Optoelectronic Computing Systems Center (1987-1998) – Spinoff ColorLink (now RealD Cinema) introduced a new generation of 3D film technology that won an Academy Award for Special Effects, in the 2009 movie Avatar.
The blockbuster film Avatar unveiled a new generation of 3-D cinematic experience and won a 2009 Academy Award for Visual Effects based in part on its innovative 3-D technology. That technology was licensed from a California company, RealD Cinema, and had its roots in research and technology developed in the late 1980s and early 1990s at the OCS ERC, at the University of Colorado and Colorado State University, which was commercialized by an OCS spinoff, ColorLink.
The OCS center generated a number of inventions related to color display technology and color projection technology. In 1995, OCS researchers spun out some of these innovations into ColorLink Inc. In 2007, ColorLink was bought by RealD, which applied its technologies to the development of 3-D projection.
