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MillimeterThe State of 3D
Jul 29, 2010 12:00 PM, By Jan Ozer
I wanted to know who's doing 3D, how, and for what types of productions. Dave Helmly, North American tech sales manager for pro video/audio at Adobe; CineForm CEO David Taylor; and Sean Kilbride, Nvidia's technical marketing manager, workstation products provided the answers in email interviews.
Dave Helmly, North American tech sales manager for pro video/audio at Adobe
What's your sense of how many videographers are now producing or trying to produce in 3D?
This is common question I get all the time and not an easy one to answer from the NLE side. We are getting a ton of questions about 3D workflows from the broadcast market, the independent events market and there is a lot of interest from our Premiere and After Effects user base about 3D which shows a huge interest. This is the main reason I made the 60 minute video.
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What's their motivation?
Many of these customers say the same thing- the time to make money with 3D is now while it's still new and fresh. With new TV channels coming on line, the need for 3D content is growing. This includes local and national commercials. As you already know, there are a lot of desktop editors that make their living from national and local TV commercials and having the ability to do 3D stereo output gives them a leg up on their competition. We saw the same excitement with the HD. For some high-end wedding markets, 3D could also be an advantage. Many of these editors have more competition (lots of Pro video graduates with a sense of storyline, color, and proper use of effects) in the HD space and they need a new way to separate them from other HD editors.
What's the demographic? Are you seeing anything in the business market, or is it all indy film?
This has been split. I've had customers ranging from federal and state markets wanting a 3D kiosk in their lobby showing a promotional type piece to event video. 3D is just a way to get them to view their content and message. With the indy film market, the workflows get more costly and more complicated as each 3D scene needs to be carefully adjusted for the best 3D effect. Programs like CineForm's First Light is perfect for this as you can now have adjustable keyframes for convergence changes.
What camera/rig are most videographers using to shoot the video?
Most people appear to use a side-by-side rig. The rigs are basically the same with the main difference being the type of camera. These can range from two SDI cameras to AVCHD, to two Canon DSLRs. There are more and more rigs popping up with more cameras which can help when needing to adjust convergence without needing to auto zoom in the software. These side-by-side cameras all have the same issue of trying adjusting zoom, iris, and gain, which is really not possible without stopping the shot and making adjustments. Once you understand your limitations and adjust your shooting style, you can end up with some pretty amazing stereo video by using simple side-by-side rigs. The quality for the money is amazing. The cameras I mainly use are a pair of Canon HF10's which cost around $490 each.
Clearly Panasonic's AG-3DA1 camera has the advantage here as you can adjust any of these while you are shooting, including ocular spacing (convergence). At this point, this AVCCAM camera comes with a $21K price tag for that advantage. It's the closest thing I've seen to a point and shoot solution with all of the normal controls you would expect as a shooter. The broadcast customer seems to be the main market for this unit and CS5 and Cineform workflow fits this need perfect.
What are the most common target outputs? YouTube 3D? 3D DVD? Film?
This really depends on how you plan to show the video. Most 3D TVs will take Side By Side or Over Under stream in various formats like H264 or MPEG2. The TV can detect this mode and switch to 3D mode.You can also manually switch the 3D TV to 3D on the remote. For YouTube HD and Vimeo HD, anaglyph is the only answer. The key to anaglyph is to give your eyes about 10 seconds to adjust to the color shift and stand back at least 6 feet to help with the ghosting effects.
3D DVD and 3D Bluray require special encoders to encode 3D Stereo for these 3D hardware players to detect the 3D stream. There are not a lot of options for 3D authoring out there yet. You can create a 3D video exported to an AVCHD stream and burn it to BD disc and set it for auto play. The 3D TV will see the Side By Side stream but it requires you to put the 3D TV into 3D viewing by pressing the 3D button on the remote. This solution will work for most if you just put a note at the beginning of your video that tells the viewer to press the 3D button on their remote. Again, the real solution should be for the player to detect the 3D stream and switch automatically and this requires additional encoding on the authoring side.
The film market at this point is using 10 bit Cineon Log DPX files. The main size is still 1920x1080 but these DPX files can really be any size 2K or 4K . These files usually have separate Left and Right files. (Side By Side workflow is not a Film workflow as it's only half res)
What 3D viewing systems are editors using to edit at all ranges of the market, from James Cameron down to the prosumer?
For the pro/film market they use mainly projection systems like the Christie Dual HD SDI RealD units. There are a number of other projection systems around which use spinning discs and other methods of creating the 3D effect. I've seen a number of these in use in Hollywood and it's pretty impressive. Anaglyph in some parts of the film workflow has been used for years as well
For broadcast markets, they are mainly using side-by-side viewing either dual SDI or 3D TV. prosumers are just now getting started and many are using anaglyph but could benefit by buying a 3D TV like I mention in the video.Additionally, the new Nvidia 3D Vision display solution is well suited for all 3 markets for a clean editing and preview solution for small groups. The 3D Vision glasses allow you work at normal distances to your computer screen without eye strain. This is quickly becoming the preferred NLE solution. The Alienware 2310 is the current monitor of choice for editing and viewing. This is an amazing solution by Nvidia.
What's unique about CS5's 3D workflow?
The Adobe CS5 Premiere Pro 3D workflow with CineForm is unique because we can work with stereo files on a single timeline, add effects like 3D titles, dissolves, 32-bit color correction and so on in a single pass as well as preview in real time in a variety of ways. We support Nvidia 3D Vision Active Shutter Glasses (also know as Page Flip); passive monitors like the Hyundai; commercial 3D TVs with Active glasses like the ones from Samsung, Panasonic, and Sony. All from a standard DVI port using Open GL, AJA Kona 3 dual SDI, Nvidia dual SDI, and various anaglyph formats.
Previewing and exporting your timeline with effects is a huge advantage when working with 3D and needing to make constant adjustments on a quality display system. Most 3D solutions from other NLE require you to use anaglyph (need to stand back 6 or more feet and the color is off) or passive monitors (prices start at $1,450 and using $2,000 Dual Link SDI boards – most expensive solution) Adobe Premiere Pro allows you to use a $350-to-$450 120Hz computer display with a $200 Nvidia 3D Vision Kit for the highest possible quality for editing and viewing. With the addition of using consumer based 3D TVs (prices start at around $1,699 for a 40in. Samsung UN40C7000 (the main one I use) and $100 glasses makes this an affordable large LED solution.
With Adobe CS5 Premiere Pro, you can basically view 3D Stereo any way you need to including Dual SDI to a Christie projector.
Any movies or high-end productions built using the Premiere Pro/CineForm workflow?
There are several projects going on. One example is with second unit director and visual effects supervisor Rob Legato. He is currently evaluating CineForm Neo 3D with CS5 Premiere Pro as a VFX editorial tool for 3D review on Martin Scorsese's The Invention of Hugo Cabret.
Continue the discussion on “Crosstalk” the Millimeter Forum.