Archive for July, 2010

Enhanced Dimensions made history last week by launching Scotland’s first 3D Music Video. The video is for a song called “Gloria (The Death of Me)” by Edinburgh based indie band The Raw I’s. The video has been online for one week, with no commercial promotion, yet has already raked up over 2000 views.

The 6 minute long 3D video can be viewed using red cyan 3d anaglyph glasses on:

• YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/EnhancedDimensions)
• Vimeo (http://vimeo.com/channels/stereoscopic3d#13514033)
• Dailymotion (http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xe6jmk_3d-music-video-gloria-the-death-of_music)

The 4K 3D HD Video version can be seen using a variety of viewing methods on YouTube using their YT3D player.

The concept of the video is of a futuristic Hologram Projection Kiosk where a band performs – with the band depicted as projected holograms while the stage props, in this case guitar amps and drum kit, are solid objects. Imagine being able to buy your own little hologram theatre and watch your favourite band performing right on your desktop, that would be amazing. The concept was in part inspired by the memory of the Sega Holographic coin-op “Time Traveller” from the early 1990’s, and partly by the variations on the ”pepper ghost” illusion that is back in vogue being used at live events/theatres etc to project “holograms” in front of a live audience.

The video footage was shot using a single Sony HDR-FX 7 with the cast performing to the track in front of a greenscreen. The cast were then composited in a 3D environment created entirely within Adobe After Effects and the various shots and moves were generated with the stereoscopic effect controlled using a custom After Effects 3D rig. With this 3D rig, once the scene and general camera moves are created, the stereo effect can be increased or decreased in order to render versions suitable for a variety of screen sizes. The online version is created for a 23″ Samsung Syncmaster - this version is therefore optimal for around a 20-26″ screen.

The rendering was a massive task – each character has three animated tracking lights, plus every internal panel of the kiosk has a multi-layered animation continuously playing with certain effects syncronised to the drumbeat.  All this is rendered using an off the shelf quad core PC with 4GB RAM. To make one change, e.g.  changing the guitar amp design, would entail a week to re-render all the individual shots then another day to render the various final output 3d formats. All told the video has taken over six months to complete.

Creating the holographic look was key - it had to look a bit grungy with some harshness to suggest the technology wasn’t super smooth and that this existed in a real world environment. The fact that as you get closer the effect becomes more obvious, just as if you got too near a TV more and more artefacts become obvious really brings the look to life. Getting the hologram look right was a little like the recreating scene in Star Wars where R2-D projects Princess Leia… only not quite as sexy.

A very early clip of this was actually used in the short film “FourPlay” that won an InvaZion Award earlier this year – it’s quite interesting to contrast them now. The red cyan anaglyph version of the video can be viewed online however if you have suitable technology you can download the full HD version from the link below. A very early anaglyph version of this video that shows how far this has come will be available online soon.

• Download the half HD side-by-side version of the 3D video here.

Sources from the 3D World Magazine & Sony 3D competition have noted via their forum that around 50 entries were received for the 3d short film competition. Entries came from all over the globe, including  Japan, New Zealand, Canada, Mexico and the UK. The good news is, as there are over 50 prizes up for grabs, everyone should get some prize to reward their efforts.

The original plan was to announce the winner at this week’s SIGGRAPH and to showcase the winners there, however the sheer volume of entries has delayed this. Steve from 3D World via the forum said that he expected the winners to be announced once they get back from LA. With SIGGRAPH closing at the end of this week hopefully that means everyone who entered should be hearing in early August.

Find out more about the Sony 3D World Competition.

Teen Girl focused Magazine “Sugar” has got a special 3D issue this month with several 3D features throughout the magazine and a 3D poster of Zac Efron (much to my teenage daughters delight). As a forty something (I’d rather not be too precise) father of two, it’s only slightly embarrassing to buy a magazine that comes with a pull-out Lads mini-mag and titles like – “5 boys for One Night Only”.

The magazine also come with a free “Step Up 3D” promotional DVD and red cyan anaglyph glasses. Could be the best £2.50 you’ve spent…if you’re a teenage girl of course.

Satellite broadcaster Sky has announced that from October their Sky World HD subscribers will have access to their brand new 3D TV Channel at no extra charge – Sky 3D.

In the next step in the Sky+HD journey, Sky today announced that it will launch the UK’s first 3D channel in October. The channel will offer a broad selection of the best available 3D programming including movies, entertainment and sport. The service will be broadcast across Sky’s existing HD infrastructure and be available via the current generation of Sky+HD set-top boxes. To watch 3D, customers will also require a new ‘3D Ready’ TV.

This commitment follows extensive research and development activity into 3D, which included Sky becoming the first TV company in Europe to broadcast a live event in 3D TV. On 2nd April 2009 Sky successfully broadcast a performance by Keane live from Abbey Road Studios via the company’s satellite network to a Sky+HD set-top box and domestic 3D Ready TV.

For more info visit the Sky 3D Website

We’ve had a recent spate of press and blogging coverage following both the Invazion 2010 Award win earlier in the Year for “FourPlay” and the launch of Scotland’s first 3d music video “Gloria (The Death of Me)” by The Raw I’s.

We’ve been covered by The Edinburgh Evening News, The Scotsman, 3D Vision Blog and on the 3D Guy Website.

Thanks to everyone for their support and stay tuned for more news on 3D content from Enhanced Dimensions.

Engadget has run a story regarding the possibility of Panasonic releasing a consumer level 3d camcorder later this year. Unlike the $21,000 model that is already available to those with a suitable budget the consumer model would need to hit the sub-$1000 mark for it to be even considered as a viable consumer camcorder.

The specs are sketchy suggestions are that it will be an adaptation of an existing high end 3MOS model with a 3D Conversion lens shooting at 1080p at 60fps. Apparently Panasonic will advertise this as “The World’s First 3D Shooting Camcorder”.

Find out more at engadget.com