3D Creation is (not quite) Consumer
This more of a tech note than dissertation.
JVC, Hyundai, Sony, Panasonic, and the like – are all coming out with 3D monitors. And they’re all flat. And they’re all shiny and sleek. Other subjective features aside, many of the ones you’ve been eyeballing don’t quite cut the mustard when used in the edit bay. Here’s why:
- Frame Rate. Sure, if you’re in the 29.97 / 59.94 world, you’re most likely OK. But if you’re in the 23.98 realm – Be careful! Consumer and pro-sumer 3D monitors often have HDMI input. HDMI is traditionally a consumer and pro-sumer video transport mechanism, so it only stands to reason they would be found on the monitor. Some oddball frame rates – such as 23.98PsF – are not a consumer frame rate. In fact, the HDMI 1.3 spec doesn’t even allow for it. Thus, if you are working in Avid or Final Cut Pro (for example) – and you’re trying to achieve that film look with 3D – that deal you got on your cheap(er) 3D monitor may have served to bite you later. I’ve recent run into this situation with the JVC 463D10U.
Word to the wise: check the spec of the monitor you are buying to ensure it handles any of the frame rates and resolutions you could possibly use.
Solutions / Triage: Cross or down-convert on the output. Avid, for example, can cross convert 1080p 23.98 to 1080i 59.94 or 720p. These are more standard resolutions which a larger variety of monitors can handle. Outboard devices can also handle this, such as the AJA HI5 3G. This unit takes your HD-SDI output (Mojo DX, Nitris DX, Kona3) and does the conversion from 23.98PsF to 23.98p AND converts to HDMI. $690.00 solution. - Type of 3D playback: Passive / Active. I’m not about to launch into the pros and cons of each format but I will tell you what is downwind: Glasses Price. Passive glasses are cheap (in some cases, less than $10, I’ve seen decent paper framed ones – for $1 a piece) Active glasses are over $100 each. So, be aware of the added cost if going active and you have a large viewing audience.
Solutions / Triage: Glasses are probably the least of your concerns – as Active vs Passive is a very old argument – with no clear-cut winner. Decide on what format looks best to you (and the people paying your rate) and find a monitor that handles that. - Flavor of 3D compression. Avid, for example, uses a product called Metafuze to marry left eye and right eye into 1 HD frame size – to constrain to the limits of the Avid software. This yields 2 full frames squashed into 1 full frame, yielding a side by side, over/under, or interlaced image. Aside from losing half the resolution from the get go, this also presents the dilemma “which format should I choose?” Your 3D monitor will tell you. Some monitors only understand, for example, side by side. Thus, if you’ve used Metafuze and encoded into over/under, you now have media that your monitor cannot display properly. That was a waste of time, eh?
Word to the wise: Always verify what you shoot – how you edit – how you view – and how you output – are all the same, or, at least can play together nicely.
Solutions / Triage: Cine-Tal’s Davio, is a hardware based solution utilizing software libraries. One of the libraries handles 3D and can convert inbound baseband 3D video signals into other flavors: side by side can become over/under, for example. You can also split single link to dual link for legacy 3D projection gear. Expect to spend $2500 for the box, and $2500 for the 3D library. DoReMi also has the Dimension-3D box, which reportedly has similar abilities.
- 2D vs. 3D Media. Some 3D monitors easily display a separate 2D image, or a separate 3D image. Taking a 3D image and “muting” one of the eyes – therein lies the challenge. Many monitors cannot eliminate the “combined” 3D image in order to view strictly one eye – 2D. Having this ability is useful in the edit bay, when A) wearing the glasses gives you a headache while you edit B) glasses cut down on light getting to your eye, yielding a darker than usual edit bay and C) you look like damn fool.
Solutions / Triage: Currently, to accomplish this in Avid you would need to keep 2 versions of media – 2D and 3D – and relink to each set of media when wanting to view the appropriate output, or buy extra hardware (see Cine-tal’s Davio, above). Avid’s hardware cannot alter the output of the 3D signal in terms of swapping single frame arrangement or muting eyes (those setting you see in Avid, those are for the Composer Window – Sorry!). I understand Hyundai’s latest 3D monitor has the ability to mute an eye during 3D playback.
- 3D Editing Support. As of this writing (early July, 2010), ONLY Avid has a complete end to end 3D editiorial and finishing solution. While there are other solutions that can trick editorial softs into pseudo 3d editing, or to simply finish 3D after editorial Avid is the only complete end to end solution.
