3D Vision Blog

Alex Savin has just shared with us a pilot stereo 3D video for an upcoming short sci-fi movie called “WARP” that he is currently working on. This is an project for an indie sci-fi flick. Production is currently based in Finland, Tampere. Some time ago the team working on the movie was lucky enough to get a grant from the state, and this pilot is the result of their work. The actual movie is still ahead, but it might as well be finished during this year. The idea is to create a good looking stereo sci-fi flick with strong storyline and visuals combined. You are more than welcome to share your comments for the video here or in the Forum.

- Download the Warp stereoscopic 3D pilot video – mirror 1
- To visit the dedicated topic in the Forum for more information about the project…

To help promote the launch of its new 3D Bravias, Sony is looking for a range of stereoscopic content to go on its in-store demo Blu-ray disc and to be made available to all purchasers of a Sony Bravia 3D TV. So they’ve teamed up with 3D World Magazine to organize a contest for stereoscopic 3D short videos made to work with active shutter technology, giving you a chance to win some attractive prizes. Each video sequence should, preferable, be around 5-10 minutes in length, however, if you have a shorter sequence that is impressive enough it can still be considered for inclusion. In terms of content there are no limitations, it can be a character animation, a VFX sequence, motion graphics or a particularly cool arch-viz flythrough. The key factors are that it’s of a professional standard, has good quality stereo 3D, and is suitable for family viewing!

The competition is open to all worldwide residents of 16 years and over, capable of producing a stereo 3D video sequence – be it a new short from scratch or re-rendering an existing project in stereo 3D. The closing date for entries is Friday 9th July 2010. You’ll need to render two sequences as single stream progressive scan 1920×1080 24fps (using any codec that plays back on a current non-3D PlayStation 3) with stereo sound. For initial judging, the the video should be arranged as two, side-by-side, horizontally compressed 960×1080 images, left eye image on the left. The 960×1080 images will then be expanded to fill the 16:9 1920×1080 screen for viewing. You’ll need to use a composing package to combine the two sequences into one piece of footage. Winning entries selected for inclusion on the demo Blu-ray disc will need to be delivered as two sets (left eye and right eye) of 1920s1080 TIFF or TARGA frames and a 48KHz Wav file for the sound (stereo or surround).

The 10 best entries selected will be included on a Blu-ray Disc used to demonstrate Sony’s new 3D TVs in stores all around the world and will be provided free of charge to the several million purchases of a 3D Bravia expected in 2010. The three best entries will win a brand new Sony Bravia 3D HD TV with active shutter glasses and a BDV-F700 Blu-ray disc home cinema system. Seven runners-up will each win a Sony Bravia LX900 3D HD TV. The next 50 entries will each get a copy of Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs when the 3D Blu-ray version of the movie is released.

On the contest’s website you will also find some nice and useful video tutorials for Autodesk Maya, modo 401, Cinema 4D, Adobe After Effects and Lightwave 3D that show you how to setup a stereoscopic 3D workflow for these products. They are not the only ones you can use of course, if you you are working with any or all of them you should check the video tutorials as they can help you and that goes not only for the contest… ;)

- Visit the official stereo 3D shorts competition page for more information…

Here is a new German amateur 3D short film called “Der Schatten der Gerechtigkeit” (The Shadow of Justice), probably the first German amateur short film shot in stereoscopic 3D. The movie is in German, but the version below is with embedded English subtitles in 3D, so that you’ll understand the dialogues (other versions are also available). The production was done with a custom side-by-side camera rig using Canon HV30 and HV20 HD cameras, because these cameras were already available, along with the rest of the equipment, so it was basically a no-budget production. For the post production a Zalman 3D Monitor was used and Acer H5360 3D projector for previewing the material in stereoscopic 3D, all the editing was done in Adobe Premiere Pro and the compositing in Adobe After Effects.

The length of the movie is 13:31 minutes and it is available in HD quality (1280×720) in Over/Under format with the left frame first best viewed with 3D Vision Video Player or Stereoscopic Player, but any other 3D setup should do. The movie is also available in anaglyph format, on Youtube 3D and in 2D version, but only the Over/Under version linked below has English subtitles, the rest are all available only in German for the moment. The end result is great, especially considering we are talking about an amateur short movie and not a professional production, but then again it also took over 8 months to prepare everything you’ll see in the video.

- Download The Shadow of Justice with English subtitles – mirror 1 – mirror 2
- Links to the other versions and more interesting materials are available here…