Robert M. Neuman

Bolt 3D: a case study

This paper presents an overview of the creative process and the technical challenges involved in the creation of the digital 3D presentation of the film Bolt, by Walt Disney Animation Studios.

Stereo compositing accelerated by quadtree structures in piecewise linear and curvilinear spaces

We present a new stereoscopic compositing technique that combines volumetric output from several stereo camera rigs. Unlike previous multi-rigging techniques, our approach does not require objects rendered with different stereo parameters to be clearly separable to prevent visual discontinuities. We accomplished that by casting not straight rays (aligned with a single viewing direction) but curved rays, and that results in a smooth blend between viewing parameters of the stereo rigs in the user-defined transition area. Our technique offers two alternative methods for defining shapes of the cast rays. The first method avoids depth distortion in the transition area by guaranteeing monotonic behavior of the stereoscopic disparity function while the second one provides a user with artistic control over the influence of each rig in the transition area. To ensure practical usability, we efficiently solve key performance issues in the ray-casting (e.g. locating cell-ray intersection and traversing rays within a cell) with a highly parallelizable quadtree-based spatial data structure, constructed in the parameterized curvilinear space, to match the shape definition of the cast rays.

Design and realization of stereoscopic 3D for Disney classics

The stereoscopic conversions of Disneys The Lion King and Beauty and the Beast required development of novel techniques to art direct, edit, and visualize 3D depth. Producing stereo without geometric models meant the creation of an extensive toolset to create and validate plausible depth for each pixel on screen.

Concurrent monoscopic and stereoscopic animated film production

The number of theater screens domestically that are equipped for digital 3D exhibition is currently only about one quarter of the total number that are reached by an animated feature film in wide release. Any such film could not ignore the aesthetic demands particular to 2D exhibition on a statistical basis alone. However, the cost and effort of producing a 3D version, despite the numerical disadvantage, might indicate the type of commitment to this burgeoning medium that would dictate putting out only the best 3D product. As it is not always practical to create two completely artistically divergent versions of a film, the manner in which a production navigates through the compromises between the two will determine the success of the results. In the face of this reality, the production pipeline for Bolt was designed with the goal of delivering the full artistic vision of the directors for the 2D film that the majority of filmgoers would see, yet deliver an uncompromising immersive experience to 3D audiences.