Adobe CS5 powered  Stereoscopic 3D editing and DI suite:

Indie Stereoscopic 3D movie makers rejoice! Your day has come. Hardware Technology and software is now within reach to create the next Hollywood blockbuster in 3D (or 2D) that won’t break the bank, and more importantly won’t be an excuse for a badly produced movie.

The single most reason this is even possible today is because of the release of Adobe’s CS5 Production Premium software suite. This includes a 4K resolution capable non linear editing (NLE) software – Adobe Premiere CS5, a DI and color grading capable NATIVE 64 bit application in the form of After effects Cs5, along with powerful tools for paint / rotoscope (Photoshop) and associated software for doing everything from audio to meta logging of shots on set and more.

While this does sound like an advert for Adobe, it is not meant to be. There is no other way to describe this amazing bit of software engineering. This levels the playfield for both, high end Post production studios as well as independent movie-makers. It makes the entire post production part of movie making budget friendly. The other game changing part is Mercury and CUDA

Mercury, CUDA, the Nvidia Connection and Real time Everything:

The video above shows the new Adobe real-time Mercury engine. Taking advantage of Graphics processing units (GPUs) and the supercomputer like power present in Nvidia technology and CUDA, gives the movie editor and Director real time control over everything. It has to be seen to believe that something like the RED Camera’s 4K footage which needed banks of hardware and trans-coding just a year ago, can now run in stereo 3D (two full 4k layers of footage) with additional effects thrown in!

This presents a serious challenge to other over-priced post production solutions from dedicated high end manufacturers for editing 2K and 4k Digital Cinema grade HD video.

Setting up an under $5000 Stereoscopic 3D editing system:

• Adobe Creative Suite 5 – Production Premium bundle : $1600
• High End PC i7 (non branded) Vista 64/ Windows 7 OS with 8 GB ram and min 1 TB Storage: $2800
• Nvidia Gforce GTX 480 (CUDA capable) graphics card: $500

With this setup an indie movie maker can do everything from ingest, color grading in Stereo, editing in stereo upto 4K resolution native RED camera footage as well as 2K DSLR, AVCHD and other HD formats in realtime. Professional rotoscoping, and paint tools are included in the CS5 suite as is dolby encoding for surround audio.

Adding more capable hardware and accessories is always beneficial, but with the base system outlined, it is today possible to edit, color correct and produce 4K resolution stereoscopic 3D content.

Options: Plugins, Enhancements and Extras:

An industry recognized stereoscopic 3D plugin package is OCULA from The Foundry. Currently available for the compositing software NUKE, the Foundry is well know to have vast experience with top quality plugins for Adobe After effects. There is a huge market to be had by porting the OCULA toolkit to the CS5 suite. Adobe After effects itself is very versatile in allowing for customized stereoscopic 3D workflows to be built and used by knowledgeable and experiences operators.

A 3D preview monitoring solution is a must have in a Stereo3D post production studio. With costs coming down and a flood of HDMI and DVI full HD 3D displays available today from leading manufacturers such as Sony, Panasonic and others this is an obvious add on.

One great addition would be a plugin to do stereoscopic 3D playback at full resolution right from the timeline to 3D displays such as DLP 3D TVs and projectors. This may already be possible but not clearly documented at this time.  After all, Nvidia does have a complete GPU powered Stereoscopic 3D Broadcast Suite.

These would be great additions, but an indie movie maker does not need them to create great stereo 3D content. The CS5 suite allows for stereoscopic 3D workflows as is.

For a few Dollars more…

The new Cineform NeoHD optimized for Adobe CS5. Although Adobe Premiere CS5 and AfterEffects CS5 makes preview and editing of Stereoscopic 3D material easier and faster, it is a bit of an involved process that needs memorization of a few shortcut keys, along with speed in laying out a stack of relevant effects on the clips. For $500 you can start off on a more intuitive solution in CineForm NeoHD.

3D Editing: Create and edit CineForm 3D files, the industry’s most common 3D editorial format. Adjust convergence, camera zoom disparity, stereo color adjustment, add 3D titles and graphics overlays, and more. See the video above. Cineform’s range of offerings suit all from indie movie-maker to Production houses and is highly recommended

Stereoscopic 3D Plugins and Scripts for AE:

With feedback from one of the readers, here are some available plugins, scripts and tutorials on stereoscopic 3D workflows for After Effects. Please check for compatibility with CS5 before buying. Thank you for the suggestion Stephen Les.

AE for Mac : Tim Dashwood’s Stereo3D Toolbox

Spatial View: SVI Stereo3D Editor

Free from PINKAU Entertainment: AE stereo scripts

And to prove that you can “create” your own stereoscopic 3D workflow, some valuable tutorials:

• PINKAU Tutorial: Stereo 3D workflow in AE
• Digital Tutors: Stereoscopic 3D in After Effects

In Stereo 3D… Bigger is Better.

The unique nature of Stereoscopic 3D is that it is best enjoyed when presented at life like or larger than life screen dimensions. This could be one of the big reasons why Cinemas will be saved and why Hollywood is so keen on 3D movies. Any one who has seen Avatar in 3D at a Cinema and then later at home on a blue-ray disc, whether 3D or not, will know the difference.

To an independent movie-maker or smaller post production studio previously the luxury of having 3D projectors was not an option. Today 3D capable DLP projectors from BenQ, Sony, Viewsonic and more are available for prices as low as $2000 in HD ready resolutions. While using these 3D capable projectors may not be suitable for Color grading applications, they are perfect to give a feeling of scale and depth volume for trained stereographers to work with.

Professional 3D projectors from Projection Design and Christie are available should the  need arise for color grading purposes if needed. In all cases these 3D displays connect seamlessly to the under $5000 system above, thanks again to Nvidia’s 3D drivers and free stereoscopic player software.