MUSCADE explores 4-camera 3D for autostereoscopic displays

At its meeting in Geneva today, the European MUSCADE (MUltimedia SCAlable 3D for Europe) project synced on the latest developments regarding advanced 3D shooting, compression, transmission, etc. The project’s partners include (amongst others) Astrium, Disney, EBU, Fraunhofer HHI, Holografika, RAI, SES Astra, Thomson, and 3D-pioneer KUK Filmproduktion. The latter has built a 4-camera rig to allow shooting of multiview 3D content, suitable for rendering on autostereoscopic displays (3D-TVs without glasses). The work is in a research phase, but shows a path 3D-TV may take in the coming decade.

Aligning four cameras

If alignment of two cameras is already a challenge, imagine setting up four devices for each shot. Well, that is exactly what the Heinrich Hertz Institute is doing! They are developing an automated alignment system, called STAN, which tells camera operators exactly which controls to adjust. A first test shoot with this system is planned for this summer. Current work is in 1080p/25, but use of higher frame rates (p50) is foreseen for later.

Rending on multiple displays

The rendering of content on current (stereo), next (autostereo) and even more advanced (light-field) displays is part of the project, as is the encoding of the material in 2- and 4-view MPEG MVD with multi-dimensional audio. For more information on the technical details and achievements, see the MUSCADE website or contact Dr Hans Hoffmann (EBU).