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Broadcast Engineering on 3-D
Archive for the ‘Film’ Category
by Michael Grotticelli May 5th, 2010
 To film critic Roger Ebert, 3-D is a “waste of a perfectly good dimension.” It was 1986 when a young fan approached Roger Ebert in a video store in Hollywood, CA, to ask why he didn’t review laser videodiscs on TV. Ebert, ever curious, said he’d never heard of laser video but was interested in learning about it. A few hours later, with an address provided by the fan, Ebert was in the offices of the Voyager Company getting a demo.
The rest, they say, was history. “Siskel and Ebert,” the biggest movie review show on TV at the time, began reviewing laser discs, and the pre-DVD technology took off. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: 3DTV, critic, perspective, Roger Ebert
Related Topics: Application, Film, News |
by Michael Grotticelli April 27th, 2010
Last year, Zero Creative launched its 2-D to 3-D conversion service for autostereoscopic 3-D displays (glasses free), such as its own xyZ 3-D display. Now, the company has introduced the capability to convert any existing 2-D content into full stereoscopic 3-D.
The service is divided in three different quality levels: basic, high and extreme. In all cases, video content is converted on manual frame-by-frame bases instead of automated processes. This approach results in a highly accurate 3-D conversion and reduces errors, according to the company. The quality levels determine the differences in 3-D perception, and, at the extreme quality, extra optical handmade image correction or additional special 3-D effects can be employed. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: 3D conversion, 3DTV, autostereoscopic, file format, stereoscopic, Zero Creative
Related Topics: Broadcast, Film, Post Production, Products |
by Michael Grotticelli April 27th, 2010
Now that many have figured out how to make beautiful 3-D images, solutions to the numerous challenges of getting them to digital cinema and consumer home screens in the most efficient way are being discussed in earnest.
The Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) is currently working on a 3D Home Master standard that will provide high-level image formatting requirements for the source materials authored and delivered by content developers. It will also provide requirements for the delivery of those materials to all distribution channels, from physical media to terrestrial, satellite, cable and other streaming service providers. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: 3DTV, autoscopic, content, delivery, distribution, Dolby, production, SMPTE, Stereoscopic 3D
Related Topics: Application, Broadcast, Film, News |
by Michael Grotticelli April 27th, 2010
 Aside from movies, DreamWorks Animation CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg thinks sports and gaming will be the most popular drivers of 3-D content in the home. As CEO of DreamWorks Animation, Jeffrey Katzenberg is afraid that his fellow Hollywood motion picture executives are going to kill the goose that laid the golden egg. The proverbial goose is 3-D technology, and Katzenberg says Hollywood is now at a “genuine crossroads” as to the future of the new medium.
He was critical of Warner Brothers’ 2-D to 3-D conversion of “Clash of the Titans,” which he termed “cheese ball.” The critics almost universally agreed with him, although audiences are coming in large numbers to see the film, which is currently in movie theaters. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: 3DTV, DreamWorks Animation, Jeffrey Katzenberg, production
Related Topics: Acquisition, Broadcast, Film, News, Post Production |
by Michael Grotticelli April 5th, 2010
 When viewing movies, most less than two hours in length, binocular dysphoria has not been a huge issue for audiences. Most 3-D display technology, whether in the theater or at home, requires viewers to wear electronic glasses that are timed to open and close rapidly. A slightly different image is projected to each eye, and from that difference, the brain creates the illusion of depth.
However, our brains process visual information in many different ways, and human depth perception is a very complicated business. The brain uses 10 different cues to figure out the distance of an object. One if them is parallax, which is used by most 3-D TVs. For 3-D to work, the brain must reject several of the other cues in favor of parallax. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: 3DTV, binocular, dysphoria, medical, viewing
Related Topics: Application, Broadcast, Film, News |
by Michael Grotticelli March 17th, 2010
 On the set of “The Mortician,” cinematographer Michael McDonough uses an Element Technica Quasar 3-D camera rig. Photo by Cook Allender. For more than a century, the term “low budget” was never applied to 3-D production. Making 3-D content was always tricky, complex and expensive. And like with any nascent technology, equipment costs usually take a while to become affordable, and production values improve over time.
However, highly skilled 3-D production is already being applied to a wide a variety of projects, some with limited budgets, as professionals find new cost-effective tools to get the job done. A good example is the new Panasonic AG-3DA1 handheld 3-D camcorder that costs $21,000. These tools are limited in their scope (they are not going to be used to shoot a major feature like “Avatar”), but they provide the effect audiences are coming to expect.
Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: 3-D, 3D systems, Element Technica, Keith Collea, Michael McDonough, OFFHollywood, production, The Mortician
Related Topics: Application, Film, News |
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Michael Grotticelli is writer and editor of Broadcast Engineering’s “Beyond the Headlines” and “Sports Technology Update” e-newsletters. Each week, he provides a fresh perspective on the latest in 3-D technologies and innovations as well as report on real-world applications of 3-D in the broadcast, professional video and film industries.
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