Bonk Pictures Uses ReTimer to slowdown sequence in "Los Gringos"

 

 

 

 

Bonk Pictures is an independent production company in Los Angeles, CA created to produce the computer generated short film, "Los Gringos", directed by Rob Letterman.

"Los Gringos" an all CG short film created as a Spaghetti Western style parody of an action film trailer. The film was an Official Selection at Sundance this year.

For a scene shot in slow motion, Bonk Pictures created two CG characters walking away from a building that explodes into an enormous ball of fire. The animators needed to integrate stock footage of an explosion into the sequence. But because the explosion footage was shot in real time, they needed to slow it down to match the pace of the CG scene.

"Every once in a while a great piece of software comes along that is so useful and has so many potential applications, you don't know how you've lived without it." Fabien Bourdon (Spatial Reality Miami Florida).

"We originally tried to slow down the footage using traditional methods with less than ideal results. After a brief introduction to the application, we used REALVIZ' ReTimer to make the explosion footage look like it was originally shot in slow motion to match the rest of the sequence," commented Rob Letterman, Director, Bonk Pictures.

"ReTimer was the only application we found that could truly slow down footage. Rather than holding on the before and after frames which gives footage a jerky effect, ReTimer allowed us to alter the before and after frames to automatically generate original in-between frames. The result was slow motion footage with a perfectly smooth look as if it were originally shot that way," Letterman continued.

"REALVIZ' ReTimer was surprisingly easy to use. We put very little effort into tweaking the settings because the application worked almost perfectly right out of the box. The results were astonishing!" Letterman concluded.

 

REALVIZ ReTimer V2.0 For Film, Video and Animation Effects Creation

ReTimer changes the motion speed or length of image sequences, eliminating the need for expensive slow motion devices or high-speed filming.

REALVIZ S.A., a leader in image processing technology, announced ReTimer® V2.0 software application for animation and special effects professionals. ReTimer V2.0 will be shown for the first time at NAB 2000, in Las Vegas in the Sands Convention Center at Booth S5770, and will be available in May of 2000.

ReTimer is an application that can be used to cost-effectively change the speed or length of any motion sequence in post-production. The software utilizes a revolutionary method for creating highly accurate new frames between frames that were actually shot, and can also be used to subtract frames to realistically shorten a sequence. ReTimer automatically creates any number of new frames through an accurate warping technique developed by INRIA, the renowned French Research Lab that is a technology partner to REALVIZ. Through this process, new frames can be created, previewed and edited instantly and in real-time—users can also optimize the quality of a new image sequence before ReTimer creates it. Using ReTimer, high-quality fast and slow motion sequences can be easily produced.

A primary advantage to using ReTimer is that motion effects can be created in post-production without incurring a large up-front expense, such as the use of high-speed filming. ReTimer also enables animators to smooth the motion of hand-drawn and computer-generated animation sequences—this is accomplished by increasing the number of frames available for projection. Through the same technique, sequenced still photo images can also be used to create motion sequences using ReTimer.


ReTimer V2.0 New Features:

Powerful New Engine :

  • * Dense Flow : ReTimer no longer uses a vector grid as in V1.0. Each pixel now has its own computed motion (dense flow). The user can define the density of the motion field displayed for better control over output quality. ReTimer V2.0 requires much less manual correction with the Dense Flow computation engine.

Increased Speed and Workflow :

  • * Improved support of single channel images.
  • * Improved management of rendered sequences, including file names and padding.
  • * Batch Processing now available for vector field computation and rendering.

New Editing Tools:

  • * New Manual Matching: Now uses an area of influence. The size and form (square or circle) of the area of influence can defined by the user.
  • * Save and Load Vector Fields: Motion flow can be generated with an image sequence, and can be used on another one that may have a different resolution. * Mattes: Now users can use mattes for moving objects, even with a moving background.

New Image Format and OS Support:

  • * ReTimer V2.0 is available for NT, Irix and Linux. Integration with REALVIZ’ Image Processing Factory ReTimer® is one of the four applications commercially available from REALVIZ’ Image Processing Factory (IPF) which includes MatchMover®, ReTimer®, Stitcher® and ImageModeler®.

Pricing and Availability
ReTimer® is currently available for the WindowsNT, IRIX and Linux for an MSRP of $2,000 (U.S. Dollars).
All prices shown are recommended retail prices. Actual prices from REALVIZ Software Distributors may vary.


System Requirements
ReTimer® runs on Intel“ Pentium“ II and Pentium III workstations running Microsoft Windows NT.

  • * Intel Pentium II or Pentium III or higher workstation or equivalent
  • * Windows NT 4.0 with Service Pack 3 (or higher)
  • * 1024 x 768 24-bit minimum display resolution
  • * 64 MB RAM minimum
  • * 25 MB free disk space required
  • * CD-ROM drive * Mouse or compatible pointing device

About REALVIZ

REALVIZ develops and markets interactive 2D image processing and 3D modeling tools for computer graphics professionals in film, broadcast, gaming and multimedia. REALVIZ’ Image Processing Factory (IPF) applications enable users to easily and cost-effectively process 2D photos, video and cinematic footage into computer-generated images, sequences, 3D camera tracks and 3D models for use in the creation of 3D animation and special effects.

REALVIZ products are already in use by some of the world's leading production and post-production houses, including Glassworks, FrameStore (England), Blur Studios, Sony Imageworks, Illusion Arts, Matte World Digital, ILM, Tippet Studios, Radium (CA, USA), Imax Corp (Canada), Buf Compagnie, Mac Guff Ligne, Dubois (France), NHK, Image Corp., Namco Ltd., Sony and Toyota (Japan). For more information, visit REALVIZ at http://www.realviz.com.