Conversion Friday - a weekly 2d-3d forum comp

[Jsmith82]

So I had an idea - something fun that could also contribute a little eye candy to the forum. Would anyone be interested in doing a weekly conversion comp / forum game / whatever you want to call it?

Basis: Take a 2d movie still and convert it to a 3d anaglyph

Simple rules:

1. Anyone is welcome to join at anytime.
2. We start with a movie on a Monday (which after week 1 will be chosen by the weekly winner, if that person does not come forward on Monday we'll pick a film at random).
3. Find a random screenshot from said movie on the internet and convert the picture to 3d (red / blue anaglyph).
4. Post your contribution by Friday, we'll check out all the contributions and pick a winner by Sunday.
5. The winning member will choose the next film.

The tactics and films could get downright tough, or plain goofy - imagine a Driving Miss Daisy 3d challenge, or a Matrix challenge...

If anyone is interested, post back. If enough people jump in, we'll start next Monday. I really enjoy converting pictures and random screenshots to 3d, it's definitely art that keen requires skill to get close to perfection.

If anyone is looking for a 1-2-3 on how to convert 2d to 3d in order to join (how to rotoscope and create a grey scale depth map via layers) I would be willing to throw a small tutorial together - you would only need programs GIMP and the trial version of Bas-Relief 3.2 (both are free).

Thoughts?

[Jsmith82]

Booo...



Oh well.

[Gae]

Originally Posted by Jsmith82

Booo...



Oh well.

Jsmith82..I wouldn't worry. The lack of response is just illustrating what a specialized activity doing conversions is and it takes quite a bit of research and training to do on top of having the initial interest in the first place.

When I was doing "House on Haunted Hill" I put out an ad to try to get some people to help me and to get inolved but that was pretty naive of me because it is such a specialized and laborious skill that most people wouldn't do that kind of work unless it was a paid job I'd imagine. You and I just happen to have a quite rare hobby that, generally speaking, not too many other people do. In my case I have stopped doing conversions altogether because I totally burned myself out doing COS and the 12 mins of HOHH.

Have you tried joining 3D conversion groups over at places like Yahoo or Flickr? There are a few over there that do photo conversions in anaglyph format.

Gae

[UFAlien]

I'd be all over this if:

A) I had more time, and
B) My Nvidia glasses hadn't just broken, robbing me of my way to QC conversions.

[Jsmith82]

Originally Posted by Gae

Jsmith82..I wouldn't worry. The lack of response is just illustrating what a specialized activity doing conversions is and it takes quite a bit of research and training to do on top of having the initial interest in the first place.

When I was doing "House on Haunted Hill" I put out an ad to try to get some people to help me and to get inolved but that was pretty naive of me because it is such a specialized and laborious skill that most people wouldn't do that kind of work unless it was a paid job I'd imagine. You and I just happen to have a quite rare hobby that, generally speaking, not too many other people do. In my case I have stopped doing conversions altogether because I totally burned myself out doing COS and the 12 mins of HOHH.

Have you tried joining 3D conversion groups over at places like Yahoo or Flickr? There are a few over there that do photo conversions in anaglyph format.

Gae

Hey stranger!

Yeah, good points. It's a shame, something like this could be fun. I've tried searching for a forum with dedicated sections to conversions but have not found a home, the one I tried to join has no movement at all outside the single mod who created it - could you link me to your suggestions (if you have time)?

I find it fascinating and a hell of a challenge, probably what keeps me coming back for more. Being able to take a 2d image, not just for movies, and properly convert it into 3d brings the past to life IMO. Photography maps the past, memories live on, 3d brings you into the picture. I've continued to work through my mapping process and try to better it overall, but I've also taken to cleaning up converted photography, running through with a fine tooth comb and cleaning out the stretched pieces of a converted image, painting converted backgrounds, etc.

Gae I remember a while back you were throwing in the conversion towel, have you picked back up since then or started anything new?

[Gae]

Originally Posted by Jsmith82

I find it fascinating and a hell of a challenge, probably what keeps me coming back for more. Being able to take a 2d image, not just for movies, and properly convert it into 3d brings the past to life IMO. Photography maps the past, memories live on, 3d brings you into the picture.

Gae I remember a while back you were throwing in the conversion towel, have you picked back up since then or started anything new?

Hi Jsmith 82, the excitement that you mentioned was there for me too and it still interests me but as I said before, converting "Carnival of Souls" to 3D on my own over an 8 month period totally burnt me out and I got to the stage that I didn't want to see another depth map as long as I lived.
Remember, we are talking 83 mins of conversion...thats 30 frames x 60 seconds x 83 = 149,400 individual depth maps..different scenes and animated with multiple objects moving about in some scenes. Just thinking about it makes me want to break out in a cold sweat...

Here are just a few single frames of those animated depth maps...all drawn out by hand in photoshop....

Depth Map samples

I'm in no rush to go back to doing 3D conversions any time soon.

Gae

P.S. If you go to Flickr and search 3D anaglyph pictures, there are a lot of different groups like "Stereophotography" and "3D Stereo Conversion" or their Anaglyph group

[Jsmith82]

Oh I feel it, my current conversion project has over 560 scenes (or breaks in the camera), the total frame breakout was over 65,000 jpgs . but I've learned you can not look at it like that, it's too overwhelming. Instead taking it in section by section and creating stages - the method that keeps me from madness so to speak .

I'll check out the link - thanks.

[Gae]

Originally Posted by Jsmith82

Oh I feel it, my current conversion project has over 560 scenes (or breaks in the camera), the total frame breakout was over 65,000 jpgs . but I've learned you can not look at it like that, it's too overwhelming. Instead taking it in section by section and creating stages - the method that keeps me from madness so to speak .

I'll check out the link - thanks.

Are you converting a public domain film then? I'd be interested to know.

I agree, I was exactly the same, taking each scene one step at a time. The problem was that, in the end, although I did sell a few copies, it didn't really do as well as I'd naively hoped it would and it didn't open any doors for me. At the time I was hoping to either make a bit more money, or to get involved with some other official conversion of another movie, based on what I had achieved with COS. The call never came though and by the time I had finished COS, people were using NUKE or GIMP and using a much more advanced method for conversions...a method that I don't understand or have any experience with.

Dreams eh?

Gae