Overview - 3D Postproduction: Stereoscopic Workflows and Techniques - page 14

You might participate in a 3D show's pre-production or planning phase. Or
you may join a show already in progress. You may be responsible for rescuing
a show that is in trouble. More likely, you perform multiple roles as your show
progresses through its lifecycle. Regardless of where/when/how you enter a
show's lifecycle—or what part of the show you are responsible for—you can
use the approaches in this topic to make sense of your show so that you can:
• meet or exceed expectations: creative, technical, quality
• estimate and allocate resources appropriately
• reduce miscommunication
• reduce re-work
• discover and resolve issues early (when they are cheaper to address)
• bring new team members up to speed quickly (especially in multicultural,
multilingual, and multi-location post teams)
Before we address the workl ows that make up 3D postproduction, let's
briel y examine the basic mechanisms behind the 3D visual experience.
“I tell producers all of the time that if they properly pre-produce
their 3D show, it should not cost any more than a 2D version.
However, if you are just diving in and thinking it is the same as 2D,
then you are going to have problems. “Fixing it in post” is nearly
always more expensive in 3D compared to 2D.”
—Ned Weisman
1.3 Image Paths, Image Pairs and 3D Frames
To help us make sense of 3D post, we need to consider three concepts: image
paths, image pairs and 3D frames. These three entities provide a structure
for understanding the 3D post process. In a nutshell, image paths generate
image pairs, which in turn generate 3D frames.
1.3.1 Image Paths
When light interacts with a 3D imaging system (i.e., during physical
production or image capture) the interaction generates a frame-by-frame
data signal containing a record of the action as it unfolds in the i eld of view
of the L and R portions of the imaging system. This record is processed and
transported in an image path. (We use the L and R convention in this topic,