Queen Elizabeth II made history by broadcasting her 2012 Christmas message in 3D. Behind-the-scene information has recently been released by Berlin-based leading 2D-to-3D conversion software and 3D post-production specialist imcube labs GmbH, who was closely involved in the 3D production.

The broadcast consisted of a combination of live footage of the Queen's address, shot natively in 3D, and archived (2D) footage including several scenes of the Queen's Jubilee and the 2012 Olympics, all of which were converted into 3D using imcube's technology.

The Queen speech was produced by Sky News and recorded using BSkyB's 3D cameras, with support from the camera department of Onsight, a leading production facilities company located at Shepperton and Pinewood studios, and imcube's UK post-production service provider. The speech was made available in multiple formats in addition to the 3D version.

2D to stereoscopic 3D conversion is now a well-known process. It has previously been applied to such films as Titanic and Star Wars for their 3D cinema re-release. In this process, every single frame of a film has to be treated manually by highly skilled conversion artists, mostly at conversion facilities in India. It is a labour-intensive process, incurring costs of around $100,000 per minute. The treatment of Titanic is reported to have cost $93,000/min.

The 3D conversion process is also integral to shooting many films in 'native 3D,' according to imcube. Essential parts of the film are recorded in 2D and later converted into stereo 3D in order to avoid the complications and imperfections that are inherent in native 3D shooting. The best-known example of this 'hybrid 3D workflow' is Michael Bay's box-office hit Transformers III: Dark of the Moon, in which 78 minutes of converted footage was seamlessly integrated with natively captured 3D.

imcube has developed a patented process, which supports the laborious processes of conversion with a number of automated software stages, and which will bring cinema-quality 3D conversion to 3D TV, at an affordable cost for 3D TV channels' budgets.

Wilhelm F. Mittrich, imcube's Director of Corporate Development, says the Queen's 3D Christmas message was "a truly international joint effort. Our scientists in Berlin started to develop the broadcast 3D conversion technology about 18 months ago. Our many skilled artists in Ji'nan, China, underwent training in the conversion process for many months, producing a result that the stereographers and producers in London were extremely happy with. This is now part of a unique 3D production, and was broadcast on 3D channels in many countries on Christmas Day 2012."

The customized 3D glasses provided to the Queen, which feature the letter Q picked out in Swarovski crystals on each side, were commissioned by royal designer Angela Kelly.

Story filed 02.02.13