Translator: Michele Gianella Reviewer: Denise RQ
Do you know who this person is?
Do you? Maybe yes, maybe no?
He's Leonard Nimoy.
Who's Leonard Nimoy? Speak up!
He's Spock, great!
That man is Mr. Spock,
probably no one recognized him at first, maybe only this girl,
- but when I told you he was Mr. Spock ...
Who knows Mr. Spock?
A lot of people.
He's an actor, an artist;
a person with no real job;
being an artist doesn't really pay your home mortgage.
A real job is when you got a degree,
you're an engineer, a doctor, a lawyer.
Do you know who's this lady?
She certainly has got a real job and is a former army pilot and an astronaut.
She's Samantha Cristoforetti,
who speaks five languages and has two degrees.
At the moment, she's on orbit,
and the problem with Leonard, the previous fellow,
is that he died last year.
So Samantha, while in space, gave us the Star Trek Vulcan salute
and wore a Star Trek t-shirt.
If you think about this, she's in outer space
because she has been inspired by Star Trek movies;
maybe you've been inspired by another book, by something else,
any other thing written by a dreamer.
A crew worked like hell to build her spaceship.
That's a real space station, she's really on orbit
and what you see is the Earth's curvature.
She's maybe an astronaut
because she wanted to do the things they did in Star Trek:
go in outer space, explore it
much like you made your choice after that special movie or book,
or after something that inspired you.
So yes, engineers and this type of fellows are important and have a real job;
but dreamers are also important.
They invent things even if they don't physically build them.
They're important, those guys are inspiring the future
and as importantly, lots of people are really creating the future.
I studied Computer Graphics: if I wanted to become a doctor,
my main problem would have been all those years I should have studied,
tons and tons of books, so much stuff.
Architecture is another real job,
but it's not that better:
because I got so many stuff to study there too!
Engineering? Wow, that's even worse.
Photography?
Slightly better, just got 200-300 years.
So it's pretty good.
What if I would like to do CG? Yesterday.
Yes, because CG was born yesterday so there are very few things to study.
So I chose CG!
This is how a CG worker was perceived.
So when you tell someone you're doing CG,
the second question they ask you is:
I got a problem with Word, can you fix it?
Sorry, I don't know how to use Word.
That's weird, you're a genius!
Just because people think those things,
people think about that guy behind the computer
doing incredible stuffs in his basement,
not talking to anyone, no one knows what he does.
Then suddenly a movie hit the theaters,
probably just seven people saw it..
Did anybody see it in this room?
They're all here, unbelievable!
So that's a moment in history.
(Applause)
This movie represents the first time artists used CG
to make stuffs that used to be made
by engineers or other pointy-head folks.
But people didn't get it completely,
so Pixar came and did this.
Who watched Toy Story?
From there, it has become clear
that CG could make money but could also tell a lot of stories;
that technology wasn't so complicated anymore
and artists could finally use CG like a pen.
Let's start a short CG course:
what a CG artist does
is opening his computer,
opening Maya - a software among others, 3D Studio Max or no matter what,
pushing the Create button,
then pushing the Polygone, Cube buttons and after that Move Vertex.
Those are real commands of the software;
he will do it again and again, a million times, all day long;
and then he finally gets this.
That's cool, isn't it?
He will do it again, so many times, all day long,
maybe for a couple of weeks too and then at the end you'll see this,
because he made the Star Trek spaceship.
Artists make them in movies by moving vertexes.
But what's most interesting
is that so many people are studying gravitational waves,
black holes, warp engines, teleport or are willing to reach Mars
because they've been inspired by this,
because a dreamer has made this movie.
You've already been on Mars, you've seen The Martian,
or all those movies that depict Mars in detail.
You already went there,
For you guys, all future missions would probably be like,
no big deal, we're going to Mars..
Being able to do this means
that you're continuously inspired by movies, every day.
So many dreamers, so many people
are working on things that probably other people will realize.
I'm so lucky I'm working in a school
where we grow tons of those dreamers.
Beyond explaining them CG,
we tell that everything is possible
and we bring them in the middle of nowhere,
to the desert between California and Utah,
we take these guys more or less 20-25 years old,
and after the CG course,
we leave them in the desert with ten jeeps, saying,
"Just do what you feel, everything is possible."
Want to go somewhere? Go!
Do you really want to go with seven cars in the middle of nowhere? Just go there!
Ready, set, go, because you can, it's possible.
If I had a magic wand now
and brought you back in time
- maybe someone is around 40 here like me -
if they could give me a magic wand
and put me back to 15,
if I wanted to become an astronaut, I would probably be into orbit now,
100% granted.
Who would undoubtedly change their life, if I put them back to 15?
Just me? Two people? Only four of us?
So everyone else had a perfect life?
Well, sounds great.
That's what we have to explain to our kids, we need to convey now
- not when they'll be 40 -
that you can change your life but you have to do it now,
because everything is possible.
For example, have a look at this incredible view.
What strikes you as weird?
That star?
That's not a star!
This picture has been taken by Curiosity on Mars.
That's Mars and the star; the pixel you see in the middle is the Earth.
We are on that pixel.
All the troubles we make,
- I do this because I can't see you -
all the troubles we make
all wars and problems, all that stuff about crude oil, a total mess;
that pixel.
Everything is downsized from Mars,
which is our neighbor, is truly around the corner,
it's not hard to get there.
Going to Alpha Centauri is, or to other galaxies;
but there's so much stuff in the middle.
We can discover incredible things;
CG practicioners have already been there.
You all saw Star Trek and those movies,
normal people should see it also.
Because when you realize that you are on that pixel,
you have to choose:
either you're a dreamer and design the future;
or you can be inspired by a dreamer and truly create it.
If you're in the middle, you're wasting your time.
(Applause)