Solutions / Triage: How much time do you want to waste attempting to Rube Goldberg a 3D workflow, only to have the kluge be unsupported when it blows up? If you’re doing a complete project – editing and finishing – stick with the most solid solution.
DIGITAL PRODUCTION BUZZ: NAB 2010: Day One Home Runs
Listen to the report from the NAB BuZZ: nabbuzzshow.com; Wednesday, 3pm show.
Transcript:
I came to NAB to submerge myself in all that is geek, and thus far I have not been disappointed. I thought I’d share the things that have really piqued my interest and if you haven’t yet checked them out yet– do so!
1) Cineform. I recently spent an evening demoing this software for a few hundred people and it was definitely the belle of the ball. Cineform has been a fantastic DI codec for years, but their product Neo3D takes that to a whole new level, allowing users to do stereoscopic within Final Cut Pro with RT convergence and color adjustments per eye via what they term active metadata. With an AJA Kona3 card, users can output Full Frame left and full frame Right Eye – no rendering needed. Definitely one of the coolest things I’ve seen in FCP in a long time.
2) Telestream has been any industry leader for years with their line of consumer, prosumer and enterprise encoding and automation solutions. Their latest product announcement is no exception. Its called Vantage – and it’s built on their Flip Factory encoding engine. Vantage allows for node based decisions and intelligent encoding. This means that Vantage can analyze a file and perform encoding operations based on the parameters of that file. A logic based tree – from a drag and drop interface – allow for complex workflows to be easily created based on any file it may encounter.
3) NewTek. Newtek may sound familiar to some of you, as they struck pay dirt many years ago with Video Toaster. In the not to distant past, they introduced TriCaster – a broadcast truck in a box – a small form factor computer with a broadcast switcher like interface, enabling users to produce a professional looking TV show with graphics, lower thirds, with DDRs…AND stream it to the web. Their HD unit, announced at the 2009 NAB show offered the same fantastic product, but limited with only 3 inputs. This year, they announced the XD850 – an 8 input full HD TriCaster. I could talk about this for hours. Trust me – check out newtek.com -the XD850 TriCaster is by far tops on my want list.
4) StorageDNA. This product has been around for a few years, but I think it’s finally hit its stride. StorageDNA’s DNASync 3.0 offers scaleable peer-to-peer content synchronization, WAN and LAN acceleration, and the ability to delta sync – that is, only move or copy data that is changed. Two major workflows involve SAN backup and sync. #1 Large storage solutions need backup – and using DNASync, less expensive storage can be used for disaster recovery. #2 –, which I love – is peer-to-peer file sharing. Forget slow FTP. I can now send and sync files from one user to another, faster than FTP. I recently used this for a film I was working on – the editor had to get me QT files and cuts, and we had no time for FTP or shipping a hard drive. The editor in Chicago dropped the collateral in a folder, and it instantly started copying to my hard drive – in LA.
And this is all just in the South Hall Lower Level. There’s a ton more to come!
My NAB 2010 Hit List
Once a year, us posties flock to our mecca, and plant ourselves within the bowels of sin city to suckle from the geek teet, and bask in all it’s acronym run glory. We spend too much on cheap food. We spend way more on alcohol, and desperately try and find which one of the vendors will have the best afterparty. Walking each hall and floor tenderizes our feet as if Rocky Balboa was in training. We hoard swag in the several free branded bags slung over both shoulders. We shout over the tens of thousands of other people asking the same questions, and demand specifications about balsawood products that won’t ship until next year. We play business card roulette and find out who is where. We reminisce about older, bulkier and more expensive technological solutions, the same way we’ll chuckle over this years offerings in 10 years.
Aren’t you psyched? I’ve been packed since Thanksgiving.
I’m lucky enough to be a part of many of the vendor meetings (yes, I still feel lucky) to hear some behind the scenes and roadmap information. This year, I even get the added bonus to be a special corresspondant for the Digital Production BuZZ; the official (and on the show floor) podcast of NAB. With this impending information overload, I’ve made a short list of the biggies I need to be sure to check out.
AJA: PCIe cards with 3G. That would be friggin’ sweet. Imagine your Kona 3 having two 3G outputs. This kind of bandwidth would allow for for Dual Link 4:4:4 and perhaps even full frame Left and Right Eye 3D – at resolutions at or above 2K. Michael likey. I’m also hoping to see a more enhanced KiPro; perhaps a more robust web interface for metadata, extra storage, and *maybe* other codecs.
