Archive for the ‘3D Fundamentals & Craft’ Category

In my 3D camera workshops I discuss in detail the requirement that both left and right cameras match geometrically and photographically as closely as possible. And this is true. Yet over and over again I see examples of two wildly out of color balance L-R images that nevertheless display satisfactorily. This example from a recent class exercise on the streets of Mumbai illustrates my point. One eye (left) is balanced for daylight at 5600º K., the other (right) is preset for interior tungsten at 3200º K. Not surprisingly when viewed separately we see the obvious disparity in the two images, yet when overlaid and viewed in 3D the blue cast in the right eye seems to magically disappear. The brain processing the conflicting images opts intuitively for the correct one!

Daylight balance LEFT; Tungsten balance RIGHT

I’m currently in Singapore leading a series of 3D camera workshops with the new Panasonic 3DA1. Several of my students continue to confuse focus with convergence so it’s worth reiterating here: The convergence point, i.e. where the left-right camera lens axes intersect, defines the screen plane in a scene. As a matter of practice we always set the convergence point FIRST then focus. When the convergence point is placed BEHIND an object, that object appears in FRONT of the screen. When the convergence point is placed AHEAD of an object, that object appears BEHIND the screen.

Audiences viewing a 3D program are not immediately aware of the focal plane and can actually converge their eyes on the screen while focusing elsewhere inside the 3D volume. This is a fundamental conceit of 3D, and is the reason audiences are able to explore the 3D space around them.

3D Workshop Singapore • 12 June 2010