[Minnesota Public Radio]

“I’d like to talk to you about a fresh start, a new world,” a character tells Sam Worthington’s Jake Sully in the opening scenes of “Avatar,” the 3-D mega-hit. “You’d be making a difference.”

The same line might be pitched at Minnesota filmmakers being encouraged to literally take their work to a new dimension this week at a “3D University,” day-long Twin Cities symposium on the growing demand for 3-D material.

To be sure, it’s a long way from the planet Pandora to downtown Minneapolis, but it’s here that Minnesota Film and Television Board Executive Director Lucinda Winter is working to foster a brave new world of 3-D production. She says that while 3-D has not exploded the way people predicted it might a couple of years ago, there is a growing demand for content, and people with 3-D expertise are going to get work.  …

Ployhar recently worked on a huge 3D project created almost entirely in Minnesota, “Space Junk 3-D,” an examination of the threat of debris in Earth’s outer atmosphere. The film is the brainchild of Minnesota producer Melissa Butts, founder of Melrae Pictures. She says that while 3-D takes some specialized equipment, the real need here is to develop expertise.  …

If You Go: 3D University takes place Monday, Feb. 27, 9 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. at Showplace Icon Theaters in the Shops at the West End, on West End Boulevard, in St. Louis Park.

Among those scheduled to attend are 21st Century 3-D founder Jason Goodman, who brought “Pirates of the Caribbean 3-D” and “The Amazing Spiderman 3-D” to big screens, and Steve Schklair, founder and CEO of 3ality Digital Systems, whose credits include “U2 3D,” and “ESPN 3D.”

Read the full story here: http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2012/02/19/3-d-u-minnesota/