Avid: Of course. With Apple (still) not having a booth, that leaves Avid as the sole NLE juggernaut on the floor. Due to NDA, I have to dance around the Media Composer 5.0 offerings, but I am excited about what will be shown. Several game changers, in terms of media usage, management, and viewing. Avid is really making a push, across the board, to be a bit more open. Kudos. I’d love to see Metafuze become (easily) cluster-able, and be a bit more efficient – if that is, indeed, how Avid will continue to utilize 3D. The smell of a Unity revamp is in the air, and I can only imagine an ISIS / Unity / Cuisinart hybrid.
Blackmagic: DaVinci. Lots of rumors about what the product is being morphed into since the purchase. What will Resolve become?
NewTek: TriCaster, natch. The Standard Definition units and now the XD300 are some of the few products in the past few years that have really knocked my nerd socks off. We lost 3 baseband inputs when the jump was made to HD – but I completely understand the limits of technology. To do all TriCaster does – in real time – hey, ya gotta make some sacrifices. A guy can hope that a unit with more inputs will be available. I’d also love to see an easier way to make 3D sets; much like the old Virtual Set Constructor NewTek had. However, perhaps an app that allowed for HD virtual set construction with user defined areas for super imposition / PIP, as well as reflections – like their pre-baked sets have. Creating these without Lightwave would be a huge benefit.
Cineform: I am totally in love with Neo3D for stereoscopic monitoring in Final Cut Pro. I’m hoping for a more reliable way to reconform, rather than just pulling timecode from the “paired” file. I’d also love to see distributed encoding into the cineform codec, so we can flip files faster. Perhaps the ability to have different views between the Canvas and the video hardware I/O output. Maybe more editing ability – like the 3D Stereo Tool box plug-in has.
Root6: I’ve been jonesin’ for the ability to have web based interaction with Content Agent. I’m also hoping to see some abilities to utilize more P2 based file formats that we use here in the States, but hasn’t taken off in the UK. I’d also like to see the incorporation of Digital Rapids 3.x software into the fold. Stream 3.0 introduced a host of features, and Content Agent is still utilizing Stream 2.5.x.
CatDV: Another piece of enabling software that is part DAM/MAM and part friggin’ awesome. I don’t expect anything more than further ass kicking. Automatic Duck: Wes has always been finding new and creative ways for project and media interchange. I can only hope that he’s been a bloodhound on the Avid 5.0 scent and will be ready to rock and roll. (If not – Wes, call me Monday at 9.01am. I have some ideas. We’ll make MILLION$).
Telestream: Can’t say much. Just go to the booth. Game changer(s).
Apple: Yes, I know you don’t have a booth, but you WILL be there…in some suite. A shiny one, I bet. Lurking. Taunting. iPadding. I’d love to nibble on the cheese in the mousetrap of Final Cut Pro and Final Cut Server. Who am I kidding? It won’t happen. But I can hope that maybe after the 5th or 6th round of Apple martinis, something will slip. And if that fails, there’s always roofies and knifepoint.
Autodesk: SMAC – Smoke 2010 for Mac OS X – is generating a ton of buzz. I’m hoping more modules will be written, and enhanced codec support.
Facilis: File Level locking is here! Hooray! But not for everyone. Mac 64 bit, and a few other choice configs – not so much. What say you, Facilis?
Assimilate: Lucas Wilson is the MAN. When he and Tony get together, stars align. Plus, their boss is named Taco… 
How can that trifecta be ignored? I’m gonna be looking for additional hardware options and configs for Scratch, and perhaps a wee bit more editorial options and project interchange. Howabout more efficient use of the Red Rocket card and hey RED, howabout stability on a Mac?
Other Hot Topics I’ll be sniffing out:
Easier and less expensive Blu-ray authoring for Mac and PC.
Larger Stereoscopic monitors at lower price points, both in Active and Passive varieties.
Anyone who wants to buy me a drink.
It Came From The Searches Volume 2
Matt Stratton turned me on to Clicky Stats awhile ago, and through Clicky, I’m able to see what web searches come up with my blog as a result. I also see when these searches lead them to my blog – but then they leave because they didn’t find the answer. I thought since the search engines think I already have it on my site, perhaps I should. Below is a sampling of the search queries (that I can decipher from cryptic keyword searches) that my website supposedly already has the answers for. So, I present to you:
It came from the Searches, Volume 2.
