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York University's 3D Film Innovation Consortium, the 1.4 million initiative that brings together researchers, film makers and vision scientists to improve on 3D filmmaking techniques, has announced the release of its first film. The movie--the product of a collaboration between York and Toronto-based Starz Animation--uses newly developed technology to reduce nausea, eye strain and headaches for the viewer. The movie, titled Lovebirds, will  premiere at the Toronto International Stereoscopic 3D Conference from June 11-14 at Toronto's TIFF Bell Lightbox.

"Lovebirds, a mix of animation and live action by Toronto company Starz Animation, is the showcase production of the Toronto-based 3D Film Innovation Consortium, a York University initiative that has brought academic researchers and filmmakers together to explore the burgeoning world of 3D filmmaking to achieve better results."

"The computer-generated animation portions were created by Starz (which did the 3D animation for the recent Disney feature Gnomeo and Juliet). The live action set was shot by York University professor Ali Kazimi using a LiDAR device (light detection and ranging, or laser radar) to create a 3D map of the set. The information was integrated into the software with the animated images to ensure accurate placement of the birds against the backdrop and to study depth perception."

"Though the current Hollywood wave of 3D production is a few years old, it was really in 2009, with the success of such films as Coraline, Up and especially Avatar, that it truly took off. Rob Burton, Starz's vice-president of technology, decided to jump in."

"The technology of simulating depth perception through two proximate overlapping images (which is how humans see) is simple enough, but creating a realistic sense of visual movement is much harder. Our eyes don't zoom in and out like a camera, and the distance between the cameras (known as interaxial or interoccular distance) has to be constantly adjusted. The movies are typically shot with cumbersome rigs, in which two cameras are placed perpendicular to each other, one shooting straight ahead and the other capturing the image from a mirror, with each camera capable of being tilted to create converging sight lines."

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original source Globe & Mail