Last year, Zero Creative launched its 2-D to 3-D conversion service for autostereoscopic 3-D displays (glasses free), such as its own xyZ 3-D display. Now, the company has introduced the capability to convert any existing 2-D content into full stereoscopic 3-D.
The service is divided in three different quality levels: basic, high and extreme. In all cases, video content is converted on manual frame-by-frame bases instead of automated processes. This approach results in a highly accurate 3-D conversion and reduces errors, according to the company. The quality levels determine the differences in 3-D perception, and, at the extreme quality, extra optical handmade image correction or additional special 3-D effects can be employed.
The company admits that it’s a rather labor-intensive process, but CEO Jean-Pierre van Maasakker said, “it’s in our [industry ’s] best interest to deliver high-quality 3-D or it might turn off audiences.”
Even for new video productions, this conversion process could prove cost-effective to shooting in 3-D directly, because 3-D production is still expensive and technically difficult for many producers.
The new Zero Creative service supports different output formats, such as stereoscopic (left and right image), various anaglyph variations (using color filtering) and autostereoscopic-ready 3-D (multiview). This means that converted video is future proof for a variety of upcoming 3-D technologies.
For this 2-D to 3-D conversion service, the company is targeting the conversion of existing and new movies, promotional films, documentaries and commercials.
Zero Creative is located in Nijmegen, The Netherlands. The company’s autostereoscopic xyZ 3-D displays are based on lenticular technology.
