the fxphd deans blog

We came across a great extension to OpenEXR, OpenSXR which is a stereo extension. This will allow dual images to be stored in the one OpenEXR file, and actually could be used to store more than 2 images if you needed to. This will solve a huge data management problem when working with Stereo images. Having to keep two frames linked throughout post can be a huge pain.

Multiple views of the same scene may sometimes be stored in separate files rather than in a single multi- view file. An OpenEXR file that contains one of multiple views of a scene should identify the stored view using the multiView header attribute. For example, if RGBA data for the left and right views of a scene are stored in two separate files, both files should contain a multiView attribute. In one file the attribute lists only the left view; in the other file only the right view is listed. Each file has four channels, called R, G, B and A.

In talking to one of the authors Matt Welford (Weta) the team also think the extension should be saved as .sxr when storing stereo images. “Currently this is the what several other vendors are using the format (Nuke, Silhouette, RV) and we can do internally with Shake” he said. The OpenEXR extension was proposed by Welford and Peter Hillman.

For sample files - click read more below (more…)

One of our most popular professors at fxphd is following up his successful AE design course with a brand new Cinema 4D course this term. This course is a direct result of input from our members, who strongly lobbied for a design centric offering in the Maxon app. Not surprisingly so far this term, the classes are getting great reviews from artists taking the course.

Clapham’s company in the UK, hypa.tv, focuses on design with clients such as The Discovery Channel. In this week’s class he’s taking a look at Mocca IK rigging as well as the Sketch and Toon plugin for rendering. I’m looking forward to the culmination of the course: a three week project taking a design task from conception to final output. He’ll take the project from boards, to modeling, to texturing and lighting, to rendering, and then final assembly and enhancement in After Effects.

Next week is our break week during the term — so it’s a great time for members to take a break and for those who have joined in the last several weeks it’s a time to catch up on classes.

We had a great time last week preparing for the dv Rebel lighting class. When we did the first course, Stu wanted more backyard built professional rigs.. so we have been trying to follow up on that this week. One of the fun ones was a desk light using a circular fluorescent light fitting. It is designed with a magnifying glass so you can look through the magnifying glass at something lit by this round light. We found one of these as damaged floor stock at a local lighting shop for under a hundred dollars got them to swap the light for a 5000K colour temp globe and then back at the office we popped out the middle magnifying glass… bingo - circular “kino flo style ring light” !

Now I am sure the kino Flo one is better - but ours comes with a handy stand to hold it and theirs costs around US$1250. Anyway with just one desk lamp light - no flash - no photoshop… we have a cool portrait light.

It works best with wide angle lenses - but I got to say - dv Rebel or as I called it OSIPSFM “old school innovative problem solving film” is fun!

We have been editing at the tech penthouse. It is true that there is the film on the page, the film you think you shot and then the film that you have in the edit. In our case I handed over the edit completely to Charles Ivory, a great editor. Charles has been editing this project to test both RED workflow and also to give us some great material for our Background Fundamentals course.

Production is back in full swing in Sydney.

We have an fxguidetv this afternoon and a complex lighting shoot tomorrow for Digital Cinematography class with Ben Allan. For the DOP class we are buying a jib arm - ok it’s not just for the DOP class - I think a Jib arm adds real production value and as it works with our Red and our HVX200 - on our miller tripod and with our miller Head - so it is not that expensive.

Production value is a funny thing, I know we could build a smaller cheaper rig ourselves - (actually.. our friends at Miller are doing us a great deal) but with something like a camera support - you need great build quality - it can’t ever fail! Just a few things like good lighting - a dolly and a jib arm can make a medium production look very professional.

Over at the Photography course we are testing the Lens Baby for an upcoming class - this shot is from our portrait tone mapping class in a couple of weeks - Now we have the lens baby for the stills camera - the team here want it for the Red and P2 cameras !!! Anyway it is a great relatively cheap addition to the kit we bought at NAB.

I have to say doing fxphd is really seriously cool fun.

Regular readers of fxguide will undoubtedly remember our extremely popular article on Gareth Edward’s work on Atilla the Hun. After this article went up, we contacted Gareth about doing a course for us at fxphd and he was psyched about doing so. After our first week of classes, it seems we’ve got a new hit here at phd. Gareth pinged me before the class went out, making sure it wasn’t too basic. Hardly. Instead, it was a fascinating look at how he organized the job in order to get so many shots accomplished in such a short period of time.

The course is gonna be a blast. The first several classes will be taking a look at how he did actual shots on the show. Since we can’t distribute the footage from the show, we’ve recreated some of the shoots so that we have material that we can send out to our members. They’ll be able to use the principles learned in the course to create shots for their reels. I think it’ll be interesting for any compositor types…not just AE folks.

Next time….Part 2 of our behind-the-scenes look at our life at NAB

So number Ep 2 of Red Centre is out… and it got featured on itunes…
can someone please write a review or two - if you like it !

Oh and subscribe.

Mike
UPDATE we are now in the top 100 Film and Video PODCAST list ! Whoa ! Please subscribe guys

Well today I fly to NAB. Jeff and I will then head to Vegas on Friday. Just a few reminders -

Sunday : we are talking at the Autodesk master class
Monday: BarCamp - see fxphd for details - free beer for PostGrads
Tuesday: We are talking at the Red Party.

For NAB : I will be twitter-ing : mikeseymour

And one for the road - I figured I would post another stunning image done by Rose Drapper from the new Photography class.

Also check out this week’s O week video for the run down on all the new classes.

Mike

The cat is out of the proverbial bag with the new courses for April08 having been announced this week. The entire fxphd crew is psyched about the new term…we’ve listened carefully to our members and have a great lineup. During the week of April 7th — which we call “O-Week” (short for “Orientation Week”) — we’ll have our special Background Fundamentals episode detailing the term and new courses. This is available to everyone, and not just members. It’s a great way to get up to speed on the new term at fxphd.

Getting the new term together and rolled out takes a tremendous amount of work from everyone at fxphd around the world. If that wasn’t enough on our plate — and no April fool’s — fxphd chicago moved into our new loft space on the 1st and hit the ground running. We’ll be taking everyone on a video tour of the place when we get a chance to do so, but right now we’re just busy unpacking and installing our key machines. Pictured are Mark Dascoli (left) and freelance IT guru Robert Ferguson — pulling cables and installing the flame system.

Back from a weeklong holiday — where for the first time since starting fxphd I didn’t post in the forums for the duration — things are hitting high gear here in Chicago. Next week, we move into our beautiful new offices in the heart of downtown Chicago (entry lobby pictured) where I will be sharing space with a new editorial company. I’ll be providing both technical and creative help to some friends who are starting up this facility. We’ll be documenting the buildout for fxphd members, so you can see the many issues that come up when starting a new place…should be quite interesting. More details to come….

If that wasn’t enough cool stuff happening, on March 31st (stateside) we announce the new term of courses for the April08 term at fxphd — and registration will be open for the term immediately. This actually takes a tremendous amount of effort behind the scenes, with the entire fxphd staff from Jimmy to Mark to Mat to Mike and myself working to tie things up. We work hard to get new professors involved in the mix — and then get them up to speed on both the technical and philosophical aspects of our courses at fxphd. Once again — we’re really really excited about the new term….