Prasad Group, India’s leading post-production services provider, has entered into a licensing and know-how transfer agreement with German technology company imcube labs to provide advanced solutions for 2D to 3D conversion services for feature films.

Based in Berlin, R&D and software development company imcube labs has developed, a specialised and patented advanced 2D-to-3D conversion framework and compositing software. The solution, called ‘imcube cinema’, integrates many fundamental features that are needed for an optimal workflow with flexible user-interactivity and creativity: depth assignment and compositing, layer management, pre-visualization and screen-size adjustment.

"Up until now, it took four to eight days to convert one 2D film second into 3D,” says Dr Sebastian Knorr, the company MD. “Our software can do the same job with very complex computer vision algorithms fully automatically for film sequences using specific camera shots – i.e. scenes with static images and a moving camera – in 5 to 15 minutes in best theatrical quality. But even with other camera shots and image content, the imcube software makes the converter’s work considerably easier."

“In the emerging scenario India is fast becoming the back office destination for the global media and entertainment business. 3D content is becoming a standard across different media platforms including cinema and television. Huge volumes of existing 2D content will require to be converted into 3D,” says Sai Prasad, Director of Prasad Group. “We have been doing a lot of R&D in this area through our dedicated facilities in India for some time now and the association with imcube will help us reach the next level. We now plan to expand capacity in our 2D to 3D conversion division significantly as a number of overseas projects including major upcoming feature titles are already in the pipeline.”

Founded in 1956 by the legendary filmmaker L.V.Prasad, Prasad Group is India’s largest provider of integrated services catering to every area involved in film, video and new media production, post-production, distribution and exhibition segments. Prasad Group’s clientele include major Hollywood studios and they have worked on several Academy Award, Golden Globe Award, National and International Award Winning projects.

Founded in 2009 by the 3D scientists Drs Matthias Kunter, Sebastian Knorr and Thomas Sikora, imcube is a spin-off from the Technische Universität Berlin, one of Germany's leading universities in 3D image processing, computer vision and computer graphics. The company was selected as "Landmark" at "Germany – Land of Ideas", an initiative of the Federal Government under the patronage of the President Horst Köhler in 2009.

Knorr is speaking at the forthcoming Blu-ray Disc Academy 3D conference in Hamburg on 3-4 May 2011, co-organised by DVD Intelligence. For more information, Visit www.blurayacademy.com.

Story filed 20.03.11