Archive notice: This article was originally published on June 28, 2010. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
More than 450 industry visitors accepted Wellen+Nöthen’s invitation to the 3D roadshow in Munich, Cologne and Berlin, where Quantel, together with Sony and Vizrt, demonstrated for the first time to the German industry a complete stereo 3D workflow for post-production and broadcasting, from ingest through editing to playout.
Using a showreel by innovative cinematographer and 3D specialist Vince Pace, who played a major role in James Cameron’s mega-hit “Avatar,” the advantages of live convergence in stereo 3D image processing were demonstrated on Quantel’s nonlinear Pablo colour-correction system, in which the system does not have to render any data in the background. “The images for the left and right eye can each be processed in parallel during grading, editing or colour correction,” explains Thomas Birner, Director of Sales, Central Europe and Middle East, “with every change immediately visible in real time.” It was also shown how particular people or objects can be moved into the foreground or background.
During the live demonstration of the 3D broadcast workflow, Wellen+Nöthen integrated other manufacturers such as Sony, Vizrt and Infitec into the 3D production processes. For this purpose, material was first recorded with Sony stereo 3D cameras at Bavaria Filmstudios in Munich, Nobeo Studios in Cologne and VCC Studios in Berlin and imported through the mixer into Quantel’s sQ system. The imported stereo 3D material was edited in low resolution on sQ Cut 3D together with image material already held in the system, transmitted to the Craft Editor for 3D and played out to Vizrt, where a 3D graphic was placed over this stereo 3D material in real time. Large-screen 3D projection was carried out with the aid of the passive 3D stereo-projection system developed by Infitec.
“This allowed us to depict a complete 3D workflow in broadcasting, from acquisition through post-production to playout with graphics,” Thomas Birner summarises. By taking the approach of involving various complementary manufacturers in the 3D roadshow, Wellen+Nöthen aroused great interest within the industry. “Wellen+Nöthen organised and prepared this 3D roadshow very professionally in terms of all the technology, presentation and logistics, enabling us to demonstrate the networked 3D environments and 3D production processes.” Wellen+Nöthen GmbH, based in Cologne and Berlin, exclusively distributes all Quantel post-production products in Germany and is therefore also a direct point of contact for customers there.
