STEREOSCOPIC

STEREOSCOPIC EDITING IN MC6

One of the big new additions to MC6 is STEREOSCOPIC (ie 3D) editing.  This is designed around cameras which film the two different eyes (left and right) as separate files which need to then be combined into a single file.

You can either record the clips in using the Avid capture application which now has special sections for capturing stereo clips, or import the files in using either AVID AMA or importing and converting footage into one of Avid's many formats.

We have footage filmed on the AVCHD Panasonic AG-3DA1 camera which films both eyes as separate 1920x1080 50i files.  You can import these using AVID AMA (where you just link to the files on the hard drive) but we have found that AVID works a lot better if you convert the footage into AVID's own DNxHD format.

Once you have the files you imported you have to combine them into a STEREO file.  First you have to identify to AVID which clips are for the right eye and which are for the left, and then you select all the clips you want to combine and choose how to combine them - this could be based on the name of the clip or other fields such as the "3D group name".  Once you have a combined file you then edit in exactly the same way as you would any other clip.

Setting up a stereo project

In the standard AVID project dialogue there is a new setting - STEREOSCOPIC.  Here you choose the type of project you are editing.  This setting can be changed at ANY time. 

How do you see the project on a 3D TV?

We like to monitor our edits on a proper TV using either a Matrox MX02 or a Black Magic card. You can do this with basically any of the cards which are available.  On all of the ones we have tested so far we can get either a SIDE-BY-SIDE or OVER/UNDER  preview on a TV,  All you need to do is change the setting seen here and the output changes to match.  If you choose FULL then the output from both Matrox and Black Magic devices is set to SIDE-BY-SIDE.  To get a full resolution 3D output you need to use an nVidia graphic card and nVidia's 3D.

VIEWING THE EDIT IN THE COMPOSER WINDOW

The AVID project setting changes the output from the Matrox card, however, the composer window has different settings as you can see here.  This means you can set the compose to show you a simple frame where as you get 3D output from your chosen output device.

We like to set anaglyph on the composer window because it helps to easily identify the two images for adjusting convergence - plus if you have a set of the right coloured glasses to hand you can see 3D in the composer window.