March 10th, 2010 – March 18th, 2010.
optimum use of cores on macpro using redrushes
As many as humanly possible. Unfortunately, Red Rushes is not as optimized as it could be, so there will be plenty of horsepower left over, even when red rushes is chugging away. We have to wait for Red to enable distributed transcoding, or, use another encoding solution.
FinalCutServer Slows down
What is slow? The transcoding? Check in / check out? Network traffic will slow check in / check out. Background processes and concurrent users will slow down Final Cut Server – especially if transcoding is happening in the background.
“Prores Avid Import” , “importing FCP into Avid MC” , “convert DNXhd to pro res 422” , “how to import mac prores into avid”
Right here: http://michaelkammes.com/editorial/getting-final-cut-pro-projects-andor-media-into-avid-media-composer/
P2 or DNxHD?
What flavor of P2? You can edit more tracks within Media Composer in real time with DNxHD. You also have more latitude when color grading and compositing, but files sizes are traditionally larger (assuming DNxHD 145 or greater).
unity nab rumours
Yeah, sorry. NDA.
avid dnxhd convert to prores
I assume you are on a PC. Windows cannot encode into ProRes – Apples limitations. If you’re on a Mac, you can export to ProRes from the Export menu, and change your codec / compression to ProRes.
Avid-qualified Windows-based with quad core processors
http://www.avid.com/products/Media-Composer-Software/system-requirements.asp
I will caution that if this a single quad (and not a dual quad) then only the newest Nehalem based Processors (HP z400, for example) can handle DNxHD encoding in RT.
Avid Mass Storage
Avid has several flavors of their own storage –VideoRaid SR (local) and Unity (shared) and ISIS (enterprise shared). However, Avid can use just about any storage that your OS can understand. I recommend firewire400 at the bare minimum (no USB) and esata, infiniband, or fibre if you can afford it.
“michael kammes”, “mkdc”, “micahel kammes”, “Michael Kammes Burbank”
Why yes, that’s me. Whats up? Say hi to your mother for me.
“DNxHD PE codecs IN FCP 6” , “quicktime output avid media composer for final cut hq“
Ya gotta download them.
http://avid.custkb.com/avid/app/selfservice/search.jsp?DocId=263545
FCP can export to any codec QuickTime understands…so, once you download the codec you’re golden. Keep in mind , this will export a DNxHD .mov file, NOT a DNxHD .mov in an MXF wrapper, which is what Avid needs to understand a file without transcoding or a quick import.
getting broadcast quality for fcp mov
That’s tough. ProRes is not a SMPTE standard, therefore, delivering a ProRes file will never be required for a broadcast deliverable. So, you can either A) lay it off to tape or B) transcode to a SMPTE compliant file. DNxHD, for example, is a SMPTE standard. DNxHD 145 closest in quality to ProRes 422.
“”final cut” network storage best practice” , “final cut server edit in place”
Permanent storage, like fibre. FCSvr does not like storage to go offline. Ever. Thus, get permanent storage, and set it as an “Edit in Place”, so FCSvr does not need to copy media to and from it to do conversions. EiP tells FCSvr that the storage is permanent. I recommend a RAID and several spindles, A) for speed B) for redundancy and C) faster performance for multiple users.
inexpensive final cut pro server
Buy a new, base level Xserve. Buy a 10 seat FCSvr license, buy a small RAID5 array, and buy Matt Geller’s book “Getting Started with Final Cut Server.” For anything more advanced, you’ll probably have to contract out.
the best fibre storage for final cut server
How much do you need? I’ve always been a fan of Sonnet or G-Tech.
better than final cut server
CATDV, in most cases. http://www.squarebox.co.uk/
edit in place final cut server rights share
If I understand this correctly…. Yes, you need to have Read AND Write permission to any volumes FCSvr will use. Yes – even if you don’t intend on writing to the volume, you still need that ability. It’s a limitation of FCSvr.
mxf wrap dnxhd
High(er) end encoding solutions can handle it, like most of Telestreams product line.
do stereoscopic 3d mxf files take up more storage space
Nope. Avid dumps half of the picture information to get to signals (left eye and right eye) into 1 HD Frame size. The remaining 2 halves, when combines, equal one regular frame. Thus, same file size.
“avid media” samba share
Nope, can’t do it – if you’re trying to share an OMFI or MXF folder within Avid.
Mac Pro 8 Core 2.93 Nehalem install red rocket
Red Rocket is not entirely stable on Mac, and the workflow is kluge. Wait a little bit.
difference between pro res 422 & pro res 422HQ
Higher bitrate. Both are 10bit, but HQ has the ability for higher quality because of less compression.
quality loss transcode to 220x?
