Researchers use AI to add 4-D effects to movies

James Cameron's 3-D film Avatar sought to revolutionize the movie-going experience when it was first released in 2009, creating an immersive world for viewers. But what if you also wanted to feel the heat and the wind, while flying on a banshee, direct from your cinema seat? While a small number of so-called "4-D" movies that add a physical element already exist, researchers from the University of Toronto are working on a way to apply the feature more broadly. "Usually the chair will shake, there can be splashing or some other kind of interaction while watching the film," says Yuhao Zhou, a fourth-year undergraduate in the Edward S. Rogers Sr. department of electrical & computer engineering, of the emerging entertainment. "Right now all these effects are created from the first phase of production. We'd like to automate this kind of process for movies that were not originally created for 4-D cinemas."