[3D Roundabout]

Last month we looked at Interocular distance, miniaturisation, convergence and focus. I concluded that too great an interocular distance causes eye strain, elongation and miniaturisation, whereas too small a distance causes objects to appear unnaturally large. I also looked at the effects of different convergence and focus settings. This month, I will discuss the cut-out effect, scene focus and viewing distance.

The cut-out effect

While there is a certain amount of disagreement on the issue of the cut-out effect – mainly to do with terminology and the individual’s concept of the image that is being looked at, in general terms, the cut-out effect is when planes of objects seem unnaturally separated, as if they appear in separate layers like cardboard cut-outs stuck at different distances.

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Conclusion

Using long lenses to provide close-ups on distant objects is often unavoidable, but it will result in image foreshortening. However, while it is tempting to increase the interocular distance in order to compensate for this, as I have shown in the above examples, this can in fact make the problem worse.

The issue of focus is even more important with objects in the foreground, as these are closer to the viewer, and the brain knows that these should be clearer than images further away. However, focus can be used to guide the audience to specific locations within the image, as demonstrated on a number of occasions in Martin Scorsese’s film Hugo.

As also shown above, the ratio of the viewer from the screen, based on the screen size, needs to be understood in determining the amount of stereoscopic effect that will be apparent. Again, there are all sorts of calculations for this, but as was stated at the beginning of this series, our industry is about the image, not about strict mathematics!

In my final part of this series next month, I will discuss projection and displays, and headache-inducing problems.

Steve Shaw is a Partner in Light Illusion, a top consulting service for the digital film market, with offices in the UK and India.

See the full story here: http://3droundabout.com/2012/02/6467/the-basics-of-shooting-stereoscopic-3d-part-5-the-cut-out-effect-scene-focus-and-viewing-distance.html?

[3D Roundabout]

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3D News

… I am used to scripted and documentary shooting, but now I was taking 3D into the news arena. But what better way to bring home the reality of this disaster than in 3D?

Equipment planning

The first challenge was how to bring the 3D equipment down to a manageable amount. …

The need to edit quickly

With the shoot in the can, now the task of getting the edit done quickly became paramount. As a news story, a prolonged wait would reduce the impact and urgency of the story. My studio has been working with the new Grass Valley Edius 3D version. Since I had been beta testing the software for some time (the 3D Preview version has since been released to the public), I was confident that it was up for the task. …

Epilogue

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As a postscript to this story, Tom Coughlin of the Storage Vision Conference held in Las Vegas on January 8 & 9, just before the Consumer Electronics Show contacted me after seeing the first video. The storage industry players such as Western Digital, have factories in Thailand that produce 60% of the worlds’ hard drives. Tom was familiar with the flood situation and the hardships that it brought to the Thai people. He wanted to do something to help and he saw this 3D video as a way to immerse people in what was happening.

At the Vision Storage Conference there was a booth set up showing Faces of the Flood 3D to the attendees of both his conference and CES. Tom also donated US$1000 to aid the victims of the flood.

Special thanks to John Taylor, VP of Public Affairs and Communications for LG Electronics USA who graciously and without hesitation stepped forward to donate the use of an LG Cinema 3D TV and 3D glasses for the booth.

See the full story with many pictures here: http://3droundabout.com/2012/02/6423/tales-from-the-3d-road-filming-the-bangkok-flood-of-2011.html?