Post 11: TESTING ARTISTA SOMNIA IN 3D

  I posted a very short 3D ALYS STAGE TEST a couple of days ago just to show the possibilities, but have now extended it to a couple of minutes, and posted it again on YouTube. You can watch it either with anaglyph Cyan-Red glasses, or with polarized glasses IF you have a 3D Monitor:
     3D ALYS DEEP STAGE TEST WITH FLYING OBJECTS 
  I also reworked short clips from last year's Artista Somnia Show in 3D by using the 3D rig in After Effects, or just adding a camera. The results are actually quite impressive, and it's awfully nice to see in 3D a show that was created in 3D, but only shown in 2D on the building. My hope is that may be we can show it again in 3D and with 3D sound using 3D projectors, polarized glasses, and "silent disco" headphones... Here are four clips in 3D:
      BEGINNING OF DANSE MACABRE
          ECORCHE MUSICIANS
         BALLOON DROP FINALE
                            ARCHITECT DREAM IN 3D

Post 10: JUST GOT A PASSIVE 3D MONITOR

    In order to work on 3D projects, I needed a 3D Monitor, so after a good bit of research, I settled on the LG Electronics D2343P-BN 23-Inch LED Monitor.  

    It came in today, and it is amazingly thin, light, bright, with great contrast and color(the glossy screen may have something to do with it), straight out of the box. Setting it up for 3D was easy, and the short test I did last week looks great on it with the supplied passive glasses.

  If you look at the image up close, there are visible black horizontal lines every second pixel, but when the 3D video plays, it isn't really that noticeable, and the 3D image is very bright and sharp. With active glasses, there are no lines, but the image is a little dimmer. That's the trade off between the two techniques. However, I have to say the playback on the big 80" Sharp Aquos TV is really impressive.

  The trade off between 2D and 3d is that the full 1920 x 1080 2D image becomes 960 x 540 in passive 3D. Still looks good though. 

  The big question now is: CAN WE PROJECT IN 3D ON THE BUILDING? I have e mailed Mike Cruce at Media Visions(that supplied the two 10K projectors we used for the last show) to find out if these projectors are passive 3D capable. It would look so much better than any Anaglyph.
   There are paper polarized glasses for about $0.55 a piece for 1000, but I am not sure they would work.
   The plastic frame Circular polarized glasses are more expensive(about $2.25 a pair for 100+), but are much more comfortable to wear, and much sturdier, so they could be re used for other 3D shows. I have a pair I got at the movies, and it works fine with my monitor.

  

Post 9: GETTING AGGRAVATED WITH CINEMA 4D LITE IN AFTER EFFECTS CC

    I just recently installed the new After Effects CC from the Adobe Cloud, and the included Cineware effect and Cinema 4D Lite that are included seem to offer great possibilities for my full 3D Project. But the geeks that designed it really didn't make it easy and intuitive! And I can't find any user manual. I have been messing with it for two days now and still have not figured out how to make a 3D object move. There is an Animate menu, splines, and a timeline, but I can't figure out how to set keyframes and move the object on a path. I have asked Joe to the rescue, and am hoping he has the answer to this one...! Please...

Post 8: BINAURAL AUDIO RECORDING

    A little digression here because I just ran into that stuff I didn't know anything about yet, and it sounds like something I could use. The key word is BINAURAL, as explained in WILKEPEDIA. 
    The effect is actually pretty fabulous, you can hear sounds in front, behind, left, right or above you. It's like being in the room, it's basically 3D SOUND. There are numerous examples of this 3D sound on YouTube, or on the VIRTUAL AND REALITY web site.
     It's also called "Dummy Head Recording", but Dummy Head microphone setups are very expensive, so one can actually use one's own head as a "dummy head"(I like that), and place special microphones placed in one's ears to record instead. One's need a pair of BINAURAL MICROPHONES ,and probably a  POWER SUPPLY if the recorder used doesn't have enough power.   
    I assume I could record directly in the computer with my M-Audio Interface.
    The downside is that you have to wear earphones to really get the effect, which would be a little difficult for a large crowd, as you would need a radio, WIFI, or Bluetooth transmitter, like we used for the SILENT DISCO dancing in the dome at PTTR. 
    Now, what I am wondering is: can I fake it without the microphones, just using Audio software like Adobe Audition and sound effects? 
    After some research, I found 3D surround sound software called VIBESTATION LE, which is actually available free on the Apple Store. I have been testing it, and found it fairly intuitive after a few pointers from the manual. And it works! I am far from having figured it all out, but I have already put together a simple 3D soundtrack test that HAS to listened on headphones if you want to get he 3D effect.

