A Media Prof

Stereo 3D Test

This is just a short clip in RED/CYAN Anaglyphic format. Pull out your old paper glasses and take a look.

Stereo 3D video is becoming easier to produce.  Companies are releasing 3D camera rigs, 3D camcorders, 3D monitors and TV’s, and now Sony has stepped up and with Vegas Pro 10, releasing a fabulous suite of functions for post production.

This clip was shot with my ghetto stereo side by side rig; two Kodak Zi6′s screwed to a piece of strap metal.

It was then combined in Vegas Pro 9.oe, and output as an AVC file.

The original is in HD and actually looks a lot better. Stereo 3D does not survive compression for the web very well.  Yuck.

Vertical alignment is the biggest pain, as well as no way to preview convergence in the field.  I was just guessing and some worked and some didn’t.

Besides vertical alignment problems, a ghetto rig like this does not have synchronized shutters.  That means the left and right eyes can be as much as 1/2 a frame out of sync.  That only becomes a problem during heavy movement.  For the cost and effort … ?

The Zi6′s are not the greatest for making a ghetto stereo rig.  The tripod mount wiggles in the camera.  The Zi8 has a firmer mount so I will probably try a build with them

My new computer system’s noise level

I have just completed building and perfecting a very powerful PC to run Vegas Pro.  So far it is as fast as I have found anywhere.  The Core i7 980X processor is overclocked to 4.27GHz and the 12 Gb of memory are Overclocked to 1600MHz.  That creates a lot of heat and therefore the need for a lot of cooling.  I have been asked how loud the noise from this system is and can it be used for doing tutorials in Camtasia.

The following video is a demonstration of the noise from the system.  It is actually recorded with the computer sitting right next to me without anything blocking the noise from it.  That is the worst case scenario.  Take a listen.