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Visual Effects

author-image
PCQ Bureau
New Update

With ever increasing quest for real life like imaging systems there seems to

increased interest to add a missing dimension to captured images. Besides

capturing these images there is also a need to develop displays to actually

enjoy depth of a 3D image. With the recent launch of a camera by Fujifilm (FinePix

REAL 3D W1) that is capable of capturing 3D images and video, 3D imaging is no

longer difficult to achieve. Though 3D images are not new, commercial

availability of cost effective cameras, capable of capturing 3D images is a new

concept. Besides capturing 3D images Fujifilm also provides technology for

printing captured images. In this camera, instead of one, two lenses with two

CCDs or sensors are used to capture two images of the same object from different

positions. These images are then processed (imposed on each other along with

other corrections) to create an image that appears to have depth. Besides

capturing images, one also needs to have a setup to view these 3D images; this

can be done either via 3D LCD Monitor available or by using 3D goggles. Fujifilm

has developed a technique to print 3D images with lenticular sheets that create

the 3D effect. Advanced technology encodes and aligns the captured 3D image

according to the pitch of micro lenses arranged in parallel rows on the

lenticular sheet. Seen through the sheet, image data is perceived with a

parallax effect. The result is a natural and beautiful 3D print that preserves

and breathes life into the moment forever. File formats used to store 3D still

image is Multi-Picture format and that for 3D movie is 3D-AVI.

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This 3-D photograph has been stitched from multiple photos

taken from different angles through a prosumer camera, using 'Anaglyph'

software.

Intelligent video surveillance



Success of any video surveillance depends on analysis of footage. To get

best results this analysis should be done real time and that is where

intelligence plays its part. Most of the video surveillance systems used in the

country today are not intelligent, and most require manual monitoring of the

footage which is error prone and at the same time resource consuming. Today

there are advanced video surveillance software available that can carry out

analysis of received footage on the fly. These software are programmed to

recognize suspicious shapes or activity and at the same time notify with an

alarm for the same. This alarm can be in the form of SMS, MMS, email or phone

call. And by just hooking these systems to Internet, one can remotely manage

these systems from anywhere. One big issue plaguing video surveillance systems

is analysis of already stored footage. Intelligent video surveillance comes with

content based search instead of time based and this helps one to reach to a

particular instance in footage without going through large amount of video

footage. If the footage to be searched is too big then one can imagine how

efficient it would be to do a content based search. These systems also come with

the ability to recognize a particular face and raise an alarm. This could be of

great help in securing risk prone areas. Plus, these systems can also be used to

count the number of people and even to click pictures of people entering a

particular venue. Besides face detection reorganization of a particular object

along with its location are also included in intelligent video surveillance

systems. These systems can effectively monitor the region of interest without

depending on light conditions as cameras used are independent of light

conditions and come with a pan-tilt-zoom facility.



Video advertisements in magazines
We were all astonished to see a newspaper with

moving pictures in Harry potter movies. But that was pure magic. Technology

in our hands today is capable of reproducing some of that 'magic'. In

September 2009 the first ever video ad appeared in a paper magazine

(Entertainment Weekly) in US. This ad was similar to a song greeting that we

all know very well only that this time, instead of music a video clip is

displayed in a small integrated liquid crystal screen with a 320x240

resolution. The chip used in this video player is capable of storing footage

of about 40 minutes with the capability of recharging batteries via mini

USB. Though a costly proposition, it is still a great way of advertising the

product amid cut throat competition.
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Here is a live feed from HEM VIEW camera, which can focus

on different regions of interest, plus one gets a 360 degree view of the

area in focus.
HP3
One of the most important components of video transmission

is compression/decompression algorithm or codec in short. In this box we

would talk about HP3 the latest codec which is part of RGS (Remote Graphics

Software), which in turn is a high performance remote access software from

HP. HP3 is also incorporated in 'SkyLab', the latest video conferencing and

collaboration system from HP. With the help of HP3 one can compress an image

to a great extent which results in less amount of traffic on your local

network, while transmitting video from one point to the other. HP3 codec is

also able to identify different components (text, image) of graphics during

compression, and it compresses different components with different

degrees.HP3 uses lossless compression for graphics and text, and on natural

images it uses lossy compression. The result is an image that retains high

image quality where differences would be most noticed (eg text), with higher

compression in other places.
The projected Rs 47,500 crore cumulative spend on homeland

security in India by 2017, is the market that “intelligent” surveillance

providers are eyeing (Frost and Sullivan). The GSM (Global System for

Mobile) communication adoption in India, which has proven to be spectacular.

We also expect IP Surveillance to witness the same trend.

Pardeep Menon,

MD
, Consilnet

Next-

Nanotechnology

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