The Fraunhofer Heinrich Hertz Institute HHI delivers perfect 3D images for live broadcasting and postproduction

Developed by the Fraunhofer Heinrich Hertz Institute, the STAN (stereoscopic analyzer) assistance system offers a technology which supports camera operators and production teams in recording and processing 3D film. What STAN does is to recognize and automatically correct false settings during actual 3D recording. This makes live 3D broadcasting of events to cinemas across the whole world possible for the very first time! At CeBIT Fraunhofer HHI will be demonstrating the revolutionary capability of STAN with a special highlight – the world’s first 3D live broadcast of a concert featuring Germany’s premier hiphop group “Die Fantastischen Vier” from 28 September 2010.

Recording good quality film material or live pictures in 3D is a truly daunting challenge because so many parameters – like color matching, stereo geometry or the position of the two cameras – can vary considerably from scene to scene depending on scene content, near and far objects or different convergence planes and depths of focus.

The STAN assistance system ensures that the computed stereo parameters are fed directly to both cameras so that any incorrect setting can be identified and corrected either manually or automatically if the set-up is a motorized stereo rig. STAN is one of the world’s first stereo production assistance systems that enables ideal positioning of both cameras through motorized control by parameters computed in real-time. With its image-based computation of stereo parameters, preview function for vital production information like stereo quality and scene depth, and its alerts for possible infringements of the basic rules of 3D production (stereo framing, compliance with the available depth budget, avoidance of eye divergence etc.), STAN stands head and shoulders above other comparable systems now on the market. All this information is displayed on an intuitive graphic interface which gives users an array of different visualization modes with which to judge stereo quality.

See STAN in action at CeBIT hall 9, booth B36 the Fraunhofer Heinrich Hertz Institute presents excerpts from live 3D productions:
– Live broadcast of the concert given by “Die Fantastischen Vier” on 28 September 2010
– Recording and broadcast of a dress rehearsal by the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
– Recording and broadcast of a concert by “Marina and the Diamonds”

STAN was developed by the Fraunhofer Heinrich Hertz Institute in association with KUK Filmproduktion GmbH, Munich, in the German consortium research project PRIME – PRoduction and Projection Technologies for Immersive Media – funded by the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology (BMWi). While the research project was still running, STAN was taken up and integrated in DVS’s VENICE video-server and ARRI’s ALEXA camera.

www.hhi.fraunhofer.de