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By: Ken Kerschbaumer, Editorial Director Tuesday, November 3, 2009 - 3:43 pm |
SVG Los Angeles correspondent Debra Kaufman reports from the 2009 SMPTE Tech Conference and Expo, held in Hollywood last week.
The 3D stereoscopic camera system developed by Vince Pace and James Cameron for the upcoming Avatar film could be described as the most sophisticated one available. Many years in the making and evolved through the process of shooting several 3D films prior to Avatar, the camera system is a robust, flexible production medium.
That’s a vast improvement over the jerry-rigged double–film-camera systems used in the early days of stereoscopic filmmaking.
But, as a SMPTE workshop on stereoscopic production techniques demonstrated, improvements in 3D production systems appear to be stalled for the foreseeable future. That became apparent with the panel’s first scheduled talk. Attendees were eager to hear Sony’s Yoshihiko Kuroki speak about the company’s development of a 240-fps single-lens 3D camera. Among its advantages, the high-frame-rate camera offered HD resolution and simple zoom/focus control of the single lens.
Excitement turned to disappointment when SMPTE organizers said the speaker had cancelled and declined to explain why. One person in the know, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that Sony intended the camera strictly as a technology demonstration that would never be available as a product.
This lack of less complicated and more accurate 3D stereoscopic tools is worrisome to some experts, who believe that improved camera systems are key to creating momentum for stereoscopic productions. “There’s a lot of dissatisfaction with bi-camera rigs,” said panel Chair Tim Sassoon of Sassoon Film Design. “There’s a feeling that 3D won’t take off until there’s a mono-camera system.”
A mono-camera system was presented and described by visual-effects–camera operator, author, and inventor Zoran Perisic, who spent many years creating the Z3D, a compact, single-lens, stereoscopic 3D system compatible with both film and digital cameras. The system includes both an optical 3D and a video 3D viewfinder to take the guesswork out of convergence. “The advantages of a single camera are self-evident,” he noted. Even so, this system — which displayed ghosting and other problems during a four-minute demonstration film — is clearly a work in progress.
Converting 2D material to 3D is another option, as described by Sassoon and BSAT Labs President Yusuf Broachwala, the latter displaying the results of converting some ASC/SMPTE StEM footage. Despite automation of parts of the process, however, 2D-to-3D conversion is immensely time-consuming, requiring rotoscoping, 3D tracking, modeling, rigging, match moving, and compositing.
“Conversion is becoming a mainstream possibility,” said Sassoon. “But the cost is too high and production schedule too long.”
SMPTE keynoter Rob Engle, a senior stereographer and digital effects supervisor for Sony ImageWorks, pointed out that shooting in 3D is ideal. “But if, for some reason, the shot doesn’t work,” he said. “2D-to-3D conversion is a great safety net.”
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