Mastering 3D - from lens to screen

As you may notice from some of our other posts today, we were at the recent 3D Masters 2010 conference organised by TVB Europe magazine, which was held at BAFTA, in London. The conference covered all aspects of 3D from acquisition to playout. There was also a technology display, and we talked to exhibitors about some of the problems of 3D and how their technology can help to overcome them.

Interviewees include:

- Rob Portus, freelance rig technician, Decode: on what makes a good 3D rig, the difficulty in matching lenses, and overcoming problems on set.

- Robin Palmer, head of software, Hamlet: on how to avoid problems in post production by getting it right during recording. Its latest technology allows users to quickly see differences in exposure, or other settings, between lenses and to make sure they are correctly aligned.

- Damon Hawkins, Post & DI, Quantel: who talked about how to use the latest version of its Pablo 4K system (V5) to do depth balancing, vertical alignment and control divergence, as well as compositing, grading, pan & scan, and create deliverables. The system was used on Avatar for conforming, depth balancing and all the subtitling.

- Deepraj Sandher, application specialist, Avid: talks about the latest version of Avid's Media Composer non-linear editing system (V5) and how it can be used for stereoscopic editing.

- Russel Leak, sales director, Brainstorm Multimedia: It supplies 3D graphics services and software systems for broadcast, often for use with incoming real-time data (such as for sports or election results). He talks about how best to integrate graphics with 3D video.

- Adolfo Rodriguez, director of marketing, Omneon: Its servers and storage for playout, acquisition and archiving can all handle 3D, playing out perfectly synchronised left and right channels, or single channels side by side (depending on what broadcasters need).

Related posts: 3Ality check for 3D camcorders, The 3D skills shortage, The 3Ality of the HD to 3D transition, BSkyB prepares for 3D launch and Sky 3D - setting the standards.