S*0730 Concurrent Resolution, By Cromer, Massey, Setzler, Courson and Shealy
 A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION TO RECOGNIZE INTERACTIVE DATA VISUALIZATION, INC., OF
 LEXINGTON, ON ITS DEVELOPMENT OF SPEEDTREE(r) SOFTWARE AND TO CONGRATULATE THE
 COMPANY ON RECEIVING A 2015 ACADEMY AWARD(r) FOR SPEEDTREE'S OUTSTANDING
 ENRICHMENT OF THE CINEMATIC EXPERIENCE.

   04/29/15  Senate Introduced, adopted, sent to House
                     (Senate Journal-page 3)
   04/30/15  House  Introduced, adopted, returned with concurrence
                     (House Journal-page 28)

TO RECOGNIZE INTERACTIVE DATA VISUALIZATION, INC., OF LEXINGTON, ON ITS DEVELOPMENT OF SPEEDTREE® SOFTWARE AND TO CONGRATULATE THE COMPANY ON RECEIVING A 2015 ACADEMY AWARD® FOR SPEEDTREE'S OUTSTANDING ENRICHMENT OF THE CINEMATIC EXPERIENCE.

Whereas, the South Carolina General Assembly is pleased to learn that Lexington's Interactive Data Visualization, Inc. (IDV), has received an Academy Award® from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for its development of SpeedTree®, the virtual vegetation software that has grown to dominate the worldwide visual effects and video game industries since it was created in the Palmetto State in 2002; and

Whereas, as the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences expressed it, "This software substantially improves an artist's ability to create specifically designed trees and vegetation by combining a procedural building process with the flexibility of intuitive, direct manipulation of every detail." The result is amazingly natural real-time trees and plants for real-time projects, high-end animations, and architectural fly-throughs; and

Whereas, a Technical Achievement Award (Academy Certificate) was presented at a ceremony in Beverly Hills, California, on February 7, 2015, to the three developers of SpeedTree: Michael Sechrest and Chris King, IDV's co-founders, and Greg Croft, senior software architect, all South Carolina natives who received master's degrees in computer engineering from the University of South Carolina. The Scientific and Technical Academy Awards ceremony was followed on February 22, 2015, by the globally televised Oscars® presentation; and

Whereas, South Carolinians are especially proud of IDV's achievements since SpeedTree development began while IDV was still a member of the Technology Incubator Program at the University of South Carolina; and

Whereas, this isn't SpeedTree's first brush with the Oscars. SpeedTree was featured prominently in 2009's Avatar, which received nine Oscar nominations and three Oscars. Since then, dozens more movies have added SpeedTree to their special effects, including Oscar-winning and Oscar-nominated films like The Great Gatsby and The Wolf of Wall Street, as well as blockbusters like The Avengers, X-Men: Days of Future Past, Iron Man 3, and Maleficent; and

Whereas, with much anticipation of enjoying IDV's fine work in their future film attendance, the members of the South Carolina General Assembly take great pleasure in saluting Interactive Data Visualization, Inc., on its well-deserved success. Now, therefore,

Be it resolved by the Senate, the House of Representatives concurring:

That the members of the South Carolina General Assembly, by this resolution, recognize Interactive Data Visualization, Inc., of Lexington, on its development of Speedtree® software and congratulate the company on receiving a 2015 Academy Award® for Speedtree's outstanding enrichment of the cinematic experience.

Be it further resolved that a copy of this resolution be provided to IDV.