Post 7: ALYS FACADE 3D STAGE TESTS

    Today, for a change, I tested a very short segment of the "Danse "Macabre" scene in 3D, using the stereo rig that is built into After Effects. Very simple indeed, and the effect works very well, except that the anaglyph is grayish because the scene contains a lot of red. That would be a good candidate for amber/blue glasses, or of course for my 3D TV in the squashed side by side format. 
   Then, I started building an entirely new 3D set starting with the Alys Stevens Center facade with a giant jagged hole in it: 

   To build a deep stage behind it, I used some old écorché prints for my walls, the same checkerboard floor, and a tin ceiling I made out of pictures of ceiling tiles. Then I added a number of objects, some inside, some in front, some slanted at an angle in the x or y plane. Some fly in and out the other side with a trajectory that brings them way forward. It looks pretty good in standard cyan/red anaglyph, except again that the reds are grayed out. I will  definitely have to find a way to render in Amber/Blue, which unfortunately doesn't seem to be an option in After Effects. Come on Adobe, the free Windows software Stereo Movie Maker has been doing that for years, it couldn't possibly be that hard! 
                               Here is the result.
    Now I want to see the effect in full color on my 80" 3D TV, so I rendered the left and right eye separately, and used Premiere Pro to squash them together in a 1920x1080 frame (in that stupid format that wastes half of the definition...), and rendered as a .mov file. I loaded it on a USB drive, plugged it in the TV, fiddled with the damn buttons as always(WHY CAN'T GEEK TV DESIGNERSMAKE IT SIMPLER?), and whaooooo!!! Now that really pops out in full color, and 80" big. Really impressive. The objects are still 2D at this stage though, but I am working on making them 3D too. And I want to figure out how to play it on the Alys Stevens facade. I hope the big projectors are 3D ready and we can use polarized passive 3D glasses for the show instead of anaglyph, which kills the colors.
     In order to be able to work on the computer in real 3D( not anaglyph or cross eyed), I ordered a new 23" LG D2343P-BN passive 3D monitor:

    I am really excited about the possibilities...

Post 6: 3D CAMCORDER OR 2 CAMERA RIG?

   For my 3D photography, I have been using a 2 camera rig with a Canon G12 and a G11 mounted on a rack I made:

 It works very well for photography. The problem now is that the the G11 only shoots video in 640x480, and even on the G12 that shoots HD 720p, there are no manual adjustments. Plus I want HD1080p.
  The cheapest solution would be to rig up two Canon Rebel T3i with the 18-55mm Zoom, which have basically the same manual video capabilities as the T4i, T5i or EOS60D, at a much lower price:

   I have never used a T3i before, so I borrowed my friend Michael's T4i to run some tests both at the Botanical Gardens and close up in the studio.
   It was quickly obvious that the T4i had a much shallower depth of field than the G12 or the Z100 because of the larger sensor, and that such a rig would not work for close up work in the studio.
     Tests at the Botanical Gardens lily pond showed very good image quality, but big problems with the autofocus.  The camera would have to be used with manual focus.
    In conclusion, the idea will not fly for my purposes.
    I also considered a rig of two camcorders, but the tests of my old JVC-GZ-HD7 showed too much pixilation and muddy colors compared to the newer cameras. 
   Looks like I am stuck with the Camileo Z100 for the moment as my best choice.

Post 5: SLIDES AND JIB

   I want to be able to do smooth camera moves. My homemade animation set with turntable and crane is too rough for video, so I pulled back out a JIB I made a few years ago when I first played with 2D video:

 I  had also made at the time a motorized slide, but couldn't get it to be moving smooth enough, so I started to modify it to work by hand. 
    But just to be sure, I ordered a reasonably priced 47" slide from Amazon:

Post 4: CAMILEO TESTS

     I got the large 77mm close up lens set, and mounted  a 58 to 72mm + 72 to 77 mm adapter ring set I already had to the barrel of the Camileo lens wit a rubber spacer. It fits tight, and will allow me to use other filters besides the close up lenses, especially a polarizer:

                          

       Here is a TEST WITH +1 CLOSE UP LENS  
      Since it is almost impossible to see the LCD viewfinder in bright sun, I pulled back out the foldable velcro attached  shade I made years ago for my JVC:

      I went to my usual Botanical Gardens testing grounds and shot a bunch of different subjects in different lights. The limitations of the Camileo were pretty clear:

                              NYMPHEAS

      .Like most consumer level cameras and camcorders, images tend to be overexposed and a little washed out. Using the center weighted or spot option can help as long as the camera does'nt move.

