3-D LinkedIn Group and Dimension 3 Expo

Update (September 2009): The Stereoscopic 3-D Professionals Worldwide LinkedIn Group now has over 2,300 members.

The Stereoscopic 3-D Professionals Worldwide LinkedIn Group is growing rapidly on a daily basis and now has over 1,600 members. The 1,500 mark passed so quickly that I didn’t even have time to announce it! Members now include professionals from virtually all key companies in the 3-D Stereoscopic industry and of course most of the key 3-D Stereoscopic independent professionals on the globe as well. Check it out:
http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=51511

This plethora of 3-D professionals translates into very effective discussion forum postings and job postings getting answered by exactly the right people in no time. And the amount of 3-D jobs appears to be growing rapidly, despite the global recession. Through the group it is possible to find real, professional answers to your stereoscopic questions, find 3-D colleagues, meet new business partners and set up meetings at international 3-D events to meet any of the 1,600 members in person.

In that respect I would like to draw your attention to the upcoming Dimension 3 Expo in Paris, France, from 2-4 June 2009. D3E is Europe’s premier, biggest and most dedicated event revolving around 3-D Stereoscopic media production and display and is THE place to meet European stereoscopic 3-D professionals and manufacturers. NAB and IBC may have bits and bobs on 3-D, Dimension 3 Expo is purely dedicated to Stereo 3-D. More practical information on D3E at the website:

www.dimension3-expo.com



As I will be sitting on one of the panels of the Dimension 3 conferences (Wednesday 3 June - 2 pm), D3 is the perfect opportunity to meet me in person as well and I do indeed intend to organize LinkedIn 3-D Group drinks in one of the local bars. This will be a perfect opportunity to put faces to names of the group and talk advanced, ground-breaking and avant-garde 3-D with like-minded 3-D professionals. If you are interested in sponsoring the drinks, please do contact me: info [at] the3drevolution.com


Recognize Alexander Lentjes
at Dimension 3 Expo 2009

Announced attendants to D3E so far:

2AVI, 3D-Filme, 3DLized, 3D Revolution, 3DTV Solutions, 21st century 3D, 3D Entertainment, Alcorn, Alioscopy, AmaK, Apy, Artistic Images, Assimilate, Attitude Studio, Autodesk, BskyB, Beinrelief, Christie, CNC, Color Code, CowProd, Cube, Dassault Systèmes, Herold & Familly, Digimage Cinema, Disney Pictures, Dolby, Doremi Cinema, DPLenticular, Eutelsat, Geopack, Gobelins, Imax, Inition, In-Three, Iridas, Iz3D, Fraunhofer Institute, le Futuroscope, Geneva Film, Geopack, HDCC, Holo Image, Jon Peddie Research, Kolpi, Kuk Film Production, La Geode, La Ficam, L’Ecole Nationale Louis Lumière, Le Pôle, Lightspeed Design, LocaRed, Mercenaries Engineering, Nayade, Next3D, NVIDIA, Nwave, Orange, Panasonic, Passmore Labs, Planar, Polymorph, Principal Large Format, P+S Technik, Quantel, Samsung, Sensio, SMPTE, TeamTo, Tempere University of Technology, Thomson, Trioviz, R2D1, SMPTE, Swiss Rig, Sky High Entertainment, The Foundry, N3DLand, National Geographic, Nwaves, Universal Pictures, Université CRC, UP3D, Volfoni, Wild Bunch, Wow Factor Pictures, Xpand


I hope to see you there!

Alexander Lentjes
3-D Revolution Productions
www.the3drevolution.com

Stereoscopic 3-D advice for free

Recently, I have started the 3-D Stereoscopic Professionals Worldwide LinkedIn Group: a group for professionals working in the field of stereo 3D, who also happen to be on LinkedIn. The group is growing very rapidly and already includes members from the big 3-D producers such as 3-Disney, 3-Dreamworks, 3-Digital Domain (sorry, can’t help it) and Sony Pictures Imageworks.


Beowulf 3-D: Top-notch Stereoscopic Film Production

In the first round-e-mail I sent out, I asked the members why there is not more communication and cooperation between 3-D stereoscopic professionals and, more over, why there is no openness of information and a sharing of industry practises. It seems to me like a logical question and the desire to make the industry benefit as a whole by sharing information appears, on the surface, to be the only way to truly build a global 3-D industry. The immediate answers to this question were very positive and most group members responding agreed with my standpoint of cooperation rather than secrecy and greed towards 3-D information.


Shhh, don't tell anyone: it's a 3-D camera system!

It was not all calls to arms, though, and a little reminder about the reality of the 3-D industry was given by Disney’s top 3-D man: “Unfortunately, I know a lot of 3-D gurus who have been severely punished for their generosity”.

I get contacted almost daily by people who ask for 3-D advice and I am the last person to send them away with no information, as I strongly believe in helping out those who cannot find any information out there and are unable to pay for professional help. How else can a real independent 3-D film library come into existence? But sadly it is not only people unable to pay for professional help who try to get as much 3-D information out of me as possible before they disappear into the thin air... On the upside one can sometimes get rewarded with kind words about supplying free 3-D information and of course a fantastic end product to enjoy. Last year I was contacted by a small independent animation production outset with the words: "I just found your website & I must say I really appreciate all the information you have provided on stereoscopy. I'm doing some research for a 3D film project and this just about answered all of my questions. I do have one more question though.”, and: "There seems to be little information on the world of 3D cinematography on the Internet, with the exception of your website, which has been an incredible resource. Thanks for all your help.”


www.the3drevolution.com - the 3-D Revolution website

The metioned question pertained to how small an interaxial should be on a model shoot where the models would be integrated with bluescreened actors and what cameras should be used etc. The company was called Encyclopedia Pictura and half a year after the kind words and my free advice the news of Björk’s latest music video being released in 3-D reached me. Wonderful work by EP and nice & calm 3-D that never goes negative on the parallax but keeps the video in the small theatre of positive parallax, just the way Bjork loves it.


Wanderlust 3-D - dark in places, even for Björk's taste


3-D composition in Bjork's 3D stereoscopic video 'Wanderlust'

Staying with indie 3-D animation, I have done very brief consulting on an independent stereoscopic animation production in the Netherlands by the name of ‘The 3-D Machine’ and the production company Ka-ching Cartoons thanked me and sent me a complimentary DVD of the final product. If you’re going to take free 3-D advice, at least thank the Stereographer. I am of the opinion that the 3-D industry can only grow when information is shared, but not even mentioning the person who helped you accomplish great 3-D is not the way to work either. That only makes for 3-D professionals shutting their mouths again and keeping the stereoscopic information to themselves in the most paranoid way possible. Regardless I am still keeping my website open for business and the information keeps on flowing freely. Maybe stupidly, but that’s 3-D belief for you.


'The 3-D Machine' by Ka-Ching Cartoons

By the way, you CAN also hire me for your stereo 3D music video or professional stereoscopic 3-D film or video production. Contact me.

Alexander Lentjes
3-D Revolution Productions