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Stereographic Rigs from Technica 3D




Quasar Broadcast
Quasar Cinema
Pulsar

Technica 3D is a family of stereographic 3D rigs designed by Element Technica to precisely align and control positioning of a pair of cameras necessary for stereographic 3D imaging. Element Technica’s goal from the beginning was to design the Technica 3D family of tools to free creative producers, directors and cinematographers from the limitations of existing 3D equipment, and the often artificially created constraints erected by boutique 3D production houses seeking to keep the “secrets” of 3D behind the magic curtain.

Prior to the creation of the Quasar, the first and largest rig in the Technica 3D family, 3D rig shooting platforms were largely one-off prototypes. They were built for a specific production, requiring a special set of tools and has a one-of-a-kind method of alignment and operation. Such rigs often had little or nothing in common with other 3D rigs that may be used on a particular production.

Gaining access to professional 3D rigs often required a producer to hire a specialty 3D crew, which could mean giving up creative freedom on the production, not to mention a great deal of money. For Element Technica, the goal in the design of the Technica 3D rigs was to bring a high-quality but standardized set of 3D tools to the burgeoning 3D production marketplace. Element Technica applied decades of experience gained in creating and manufacturing premium quality motion picture camera accessories to the design and manufacture of the Technica 3D family of rigs.

Success in developing these high quality 3D rigs has been recognized by the significant and growing number of top-of-the-line production equipment rental houses with Technica 3D equipment. Each has added Technica 3D rigs to their inventory and has sponsored training seminars to allow skilled camera assistants to become conversant in Technica 3D rig configuration and operation. The Technica 3D rigs have incorporated a number of ground-breaking features to the 3D rig marketplace. One of the major developments is the ambidexterity of the rig to the two principal stereoscopic shooting styles, side-by-side and beamsplitter (in both cinematic and broadcast configurations).

To achieve a stereoscopic image, a pair of cameras must be placed side-by-side, with what’s known as the interocular distance between the two lenses. To maintain a realistic 3D effect, that interocular distance will vary according to a number of parameters including distance from the subject and lens focal length. When interocular distance must be reduced to such a point that the physical dimensions of the cameras do not permit a close enough interocular distance between the lenses, one camera is rotated 90 degrees and the image it shoots first passes through a prism, known as a beamsplitter, to route it to the lens’ new location. Since the cameras in the beamsplitter mode are only optically side-by-side, a minuscule interocular distance is possible.

Many existing 3D rigs are capable of only side-by-side or beamsplitter shooting, but not both. A Technica 3D rig can not only be reconfigured from side-by-side to beamsplitter, or vice-versa, in ten minutes or less, but is the only rig capable of locating the beamsplitter camera either above (known as over/thru) or below (known as under/thru) the other camera on the rig.

Because time really is money, the lightweight Technica 3D rigs are designed to be shipped in two pieces: the rig and the beamsplitter. This reduces the time it takes to assemble and calibrate the Technica 3D rig on location to 30 minutes or less. In fact, Element Technica was challenged to do just that at the most recent 2010 Sundance Film Festival. Showcasing a Technica 3D rig at one of Sundance’s theatres, they were given exactly 30 minutes to do all the setup, including carrying in the shipping cases. They were able to unpack, setup the rig, mount cameras, run the wiring, align cameras and cable the output to the Hyundai 3D monitor to display the stereo image for the crowd. One person did it all. Editor Neil Matsumoto of HDVideoPro Magazine who happened to be watching it all, made the following observation in the April issue of the HDVideoPro:

"Element Technica gave a short presentation on 3D film making with their 3D camera rig, which was used most recently on a low-budget feature “The Mortician”. What was most impressive was that Element Technica was able to setup a 3D camera system connected to a high-def monitor for the audience to view, in less than 30 minutes."

Element Technica 3D techs later learned that their 30 minute setup was rather slow. Rental house Keslow Camera has a pair of Technica 3D rigs in their inventory, and a few months ago Sean Fairburn, stereographer, and Lee Lusby, 1st AC, came to Keslow where they spent three days with the rigs trying to learn everything they could. On the final day they put a watch to their setup, from scratch, of a Technica 3D rig with a pair of RED ONE cameras. They found that the two of them were able to setup and perfectly configure the rig in a beamsplitter arrangement in just under nine minutes.



In order to span the range of professional HD cameras from the largest to the smallest, Element Technica has designed a family of three Technica 3D rigs. The Quasar, which has spent a year in the field shooting 3D on feature films, sports and entertainment programming, is big brother of the rig family. It is designed for full-sized HD cameras such as the RED ONE, SONY F23/35 and 1500, ARRI D-21, Phantom and Genesis to name a few. The mid-sized Pulsar rig is designed for box-style digital cinema cameras such as the Scarlet, Epic and the SI-2K plus DSLR cameras with motion capture capabilities such as Canon’s 5D and 7D. Finally, the ultra-small Neutron is designed for the tiny 2/3-inch or 1/3-inch imager cameras such as the SI-2K MINI, Cumina and the Iconix. All three of the Technica 3D rigs incorporate the same simplicity of design, light weight, ease of configuration and operation, and capability of operating in either side-by-side or beamsplitter mode.

Technica 3D rigs are designed, machined, assembled and tested in Culver City, CA. Every step of the process is carefully monitored to ensure that each rig that leaves the building will work as expected, every time. There is comfort in knowing that if you are working on unit #2, it will operate the same way as unit #82.