Anyone ever try rigging two DV cams for 3D spec?

G

Goats Gone Wild

I was just wondering if anyone has ever tried rigging any of the commonly used 24p DV or HD cams together to produce the 3D effect. Of course the lenses would ideally need to be about 2 inches apart from one another, but I imagine this wouldn't be the difficult part.

Is there an easy way to synchronize the recording in both cameras in order to avoid an editing nightmare? Two projectors would likely be necessary for exhibition but how many theaters would actually be equipped in that capacity.

To me it seems that with the emergence of digital cinema that this is a shooting concept that could be potentially commonplace, but unfortunately it appears we have a long way to go.

Thoughts?
 
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The easiest way to sync would probably be a traditional slate. Just line it up in post using a dual video track mode.

As for exhibition, it's probably something you should thoroughly research before taking on this (costly) venture. That said, there's no reason why it wouldn't work technically.
 
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http://www.sapac.edu.au/visualisation/stereo.html

I know the new HD canons have smpte lock cabling that you can get to have them capture the frames at the exact same point in time as well. They're wider than the pictured cams in the link though, so you'd probably need to use a 90 degree mirror set to divert the optical path (both cameras pointed towards one another with the mirrors in-between to capture the images at the parallax distance you'd want.
 
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knightly said:
http://www.sapac.edu.au/visualisation/stereo.html

I know the new HD canons have smpte lock cabling that you can get to have them capture the frames at the exact same point in time as well. They're wider than the pictured cams in the link though, so you'd probably need to use a 90 degree mirror set to divert the optical path (both cameras pointed towards one another with the mirrors in-between to capture the images at the parallax distance you'd want.
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Cool link.

Here's another good writeup on the phenomenon in general and its history. I still remember the 3D viewers of old.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stereoscopy
 
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Beeblebrox said:
The easiest way to sync would probably be a traditional slate. Just line it up in post using a dual video track mode.

As for exhibition, it's probably something you should thoroughly research before taking on this (costly) venture. That said, there's no reason why it wouldn't work technically.
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There's no reason it has to be costly really.. one would simply have to tint footage from one camera red, and the other camera blue (or green depending on intended 3d glasses to use)

It would be rather easy to shoot the footage if you had a canon XL1/2 and one of these:
image3.jpg

The Canon 3-D attachment incorporates
two lenses within the hooded housing along
with automatic focus and coupled automatic
convergence. The lens unit will focus to 3 feet.


Given the right software you could use one of these stereoscopic lens attachments, and then seperate the clip into even and odd frame clips, generate the in-between frames, do your tinting, lay them one over the other on your timeline, then export...
 
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How would they not be able to handle it? It's just like a normal film, but has stereoscopic information encoded in the picture (with red & green/blue) so it wouldn't take anything extra but the 3d glasses.. Which you could provide yourself if you had to.

You can get 'em for $.17/each here:
http://www.best3dglasses.com/3d-glasses_home.html?sm=30436

A typical small theater might have 300 seats, so that'd run you about $50, and I'd be willing to bet if you contact them you could work out some kind of volume discount.
 
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Will Vincent said:
How would they not be able to handle it? It's just like a normal film, but has stereoscopic information encoded in the picture (with red & green/blue) so it wouldn't take anything extra but the 3d glasses.. Which you could provide yourself if you had to.

You can get 'em for $.17/each here:
http://www.best3dglasses.com/3d-glasses_home.html?sm=30436

A typical small theater might have 300 seats, so that'd run you about $50, and I'd be willing to bet if you contact them you could work out some kind of volume discount.
Click to expand...

Well, your proposed method would likely involve one projector, correct? I would think anaglyph glasses would be the only option here.

I could be wrong here but it seems like for polarized viewing (the dominant 3D technology), two projectors are absolutely essential because filters are placed on both the projector and the glasses to ensure the the eye reads the proper corresponding image.

The distribution of glasses probably isn't the issue here, it's more projection. To be honest, every 3D presentation I've seen in a theater has been polarized, not anaglyph. If anaglyph can be displayed easily through one projector and at the same time produce a strong stereoscopic effect, it might be a viable route.

I looked into the Canon lens for the XL1, but most sources indicate that there were manufacturing issues and Canon scrapped the whole idea. The $8,000 cost is just a bit higher than I would be willing to spend as well.

This might be too much to ask, but ideally I would want something that could simulate human interocular distance as much as possible and be displayed via one projector while still producing adequate stereoscopic effect. I'm not trying to compete with Imax here. :)


And again, your input is absolutely appreciated.
 
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