A Small Showcase of Experimental 3D Cinema

A professor at Carnegie Mellon and an artist exhibited in top new media art galleries around the world, Golan Levin is definitely someone at the forefront of technology, and thus a fitting person to have do an AMA for Reddit. For the same reason, there is no way that the artist-hacker would do a traditional tread interview; of course he's going to showcase some of the crazy things they're doing up there in his STUDIO for Creative Inquiry.

One of the big things in interactive media seems to be the rise of the depth-sensing camera as a way to sense the user. As they are cheap and available, the cameras make for an ideal piece of modifiable equipment. In this video James George and Jonathan Minard have been working with depth cameras at Levin's STUDIO on what they refer to as "virtual cinematography" or "re-photography" in which a recording of the speaker is taken as a 3D image and, in post, editors go back and select different angles. I cannot believe what detail they were able to get from this camera! If you look closely, you'll notice that the image is made up of a lattice, but each part of the lattice is not one definite color. Each line is made up of several colors and, as he moves, the colors change accordingly. It is pretty amazing that you are also able to tell the depth, say from his nose, from angles other than direct side or top.

I am glad that Levin chose questions from users that really are about learning and less about his works. Since he is a teacher, and not all of us can get into or afford Carnegie Mellon, it is nice to hear what the artist thinks computer tinkerers like myself should know and whether or not a top-school education is really the most important thing, as professions such as doctors and lawyers like to believe.

Read the article on how James George and Jonathan Minard made the video here.