. Barbic is thus the first Slovenian to boast this prestigious award.
Barbic, which was already in 2014 with the movie Hobbit among the Oscar nominees for special effects (this was received by Gravity at the time), It comes from the village near the Most na Soci. After studying mathematics at the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, he went to postgraduate study of computer science in the United States.
The decision to upgrade mathematical knowledge with computer science was aided by the desire to model nature, especially the movement of trees, which he enthusiastically observed as a child. As he told in an interview in 2014 for Work, In the early years of studying mathematics while walking through the home forest, he thought whether he could describe the movement of trees in a mathematical model.
Enough knowledge to solve the problem he had attracted very much, he did not have at the time, since, he said, the movement of the whole tree is extremely complex. According to Barbic, each branch and leaf are moving differently, and their movement depends on the wind, the terrain and the influence of adjacent leaves.
Because he has always been attracted to the film industry – as a child he even dreamed of becoming a film director – it is no surprise that he also started working in the field of film. With his computer models in 2011 he impressed at the largest meeting of computer graphics Siggraph, where he did not go unnoticed. Shortly afterwards, a collaboration in creating a movie hit followed Hobbywhere he was responsible for the movement and appearance of fantasy creatures.
Professional Ziva VFX software Ziva Dynamics, founded by Barbic ten years ago, has already been used in more than 60 world -renowned film hits, including in films Garfield (2024), Godzill and Kong: New Empire (2024), Aquaman and lost kingdom (2023), Venom 2 (2021), Captain Marvel (2019), Belline dog adventures (2019), Jumanji: The next stage (2019) and Megalodon: Predator from the depths (2018)… It has already been used by more than 500 companies worldwide.
Recognition for his achievements in computer graphics, which have a useful value in the film industry, has already received in 2011, When the American magazine Mit Technology Review ranked him among the 35 most successful innovators in the worldunder 35.
This year’s Oscars for scientific and technical achievements were awarded a little later due to fires in Los Angeles. The technical Oscars, awarded by the Academy since 1931, were awarded by 1972 with other Oscars, and then awarded them at a separate event due to the length of television transfer.
