Frequently Asked Questions

SECTIONS

GENERAL

Do you offer any end user software?

No. Small companies are definitely not a target group as well at the moment. Typical deal sizes are tens of thousands USD at least.

Do you have demo or trial versions?

Trial versions are provided when we see a reasonable opportunity of signing a contract. In each case it is decided individually. Normally, as the first step of the evaluation, software is demonstrated using screen sharing, also we perform sample conversions providing a detailed breakdown of results and used time budget.

In a few words, what are the benefits of your 2D-to-3D software?

  • The software speeds up the conversion and increases quality in some cases in comparison to other tools and manual operations. The software is intended for automation of medium- and high-quality 2D-to-3D conversion for cinema, 3DTV, digital signage.
  • It basically automates creation of background depth maps and their editing.
  • One may balance between the conversion process cost and stereo quality by doing much or less rotoscoping, doing more or less operations of depth map automated editing.
  • High quality stereo generation from 2D-plus-Depth

What speed-up factors are possible thanks to using your 2D-to-3D software in comparison to the traditional roto-based depth map creation?

It highly depends on stereo quality requirements, scene complexity and composition, and, the last, but not the least, staff experience. However, it may be stated that a trained team of about 10 persons is capable of doing a full-length movie conversion with medium, 3DTV-like quality within a month. So, it is possible to achieve a several times reduction of manual work in case of medium quality, acceptable for 3DTV and cinema with a small budget for 3D conversion. For the highest quality conversion, for theatrical releases of block-busters, the speed-up may be about 1.5-2.5 times.

How your 3D conversion software is adopted?

The software was used for 2D-to-S3D conversion of a few full-length movies and commercials. In particular, it was used to convert more than 10 min of “Conan the Barbarian” footage.

How do your 2D-to-stereo 3D tools compare to various automatic 2D-to-3D conversion software and hardware?

They are incomparable. Our software is for automation, it is for the semiautomatic 3D conversion using quite a lot of manual work and human decisions. At that, the parts of the software used for initial depth map creation are basically blocks of a purely automatic conversion. So we have a very good understanding of the automatic 2D-to-stereo conversion and its problems. Within at least several years, most likely more than 10 years, the automatic conversion with acceptable quality is a myth. It may work plausible only for a narrow range of specific scenes. Images automatically generated from 2D video by some modern 3DTV devices and such are technically stereo, but have very little to do with a good-quality, “honest” stereo which really looks 3D without noticeable issues and giving a headache to the viewer. Robots should see with one eye at least as better as a human with two eyes to bring the automatic conversion into life.

Do you take part in any international exhibitions?

Yes. Here is the list of events.

Do you have any plans to support other software systems used for post-production, besides After Effects and Nuke?

Not at this moment. But each such request increases the possibility of doing so.

How long does it take to become proficient in your 3D conversion software?
It depends a lot on staff qualification and experience in the depth-based 2D to stereo conversion. The first good enough results may be achieved in several days. It may take several months to reach an intuitive level of understanding what tools, procedures, parameters should be used for a given scene to produce the highest quality stereo within permitted time budget.

TECHNICAL

Does your 2D-to-3D software impose any restrictions on depth map compositing process?
No. You are free to compose depth maps whatever way you like. For example, you may add layers of special effects, or use depth maps obtained by employing your own or 3rd party tools.

Are there any resolution limitations in the stereo 3D conversion software?
None. There may still be problems in case of very large resolutions (beyond 4K) because of insufficient memory.

What software tools are needed besides your 2D to 3D suite to enable the conversion process?
The necessary tools are:

  • The host software (After Effects or Nuke)
  • Any rotoscoping software which your roto-artists like
  • Any suitable painting software for drawing initial depth maps

BUSINESS

Are there resellers of your software?

There are none yet.

Are you a start-up?

No. And we are not interested in investments at this moment.

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