P3D Titanic Stereo

["Franklin Londin" <swan@xxxxxx>]

Greetings all,

This excerpt is from a package submitted to the Visual Effects
branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
by Digital Domain for consideration of our work on Titanic
to receive the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects.

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STEREOGRAPHIC SURVEYING FOR TRACKING DATA
- Michael Kanfer, Digital Compositing Supervisor

"In addition to my compositing duties, I was responsible for the design
and implementation of a stereographic still photo system conceived by
Rob Legato. Using to Nikons on a precision machined rig, we calibrated
the system with an object of known dimensions, in this case a four foot
teepee with tracking balls attached to its vertices. Once the initial
calibration was established, I was able to quickly photograph various
sets aboard the Rosarito Titanic without the use of cumbersome tracking
markers or traditional surveying. This becomes especially important on
a busy set, when every second counts. At distances of fifty feet or less,
we were achieving accuracy to a tenth of an inch. The 35mm stereo pairs
were then scanned into our system at 3k resolution. Using custom software
written by Doug Roble, our 3D Data Integration Team was able to use this
data to reconstruct geometry from which camera tracking information could
be generated. This was used extensively throughout the breaking and
sinking scenes that involved the tilting poop deck sets, so that the set
could be digitally extended and to enable 3D synthetic stunt people to
track perfectly with the first unit footage."
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I am planning to interview Mike further so if there are any questions
you have please send them to me so I can pass them along.

Thanks
Franklin




-- 
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		  When in deep water, become a diver.
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     * Franklin Londin * DIGITAL DOMAIN * (310)314-2948 * swan@xxxxxx *
  


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