Stereographic Digital Cinema: Production and Exhibition Techniques in 2012

The growth in digital, stereographic motion pictures has been surprising and strong, providing a new revenue generator for the industry. After a sluggish start for the digital cinema industry, 3-D movies have become the primary driver of digital cinema adoption. Those experienced in digital stereographic techniques are clamoring for more tools and capabilities to support their creative visions. Meanwhile, the large industry of movie production workers is clamoring for information on the basic methods of creating and presenting stereographic movies. This paper presents the techniques and tradeoffs in employing 3-D camera capture, 3-D computer generated imagery, and 2-D-to-3-D conversion in developing stereographic images. It further reviews the current status and future possibilities for 3-D viewing systems in the exhibition cinemas.