What was the original source? If uncompressed, you should see no difference on the scopes.
“Ruby on rails and final cut server” , “final cut server Web-Based Review and Approval issues”
One of my favorite “wow!”s during a demo. Ruby on Rails released a “module” for FCSvr which gives basic functionality and framework for a web based review and approval process. It’s buggy and kinda unreliable, but gives people a GUI concept of what FCSvr can do.
dnx36 file format
Great Avid Offline Codec. Not broadcast quality, but looks great. DNxHD36 is for 23.976fps material, DNxHD45 is for 29.97fps material – but both belong to the DNX36 family.
optimum compressor config for final cut server
Use those virtual clusters!
http://www.kenstone.net/fcp_homepage/compressor_multi_cores_stitzer.html
http://www.fcsoutlet.com/home/Studio_Outlet/Entries/2008/9/1_Virtual_Clusters_-_Compressor.html
Hum in Avid sdi Mojo analog audio signals
Sounds like (ha!) you have unbalanced audio going into your Mojo SDI. This is common – with no ground, hums (60Hz, usually) often occur because of dirty power and/or a power cable being to close to your audio gear. Put a ground lift on your AC plugs or power-strips
encode red r3d episode engine
As long as you have the codecs on your machine, yes. However, it’s the Wavelet extraction only, at 2K.
final cut pro and avid unity bugs
Decreased performance for starters. But that’s been known. Expect a 20-30% speed drop-off when using FCP on Unity.
p2 versus xdcam HD in Avid MC 4.0.5 2010
What flavor of P2? I like how XDCAM HD 35mbit looks compared to DV100. However, I like the way AVC based P2 Media looks, but it needs transcoding (for now)
“Macbook Pro”+”dual boot”+Avid+FCP
Yes! I do it on my laptop. You need to blow your HDD and OS away, and partition the drive off into at least 2 partitions, and install an OS on each one. Then, install FCP on one partition and Avid on the other. I do this so I can independently update my OSes without hosing up the other. Hold down the Apple key on boot to select which partition to boot into.
HD AT dnx36 broadcast quality
No. DNxHD145 is the baseline for broadcast quality. Yes, you can transcode DNX36 material to DNX145, but while that may meet the deliverable spec, it won’t look good.
final cut server metadata dnxhd
If it’s DNxHD in an MXF wrapper – no. Final Cut Server cannot parse all of the metadata in an MXF wrapper –currently.
“mac mini” NLE
Yikes. Holy horsepower Batman. You’re gonna need it, and the mini doesn’t have it. I’m not even sure FCP will install.
edit dnxhd in fcp
Not natively. Downlaod the DNxHD codecs, and put the timeline in unlimited. Or, pre-render into Pro Res for an easier time editing.
DIGITAL PRODUCTION BUZZ Interview Summary – 3/4/10
Digital Production Buzz – http://www.digitalproductionbuzz.com
March 4th, 6pm PST
Hosts: Larry Jordan and Michael Horton
Listen Here: (15 min) Michael Kammes on the Digital Production Buzz
Below are links to some of the companies, products, techniques, and workflows we discussed during the interview.
- Key Code Media: Industry leader in digital media – acquisition through post production: consulting, sales, integration, installation, training, and service. http://www.keycodemedia.com
- Automatic Duck: Conversion software to interchange between your Avid and FCP projects. http://automaticduck.com/products/
- Avid AMA: Avid Media Access, which allows Avid to edit and use XDCAM, P2 and GFCAM natively in Avid – no transcoding! BUilt into all flavors of Avid Media Composer: http://www.avid.com/ama/
Stereoscopic / 3D:
- Using MetaFuze to create Avid compliant Stereoscopic files : http://www.avid.com/metafuze/
- Using a pre-release of REDCINE-X to create Avid compliant Stereoscopic files: http://www.red.com/support/index
- Cine-tal Davio: The Davio allows LUTs to be applied in Real Time, as well as decode (Stereoscopic) 3D signals, via HD-SDI & 3G. http://www.cine-tal.com/products/davio_main.asp
Increasing productivity & collaboration and handling data redundancy in post:
- Cache-A: Portable network based back-up appliance for media and files, onset or In the bat to LTO4A digital tape: http://cache-a.com/ Also, I have a video about it at: http://michaelkammes.com/post-production/video/
- StorageDNA: Point to Point accelerated transfer of data, with delta differencing and automation; a true replacement for FTP: http://storagedna.com/
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