                  .The auto exposure creates problems as soon as the camera moves from dark to light. 
          .The contrast tends to be too high and the lights blown out.
          .The camera movements have to be very slow to keep the 3D illusion and keep the blur down.
          .The numeric zoom is totally useless, as expected.
          .The camera has to be on a sturdy tripod with a fluid head, as shakes destroy both the image quality and the 3D effect.
       .The 3D effect only works with a close forefront object in the frame. Everything beyond 20 ft is pretty flat(because the lenses are so close together).The camera may well be best used for close up studio work.
          .There are inconsistencies with the automatic balance system.
          .The camera tens to set the convergence too close and images tend to pop out of the screen too much.

Post 3: MY NEW CAMILEO Z100

   The reviews of the Z100 were quite good(for the money), and I found some footage by Movieman  to watch on YouTube that looked decent, so I ordered the little Toshiba.  
   An little it is, even tiny...But this toy is actually pretty impressive for the money,  even if with 2 HD1920x1080 sensors on board, it records in the squashed side by side format that's used by 3D TVS. That means that the definition on the width is divided by two. Kind of stupid in my book, but that is what the engineers at Toshiba decided...
    Regardless, after shooting some footage around the patio, I plugged it into my big 80" Sharp Aquos 3D television, and it looked pretty impressive. In fact, it tends to jump out of the screen a little too much, in front of the window, and I would want to correct that with software.   
    Also the video tended to be a little washed out, so I played with the few settings: average, center weighted or spot metering, digital light(extends dynamic range), backlight on/off. I reshot clips of my patio fountain till it looked better(darker). 
    Just to see, I then shot in the studio in tungsten light a shaky hand held close up clip of a group of some of my objets. There are a lot of things wrong with that clip: except for the beginning wide view, the rest is in "window violation". That is a "3D geek" term that means that objects that should be behind the window frame are instead in front of it, and cut off, which looks weird. You do not want to crop things in 3D as you do in 2D. The red pencil pokes out nicely, but again, the whole thing needs to move back behind the frame. Also, there is too much contrast: the darks and mid tones are OK, but the lights are blown out, which I hate. And at one point, the auto exposure changes and the image suddenly gets darker. But the white hand is still blown out. Finally, the focus is fuzzy because I am too close from the objects.
     I will try and fix that close up focus problem first. I pulled out an old set of 52mm close up lenses and held them in turn held against the front of the camera lens:+1, +2, +4. All three actually work, with the image moving further inside the window as the lens gets stronger. They DO bring things in better focus, but the video is still really not very sharp at all for HD, which I explain by the fact that the lenses of the camcorder look through the edges of the close up lens. I ideally would need two tiny close up lenses( about 1" in diameter), which are not available commercially, and would be hard to hold in place. Instead, I will try the largest close up lens set made, and ordered a 77mm set.There is no thread on the Camileo lens , but I have a series of adaptor rings that I can fit to slip over the barrel. If that does'nt work, I will try to use the little lenses from an old pair of glasses or cut them out of dime store readers.
    On the other hand, outside tests of a close up of an hydrangea adding a +1 lens are quite satisfying, but the image does comes out of the window more.
                  

Post 2: THE EQUIPMENT

  I already have a 3D camera rig, but my G11 outputs 640x480p, and the G12 outputs 1280x720p, so it won't work, except in 480x360, which is terrible. I considered getting a second used G12 for around $260, but that still would only get me 720p with synchronisation problems.
  So I started looking at the choice of 3D Full 1080p HD camcorders on the market, which is fairly limited. At the low end, around $200, there is the very simple and basic Sony Bloggie (narrow lens spacing, no memory card slot, and built in battery):

     Next comes the Toshiba Camileo Z100, with a slightly wider lens spacing, a memory card slot, a removable battery, a microphone jack, and some minor adjustments via touchscreen:

