Re: Here we go again

[P3D Gregory J. Wageman <gjw@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Larry Berlin expounds:

>Special effects in movies have moved hugely into computer enhancement. I
>expect that area to be where new 3D productions will gain a lot of strength.
>Using a computer you can maintain the optimum parallax factors and still
>have strong 3D for all zones of the scene. That's something you just can't
>do when using a camera and film. Sometimes it takes ovelaying more than one
>image to get the ideal results. You can learn special effects tricks for
>your camera but it's so much easier to use computer graphics to do these
>types of image compilations and special effects. 

It strikes me that a whole new crop of special effects software would
have to be developed for 3D films.  In a conventional flat film, the
effect only has to simulate the appearance of a 3D object effectively.

For a stereo film, the effect would have to reproduce not only shading
and color but actual depth.  In some cases this would simply mean
casting rays from two different viewpoints to obtain your stereo pair,
but with other types of effects, entirely new algorithms would be
required.

        -Greg


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