IMAX NEWS

INSIDE THE MAKING OF HUBBLE 3D

Wednesday, January 27 by Julie Brown

Due out in May this year, Hubble 3D promises to not only take us back into space - as only IMAX can - but also to the edge of time. That's a big call, but when you've got the combined efforts of NASA and IMAX involved, we expect only big results. Like all IMAX space films that have gone before it, Hubble 3D is actually filmed in space by the astronauts themselves.

Shooting footage in space is one thing, but doing it with giant IMAX cameras is another thing altogether. In an article in Cosmic Log online, IMAX film director Toni Myers explains some of the challenges experienced:

Myers' 2002 film, "Space Station 3-D," set the precedent for the Hubble epic - but for May's Hubble mission, which focused so heavily on five lengthy spacewalks, the IMAX camera equipment in Atlantis' cargo bay had to be shrunk to the size of four shoeboxes. That's a particularly stiff challenge because the 70mm IMAX film is twice as wide as standard movie film. What's more, the 3-D effect requires the use of a complex lens system that exposes one frame for the left eye, then one frame for the right eye, cycling 24 times a second.

The camera has to push through 672 feet of film for every minute of shooting, and because the remote-controlled camera was shooting in Atlantis' open cargo bay, there's no opportunity for changing film. "That camera takes a single load of film a mile long, and that mile gives us eight minutes," Myers said.

To supplement the 3-D views captured during the spacewalk, Myers uses on-the-ground imagery as well as digital video that was taken in 2-D aboard Atlantis - and then converted to synthetic 3-D with Imax's DMR software.

Then there are the 3-D renderings of actual Hubble pictures, which could well outdo the spacewalks when it comes to jaw-dropping cosmic awesomeness. The telescope itself doesn't take 3-D pictures, but Myers' team worked with Hubble's handlers at the Space Telescope Science Institute to add the third dimension to some of the orbiting observatory's greatest hits. The movie will also feature imagery captured after Hubble's upgrade.

Myers said one sequence will take viewers on a 3-D flight from Earth to the Orion Nebula's Trapezium Cluster. Another will zoom out from the Milky Way out to the gobs of galaxies in the Hubble Ultra Deep Field, and from there out to the large-scale cosmic web. This YouTube fly-through of the Hubble Ultra Deep Field hints at what you can expect, but the 3-D effect will give you even more of a sense that you're moving through the universe at warp speed.

CLICK HERE to read the fascinating full article.

NGC 6302
Butterfly Emerges from Stellar Demise in Planetary Nebula NGC 6302.
This celestial object looks like a delicate butterfly. But it is far from serene. What resembles dainty butterfly wings are actually roiling cauldrons of gas heated to more than 36,000 degrees Fahrenheit. The gas is tearing across space at more than 600,000 miles an hour -- fast enough to travel from Earth to the moon in 24 minutes! A dying star that was once about five times the mass of the Sun is at the center of this fury. It has ejected its envelope of gases and is now unleashing a stream of ultraviolet radiation that is making the cast-off material glow.

chris e 755 years ago

"To supplement the 3-D views captured during the spacewalk, Myers uses on-the-ground imagery as well as digital video that was taken in 2-D aboard Atlantis - and then converted to synthetic 3-D with Imax's DMR software." That's a bit disappointing. I was hoping it would be all IMAX 3D, and if that was not possible because of the extreme weight of the cameras, then at least intercut with footage captured in digital 3D. Maybe 3D cameras are still too unwieldy for something as demanding as space photography.

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Tony 750 years ago

Why don't the IMAX 3D folk use some of those new fancy RED cameras to capture their high res footage using the digital format. Would save on trying to move a chunky film based camera around. Personally, I'd be happy with ultra sharp full screen 2D IMAX footage of NASA space missions. 3D is ok but it hasn't really impressed me to think it is changing the cinema experience. Holographic cinema would be great breaking.

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- chris e 749 years ago
  
  The current Red One doesn't compare to IMAX 70MM footage. IMAX are working on developing a digital 3D camera right now. Red will also roll out stereoscopic 3D configurations of their cameras, and are working on models with resolutions up to 28K. It seems like the digital switch for large-format films could take place in the foreseeable future. Before it can happen though, digital projection tech need to be improved quite a bit.
Simon 737 years ago

Will this movie be full screen?

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