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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

Stereo shoot for The Foundry

Peter Majtan

Peter Majtan

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Hi everyone!

I just got back from our first stereo test shoot for The Foundry. This is not a feature nor short - we were after some stereo footage destined for R&D of the new Ocula plugin from The Foundry. Shoot was done on our prototype "Wallee1" (nick name) stereo rig based around Julian's 1373 & 1374 redheads:

Wallee1_Julian_Peter.jpg
Wallee1_RL.jpg


The rig is work in progress and far from complete. As it is it weights well over 20kg and I could only managed 1 min takes at a time when handheld on my shoulder. For the next test the rig will a proper base to mount on dolly and/or crane... There was also no need for follow focus at the time, since we wanted a wide open DOF with everything in focus for the stereo test. Those are a Nikon-mounted 35mm lenses and yes - we did record to the drives as we were trying some high-speed shots. After "talking" to my shoulder on the way back from D.F. (Mexico City) we will definitely get the longer cables for both the drives and the batteries for the next shoot... :innocent:

Enough talking - here are some stills:

B001_C013_0810PT_00080.jpg


continuing in the next post...
 
Muy Interesante! (very nice pictures).
Que clase de festival es?
 
Thanks man, it's not a festival - we got some actors (performers) onto the backlot of the Churubusco Studios (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estudios_Churubusco) - the "Hollywood Studios of Latino America" and shot a simple choreography for the stereo test...

BTW, as much as I appreciate You writing in my local language - I, as a born European (Slovakian), do speak and write better in English...
But nice gesture never the less... :)
 
Thanks Ronx. I also like the second one - he was dancing and somehow I managed to move the 20+ kg rig with his face - everything else is blurred due to motion and not the DOF - which was wide open. I like how only the face is crisp. It has a certain "mood" to it... :)

BTW: The eagle is real...
 
It makes things look little smaller, but otherwise it is "watchable". Remember please that this is not destined for actual projection to public - it is a R&D footage to tune up and further improve the Ocula SW...

There isn't much You can do about getting the redheads closer together besides using a rig like the P+S Technik's - which we would do if this was for an actual screening project...

Good point anyway...
 
Very nice! :)
 
Peter,

This is starting to look pretty good. BTW those guys are from my debt collection agency:angry01:

I cant wait until we do the rest of the shooting. :construction:
 
Me too Julian - it's always a pleasure... :)

Akube - Nuke user group at Siggraph have seen some of these shots as anaglyphs with proper glasses. I will clear things out with Sam about posting some stereo pairs or/and the original RAW files - will keep You posted...

BTW: If You guys ever need a Red One in Mexico - Julian is "Da Man"...
The things he let me do to his redheads and his level of customer support and service is rarely heard off...
 
Peter Majtan said:
It makes things look little smaller, but otherwise it is "watchable". Remember please that this is not destined for actual projection to public - it is a R&D footage to tune up and further improve the Ocula SW...

There isn't much You can do about getting the redheads closer together besides using a rig like the P+S Technik's - which we would do if this was for an actual screening project...

Good point anyway...
Click to expand...

Peter,

But with parallel stereo, you can never overlap the lenses, so you really can't shoot anything very close! Hence the use of beam-splitter rigs. Otherwise, how do you shoot close up and maintain good stereo imagery?

Best,

Lucas
------
ASSIMILATE, inc.
LA, CA, USA
 
With the rig - as it is - we don't do close-ups. Both Cameras are parallel. We are going to experiment with the P+S Technik's Skater Scopes for the next test - this should give a complete flexibility to get the lenses as close as we can and also experiment with the toe-in... Needless to say the Skater Scopes are lot more expensive then the 3D rig, but is should be an interesting test... :)

The "closeup" shots were actually shot on 35mm Nikons in 3K mode, so not only You have the S35 crop factor, but it is further exaggerated by the 3K sensor crop...

In the end Luke, this was just the first test and we know it was far from perfect. It for sure brought more questions then answers. But as the "Norther Territory" Aussie campaign goes - You never never know if You never never go!

By the look of things we are in for quite a ride...

I appreciate all Your comments and suggestions - keep them coming... :)
 
Peter Majtan said:
Erik - I just came back from a stereo (3D) shoot with Julian's 1373 & 1374 and we had an interesting idea:

Would it be possible to make a two mounts calibrated and controlled by single knob for identical focus on both cameras and another knob for identical zoom on both cameras? We are perfecting our 3D custom rig and this would mean we could get two extra mounts specially modified for this...

Is this doable? And more importantly - would You be willing to make this for us? Please let me know via PM or e-mail...
Click to expand...

Stereo sync is definitely something on the roadmap... Slaving a second lens mount to the first is really simple software fix. For this to give a pleasing result, we would want to have a couple of calibration points, so both lenses track. With a test chart you would find the best focus point for left and right eye at a couple of distances, and then we would apply a correction to one of the two lenses.

Amy asked me not to promise any new features... but I have always thought stereo was cool. We built a stereo disparity engine for NASA a few years ago, to help a robot localize in realtime by building a depth map of its environment.:nerd:
 
birgerEngineer said:
Stereo sync is definitely something on the roadmap... Slaving a second lens mount to the first is really simple software fix. For this to give a pleasing result, we would want to have a couple of calibration points, so both lenses track. With a test chart you would find the best focus point for left and right eye at a couple of distances, and then we would apply a correction to one of the two lenses.

Amy asked me not to promise any new features... but I have always thought stereo was cool. We built a stereo disparity engine for NASA a few years ago, to help a robot localize in realtime by building a depth map of its environment.:nerd:
Click to expand...

You rock Erik! I can't wait to get the first mount for my redhead and then (once You have some time and make the stereo control) two more for Julian's 1373 & 1374...

Foundry would love to hear this... :)

(I know - no promises so far - my regards to Amy :innocent: )
 
Congratulations Peter and Julian on such a nice shoot!

Peter, I agree, Julian is a real nice man! FilmaRed and Red Rentals are very close, almost brothers.

If you're interested in seeing the material from the shoot in a Scratch system we will provide our Finishing suite at no cost (we really want to test it with 3d red footage). So if you need anything let me know. we're also located in Mexico City.

PS. Julian can I borrow your debt collectors for a couple of hours? :P
 
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