The Dimensionalists

-By Sarah Sluis

“Most of the 2D-to-3D process is a visual effect, it’s just a specific application of different [FX] things,” explains Matt DeJohn of In-Three , which converted part of Alice in Wonderland and G-Force. “We’re creating mattes like you would on a green screen, we’re keying out characters, we’re doing paint like you would in rig [lines used in stunt work] removal, and we’re modeling, like you would in CG.”

Read the rest at Film Journal International

Highlights from The International 3D Society’s recent panel on 2D to 3D Conversion featuring Matt Dejohn VP/VFX Producer at In-Three.

Matthew DeJohn, VFX Producer at In-Three, shares the good, the bad and the ugly of 3D filmmaking in the Digital Cinema Report.

With the flood of 3D content coming, no fewer than 25 films this year, it is important to understand how to critique 3D technically and artistically. What does good and bad 3D look like? What causes 3D to be bad or good?

Hopefully with all this ammunition you can not only say if a 3D movie had good or bad 3D, but you can also explain where it went wrong or right. We should all hold this new industry to a high level of technical and artistic quality.

Read the full article here.

Hopefully with all this ammunition you can not only say if a 3D movie had good or bad 3D, but you can also explain where it went wrong or right. We should all hold this new industry to a high level of technical and artistic quality.

Neil Feldman explains the artistic freedom that is available when using the Dimensionalization® process versus other methods of stereoscopic 3D content creation. He also reveals that the original intent for the technology was legacy films, and discusses how that has changed. In-Three is featured in the latest issue of Creative Cow Magazine.

Whether through shooting, CG, or post-production Dimensionalizing, we can all participate in constructing 3D content. By understanding what our strengths and weaknesses are, we can construct 3D content together, and work together to achieve the highest quality at the lowest cost, and the fastest pace.

Read the full featured article here.

False.‭ ‬We’ve already discussed that‭ ‬3D works for multiple genres‭,‭ ‬but there is a misconception among some that‭ ‬3D is only good for fast action movies.‭ ‬This is a result of thinking of‭ ‬3D as‭ ‬more of a gimmick‭ ‬than a story-telling tool.‭ ‬While‭ ‬a‭ ‬gimmick‭ ‬here and there‭ ‬can be fun,‭ ‬we believe that‭ ‬3D is much more than that.

The reality is that‭ ‬3D works for a multitude of scenes because‭ ‬3D immerses you into the movie.‭ ‬With Dimensionalization™ and depth grading we can create an environment for the viewer that stays consistent from shot to shot.‭ ‬This is true of an action scene or a simple dialogue scene.‭ ‬The‭ ‬3D creates depth and movement that doesn’t exist in a‭ ‬2D shot and makes everything seem more alive.‭ ‬Imagine a romantic comedy where our hero must summon up the courage to tell the girl of his dreams that he loves her.‭ ‬Imagine that in order to get to his dream girl,‭ ‬our hero must first walk through a long hallway.‭ ‬In his mind the hallway looks about a thousand feet long—with Dimensionalization,‭ ‬the audience can see what he’s feeling.

With‭ ‬3D we hope to bring all movies to life for the film-going audience,‭ ‬even the ones without the highly charged action sequences.

False.‭ ‬With films like‭ ‬Up,‭ ‬Coraline,‭ ‬G-Force,‭ ‬Bolt,‭ ‬and‭ ‬Ice Age:‭ ‬Dawn of the Dinosaurs‭ ‬one can almost be lead to believe that‭ ‬3D is just for kids‭’ ‬movies.‭ ‬Of course,‭ ‬the opposite is true.‭ ‬3D appeals to all ages and,‭ ‬as we pointed out last time‭ (‬link to previous article‭) ‬3D works across genres.‭ ‬At In-Three we’d like to propose that almost every movie will make a great 3D film.

While‭ ‬leading box office numbers for‭ ‬3D have been for films aimed at kids and families,‭ ‬some of the highest grossing films of this year‭ (‬Star Trek,‭ ‬Terminator Salvation‭ ‬and‭ ‬Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince‭) ‬would still make impressive‭ ‬3D film experiences.‭ ‬Could you imagine watching the‭ ‬Enterprise zooming past you or seeing Dumbledore use magic to fix a house, the items whizzing around, almost close enough to touch‭? ‬Or seeing the terminator robots reach out to grab John Connor,‭ ‬who is standing‭ ‬just above the row in front of you‭?

If the box office numbers for‭ ‬3D are anything to go by,‭ ‬not just kids are enjoying the‭ ‬3D aren’t just kids.‭ ‬56%‭ ‬of G-Force’s opening weekend box office numbers for the‭ ‬US came from‭ ‬3D theaters and‭ ‬72%‭ ‬of‭ ‬Britain’s opening weekend box office numbers.‭ ‬3D films can entice recession-worried audience members back into the theater by promising them something that their home theater systems can’t provide.‭

Ray Bans with neon frames may be back in style–a blast from the recent past, for anyone who remember the ’80s and early ’90s with any kind of clarity–but when it comes to glasses for viewing films in 3D, bright colors have gone way out of style and black is, well, the new black. Yes, however nostalgic you may be for those two-toned plastic-lensed, paper-framed 3D glasses that have been the industry standard since the heyday of drive-in theaters, its time for a change–its time to bring on the black lenses and black frames. But don’t worry–taking the color out of 3D lenses isn’t going to take the color out of life. In fact, the very reason for this change has to do with improving the color of 3D films.