   

  In the middle range($1000), succeeding the  more expensive TD10 and TD20V, is the new Sony TD30V, with a 

slightly wider lens spacing, a 10x 33.4/400.8mm f1.8/3.2 zoom , optical stabilization, a manual exposure dial, AE Shift, touch screen manual focus, double HD1920x1080/60i(not p) recorded on one SD card in AVCHD at a bit rate of 28Mb/s, minimum focus at 1 ft in wide angle:

  In the same price range now is last year's TD20V that had a front dial for manual focus and 3D depth control, which makes it preferable:

   A little cheaper at discounted market price is the much bigger(2lbs instead of 1lb) JVC Pro HD GY-HMZ1U, with a 5x f1.2/2.8 zoom lens, two back illuminated 1/4.1" Full HD1920x1080 sensors recording 60i or 24p at 32 Mb/s on 64 GB of built in memory (or an SD card), unfortunately in a new mostly unsupported MPEG-4MVC/H.264 codec, 1/2 to 1/4000s shutter speed, image stabilization, auto and manual parallax adjustment, manual white balance, microphone and headphone jack:

   Finally, at the top level, a little over $2000, there is the 5" long 2.5lbs Sony HXR-NX3D1 NXCAM recording in MVC format(convertible to two AVC files), with 2 x 1/4'.1 back illuminated CMOS sensors, HD1920x1080 24p, 50i or 60i on a 96GB built in memory(or SD card), 2x  34.4/344mm f1.8/  Zooms, shutter speeds 1/8 to 1000s, optical image stabilization, minimum distance of 33", and manual adjustments:

and the 3.5lbs PANASONIC HDC Z1000 equipped with 6 x CMOS 1/4".1 Sensors recording at 28Mb/s in AVCHD 2.0 HD1930x1080 60i,30p or 24p on two SD cards , 2x 32-320mm f1.5/2.7 Zooms focusing at 18" in wide range macro, shutter speeds 1/60 to 1/8000s, optical image stabilization, and manual adjustments WITH 3 LENS RINGS (for exposure, focus and iris):

    Obviously, if money was no object, I would love the $2200 (plus two SD Cards) Pany! But it's big and heavy, and I am not sure I need that much of a big gun right now.

    So, I was reasonable and ordered the Toshiba Camileo Z100 for $162 to play with for a while and see how it goes.

   

Post 1: WHY 3D VIDEO?

   I have been experimenting with 3D photography a long time now, and already have two blogs on the subject:
                         Cross Eyed         Anaglyphs and Phantograms
   I am now getting into 3D video, and so it's time to start a new blog documenting my research and discoveries.
   The blog title VIDEO3D was already taken(it is unfortunately one of the numerous aborted one day blogs), so I had to make it VIDEO-3D.
  I developed "Lux Somnia: Light Dreams", the last closing show for the Alys Stephens Center at UAB in Birmingham, Alabama, in cooperation with Theresa, Jessica, Adam, and a group of local Artist Friends. The core of the show was an Architectural Projection mapped to the building. It gave an illusion of 3D, but was only 2D. 
   If the show is to be repeated next year, we need to do better, and one of the way to achieve this is to show real 3D. For practical and economical reasons, it will have to be anaglyph 3D, using either Red/Cyan, Red/Green, or Amber/Blue cardboard glasses.
   I know very well how to do Photo Anaglyphs, as demonstrated on my previous blog devoted to the subject, I can do 3D Animation in After Effects. Actually the new version of After Effects CC adds to CS6 some of the 3D functions that were removed from CS5.5, and incorporates a 3D plugin by Maxon called Cinema 4D Lite that opens up a whole world of possibilities(albeit at the price of a steep learning curve).
   But real live 3D video opens up a real Pandora's Box/Can of Worms...! Serious 3D is still in it's infancy, especially in the ProSumer market. The few 3D camcorders have different formats and Codecs, and there isn't much out there in terms of software to edit these in 3D, especially on the Mac Platform. The key is to have a way to control the 3D window and the convergence point(meaning choosing where in space the 3D image appears, in front, behind the window frame, or anywhere in between).
   In order to follow me through the journey I undertake, you will have to get a pair of plain paper Red/Cyan Anaglyph glasses:

     DO NOT splurge for the nicer plastic ones, even the best don't work as well as the cardboard ones, and the worse are truly awful.