nofilmschool » opensource

DIY FYI: You Don't Need a 4K Monitor to Monitor in 4K (But It's Not Perfect and Uses Linux)

Dave Kendricken — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 23:30:27 +0000

We’ve had a few posts revolving around open source 3D modeling & animation suite Blender recently, including some info on using it to model color space in three dimensions. Now, as a bit of a ‘BTW, FYI’ to a more recent post concerning the free release of all 4k F65 footage acquired for Blender’s CGI/live-action Tears of Steel, we have some info that may actually help you visualize that or any other 4k footage in full-res — without an actual 4k monitor. It isn’t perfect — it’s a bit rough and ready, and may require Linux, but we thought our readers should know that it’s possible, especially since very few of us have access to 4k viewing, be it through projection or UHD TV sets. Read on for some details on how the Project Mango team devised its ‘DIY 4k’ monitoring solution. (more…)

Blender Foundation Releases 4TB of 'Tears of Steel' Sony F65 4K Footage & Demonstrates Post Workflow

Dave Kendricken — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 21:38:44 +0000

The Blender Foundation is constantly pushing the boundaries of availability, openness, and access to the raw materials it uses to create its ‘proof-of-Blender’ animated shorts. This type of access is usually more associated with open source software than filmmaking, but especially since the Project Mango live-action CGI/VFX-heavy Tears of Steel was realized, that distinction has become increasingly blurred. Now filmmakers, animators, or compositors looking to cut their teeth on professional-grade material have access to the entirety of Tears of Steel‘s footage, in 4k OpenEXR (in the ACES color space), courtesy Xiph.org. In the meantime, the Foundation has also made available a number of resources concerning their post-production pipeline, which allowed them to transcode 4K Sony F65 footage to those Linux-workable OpenEXR frames. Check below for more details. (more…)

Apertus Axiom Global Shutter 4K Super 35mm Camera Gets a Prototype and a Website

Joe Marine — Mon, 31 Dec 2012 21:48:59 +0000

We told you back in July about the Apertus project and their goal to build the first open source digital cinema camera — not only that, but one that could match or exceed the specs of some of the other digital cinema cameras out there. This open source camera, the Axiom, will be capable of RAW high-speed 4K recording, and best of all, the software will be made open to the public so that the users can do whatever they want with it, similar to the Magic Lantern project, but without any hacking involved since it’s being made available for free. The team over at Apertus has been hard at work behind the scenes, and while their crowdfunding project for the camera will not start this year, they launched a website to detail the Axiom and the new Axiom Alpha, a prototype using the same sensor as the final camera. (more…)

Selfstarter May Be a Trendsetter: Crowdfunding Goes Open Source

Dave Kendricken — Sat, 20 Oct 2012 20:04:53 +0000

Just because you attempt to launch something on Kickstarter, does not automatically mean the project will be approved. In response to this, the development team for the Lockitron project (whose original startup was indeed rejected by Kickstarter) has released a new donation-based funding system, called Selfstarter — and since then has raised $1 million in pre-order sales using it. Selfstarter is fully customizable, clearly effective (compare that $1 million to the team’s original $150,000 goal), and — most importantly — free for everyone to use for their own projects. More details after the jump. (more…)

'Tears of Steel': a Completely Open Source Live Action/CG Sci-Fi Film

Joe Marine — Sat, 29 Sep 2012 18:56:17 +0000

Open Source doesn’t always have the greatest reputation in the filmmaking community, often because many believe it means unsupported and infrequently updated — and sometimes they’re right. We’re going to be getting the first open source camera, but open source software has existed for filmmaking for quite some time and there are plenty of options out there that can produce spectacular results, like the 3D animation program Blender. The Blender Foundation has been working with talented people to make films using the software, and Tears of Steel is their 4th completely Open Source film. How open? They are releasing all of the materials for the short film completely under a Creative Commons license (free to reuse and distribute with attribution). The film is streaming, and also available as an HD download (which is the way I’d recommend watching). (more…)

Apertus Announces Axiom Camera: 4K at 150fps, 15 Stop Dynamic Range, Under $10K

Joe Marine — Wed, 11 Jul 2012 16:51:31 +0000

It looks like RED, Sony, and Canon will be getting some interesting competition very soon. Apertus, the open source camera project that started in 2006, was designing a camera with all open source hardware and software using the small sensor Elphel camera. They recently announced that they’ll be building a brand new camera that is going shoot Cinema DNG files and sport a 4K Super 35mm sensor, 150fps at 4K, a global shutter, and the capability to get up to 15 stops of dynamic range using a process similar to RED’s HDRx. The best part of all — it’s open source, and they are planning on running a crowdfunding campaign to fund the project. (more…)

Check out Apertus, the Open Source HD Cinema Camera

Ryan Koo — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 13:29:26 +0000

Ever since Tramm Hudson hacked the 5D firmware, I’ve been wondering if some enterprising folks could buy a lot of large CMOS sensors wholesale and develop their own camera. After all, the RED camera is essentially a laptop computer (housed in the camera’s body) attached to an imaging chip. Apertus is one such open-source cinema project that began in 2006; here’s where the project stands today. (more…)