Like all stereo glasses two-toned 3D glasses function based on the principal of binocular vision. Your eyes see the world from slightly different angles, each eye capturing a subtly different image, which your brain mixes and adjusts to create a cohesive image. Older 3D films take advantage of this feat of human physiology by projecting a composite of two images, shot at slightly different angles to mimic the separate views of you eyes, one image more red and the other more blue (cyan, specifically). Here’s where the glasses come in: by coloring these “anaglyph” lenses in a complementary way, the components of the composite image enter your eyes separately. The red image enters only through the eye with a red lens, the cyan image only through the cyan lens. When your eyes combine the images, the two offset, differently colored images are overlapped in the brain and suddenly pop into 3D.

But here’s problem: by altering the color of the two differently angled shots, the final 3D image always has a green cast to it (red + blue=green), the unnatural color making viewers continually aware that they are watching a film, that their eyes are being tricked. They can’t disappear into the world of the film–something that should happen more readily when viewing in 3D. Thankfully, there’s a new way of creating 3D without color shifts, allowing for a color-perfect 3D viewing experience. Instead of shifting the color of the projected images, the two separately shot, slightly angled images are both polarized. Polarizing an image means, very simply, that the image is made up of light that only travels in one direction. By using polarization filters to make one image of vertical light and one image of horizontal light–with the black lenses of the new 3D glasses having a vertically polarized lens in one eye, a horizontal lens in the other–allows for the same effect: one image in one eye, the other image in the other eye, resulting in perfectly-colored 3D image.

An alternative option is “shuttered glasses” in which a coating on each lens alternately shuts off in synchronization with the image on the screen. The glasses are synched to a projector emitting infrared signals.

Finally, for those nostalgic for the old anaglyph glasses there’s a excellent option for you too. Dolby is distributing a sophisticated “comb” anaglyph system that maintains color balance and creates an experience similar to polarized glasses. The glasses even look like to modern polarized glasses.

So no matter how you view 3D in theaters today your glasses will not interfere with you having a comfortable, immersive experience.

This comment usually refers the remembrance of wearing the blue/red plastic anaglyph glasses of yesteryear.

It is no longer a valid criticism. “Unlike the old red / blue anaglyph format most recent 3D technology uses polarized left/right images, and polarized glasses to allow the viewer to see sharp, full color images.” They are similar to wearing mild sunglasses; they preserve the color balance of the movie.

Sometimes the comment refers to the need to wear glasses at all. Those of us who wear glasses for vision correction and to moderate bright sunlight smile at this fussiness.

There are alternatives to watching 3D with glasses: lenticular displays. These screens have linear prisms applied to their surfaces. The prisms are aligned with the underlying pixels so as to refract light onto separate left/right eyes positioned a prescribed distance away. Generally this approach is acceptable as an attention getter in commercial environments. It has not lent itself to acceptance for studio quality presentations.

For the majority of us, wearing mild “sunglasses” is a small price to pay for the experience of 3D.

Some people think that “when 3D is done correctly it’s like adding color to a movie.” Conversion of 3D movies is nothing like colorization. Colorization is “any process that involves adding color to black and white, sepia or monochrome It has been done with different effects for various reasons, including as a special effect or as a form of restoration for color films.”

Directors shooting in black and white film never shoot trying to imply color. Directors and cinematographers always shoot to imply depth. The depth is implied through depth of field, framing and movement.

Dimensionalization, which supports this goal, is the specific 2D to 3D conversion process. The 3D created must accommodate traditional cinematic styles and not cause discomfort. It must maintain depth continuity, and be compelling and immersive experience for the viewers. This conversion process gives the director artistic control in depth, object repositioning, and synchronization of inter-shot continuity.

Depth grading is used in 3D creation. Depth grading is “adjusting the depth of 3D content in or out of a 3D scene.” This means adjusting the depth of an individual object, a group of objects or even the whole scene. When a director can control depth, they can control how dramatic or action packed a scene in a movie is. This makes the viewing experience a lot better as one feels more connected with the film while not feeling any discomfort while watching the film.

There are three important functions or depth grading which makes 3D films better. First, it provides nuanced artistic control. The director can maintain their vision while ensuring no discomfort. Second, it allows appropriate adjustments to match the requirements of different screen sizes. 3D films are made for certain screen sizes so there will not be discomforting disparities. Last, it provides depth control to ensure comfort of adults and children so everyone can watch the movie without divergence.

Although many think that 2D to 3D conversion is like colorization, it is not. Dimensionalization supports this as it allows the directors to keep their vision while making sure the film has no disparities for viewers.

It’s true!

That is, it’s true if the stereo movie is not crafted for comfort. However, when created well 3D movies can be just as long and comfortable as a 2D movie.

For example the 3D has to be designed so that its parallax (separation of left/right images on the screen) is comfortable to watch. That is, depth should be created so that parallax is within the audience’s “comfort zone”*. In-Three’s depth grading tools allow us to control depth to within the comfort zone.

Other problems that can that can cause discomfort over time are vertical disparities that cause one eye to track up and the other down, differential refraction of the lens that causes strain as the viewer’s try to adjust to accommodate unexpected and unnatural affects, and jerky transitions from shot to shot that cause “hunting time” from one shot to the next that will wear on the audience.

Carefully crafted stereo CG provides wonderful and wonderfully long 3D movie experiences. For live action, Dimensionalized 2D can provide the same level of quality and comfort.

* This is sometimes called “Percival’s zone”. It is the limit of separation that allows the audience to “fuse” –or view comfortably – the stereo images. Remember that the viewer’s eyes are focused on the screen but converged in front of or behind the screen. So, too great a disparity between focus and convergence will wear out the audience. The size of the comfort zone is directly related to how close the viewer is to the screen. How close the viewer sits is directly related to the screen size. A viewer sits closer to a TV that a movie screen. Therefore the comfort zone on a TV screen is narrower that on a movie screen. Also, a child’s comfort zone is narrower than and adult’s.