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Latest News: May Update
We are so excited right now we can barely sit down and write this text! We’ve aimed high with our decision to develop a high-end next generation digital cinema camera, and boy have we already scored HIGH!
Prix Ars Electronica: we won an Award of Distinction!
In 2012, 3,674 projects were submitted from 72 countries to Prix Ars Electronica. This is possibly the most prestigious international competition for Digital Culture, Computer Animation and Electronic Arts.
From a pool of 313 applicants, Apertus has been selected for an Award of Distinction in the Digital Communities category. This award includes 5,000 € prize money which will be presented to us at the Ars Electronica Gala within the Festival Ars Electronica in Linz, Austria.
Initiated in 1987, the Prix Ars Electronica has earned a reputation as the definitive barometer for measuring trends in the international media art scene. Juries composed of leading experts in their respective fields convene annually to select the most outstanding contemporary works (in seven competition categories), awarding the “Oscars” of media art.
FoundationTalks continue at our forums for the creation of the Apertus Foundation. In case you missed the last edition, this is a topic of great significance since our Kickstarter campaign will be run via this non profit entity.
This is also the reason behind why we are inviting long term active community members to help form our board of directors. Of course, we’re planning a party of sorts for our first board meeting, and please do feel welcome to come along (but remember that it will be a significant and solemn occasion).
Talk the talkThe first “official” international meet up is coming closer and may even happen before the constitution of a foundation.
The Libre Software Meeting 2012, scheduled from July 7th-12th in Geneva (Switzerland), has announced the approval of project member Sasha Cohen’s presentation. Entitled the Community as a Power Source, it will use our project (Apertus) as a primary example to examine some of the best methods for open source projects to attract a professional and independent community from all corners of the globe.
Our project leader and self-proclaimed hair stylist Sebastian Pichelhofer has also had his talk confirmed for the LSM. Apertus - The birth of a completely open digital cinema camera will show the process of developing a high tech camera without secrets or restrictions, in which everybody is welcome in. Hopefully, three other presentations about Apertus can still happen at this same event.
Sebastian participated in the Linux Week Vienna, in Austria, where he spoke about Apertus in the Open Hardware and Platforms category.
Catalunya rises
Do you remember the Kinoraw project? Based in Spain, headed by Carlos Padial and Simón Vialás? We’ve featured these guys in our newsletters because of their monthly meetings hosted at Telenoika, Barcelona. Well, they are gathering funds via Goteo, a crowdfunding platform, until May the 10th. The deadline is approaching!
Kinoraw’s main objective is to establish an Elphel workflow based around Blender. Carlos Padial is known in the open source video community for his work on Jump to Cut, a suite offering greater access to advanced editing features in Blender’s Video Sequence Editor.
Speaking of Catalunya, multi-use project member Biel Bestué has published a bash script that helps us creating backups. Now, when you have a CF card, or an external HDD, and you’re unsure if everything has been copied to your workstation, this application might be of service. It still needs some improvements, but it’s there! And it’s GPL! So enjoy!
Breaking News
This is huge! This is the moment we have all been waiting for! We’re announcing our first giant steps towards a completely new Open Source Camera.You heard us right! We are doing so much more than just developing a Sensor Front End.
Apertus will create an entirely new, complete digital cinema camera!
A High speed Super35 global shutter 4K CMOS sensor camera, powered by free software and open hardware, with a target retail price well below 10K$. How does that sound?
We are currently ironing out details, creating 3D models and animations to illustrate our concept. Wait until you see them, they are just awesome!
Once our preparations are complete we will make the entire plan available for review and feedback. We will engage in discussion with the community, as well as the broader public, for 2 weeks of intense consultation. During this time, we will be able to make appropriate, informed revisions to our final plan.The next step is officially launching the crowd funding campaign and turning this project into reality.
There is another thing we are very excited about and want to share with everyone.
Apertus is not going to do this alone!
We have established a partnership with Dynamic Perception. Chris ‘Shutterdrone’ Church and Jay ‘Milapse’ Burlage are the pioneers of HDR Motion Control Time-lapse. They are the developers of the Open Source Motion Control System - OpenMoCoand popular open source sliders; The Stage Zero system released in late 2010 and the soon to be released Stage OneSystem.
There are many benefits that will come from this cooperation: in addition to contributing with personnel resources,Dynamic Perception has committed to funding part of the development of our new camera project.The Apertus camera will work seamlessly with Dynamic Perception motion control systems and offer freaking brilliant new possibilities. Finally, they will also help us establish a recognizable Apertus legal body in the United States.
This legal, non-profitable structure, is something we are discussing in our forums right now: the creation of an Apertus Foundation, based in the United States. The U.S. is the best strategic location for crowd funding our project on the scale we require.
We are currently researching the best avenue for creating this foundation, and you can join in the discussion at the specific forum thread.
Here’s the official announcement from the guys over at Dynamic Perception:
Official announcement:
The Apertus Project and Dynamic Perception team up
Dynamic Perception and the Apertus Project have teamed up to produce the first fully integrated camera and motion control system. Together we will expand the capabilities and tools available to filmmakers everywhere, while pushing the envelope in creativity and openness through open-source electronics and hardware.
About the Apertus Project
Born by the community in 2006, the Apertus Project seeks to design and build all aspects of a digital cinema camera using open-source technology, to create a truly unencumbered platform for professional production as well as experimentation, education and artistic expression.
The project has not only focused on software and hardware for recording video and interacting with the camera, but also to provide open-source alternatives for several key areas of post-production workflow. In pursuit of this goal, the Apertus Project plans to create a RAW video conversion software suite. Work is also currently under way to develop a Blender based post-production workflow.
MoCoBus
Dynamic Perception is bringing its new MoCoBus technology to market, which will provide an open framework for numerous types of devices to be connected and controlled both in the studio and in the field. Unlike other existing motion control and studio automation technology, all aspects of MoCoBus will be truly open and available for integration by open-source and closed-source products.
As a long-term project, one of the goals of Dynamic Perception and the Apertus Project are to provide product alternatives for all "intelligent" devices in the studio that are both open-source and competitive on pricing, features, and capabilities. We believe that not only does open-source technology work well in the hands of creative individuals, but the rapid pace at which the technology can adapt to new situations helps prove out new capabilities which will impact traditional products as well.
The nanoMoCo controller board will be the first product released by Dynamic Perception using MoCoBus technology -- allowing DIY and OEMs to create stepper-based devices with high performance and capabilities easily and at an extremely low cost.
A New World, a New Camera
The result of this project will be a full-featured cinema camera with complete MoCoBus integration built directly into the camera's user interface, allowing control over all recording, motion, and other studio automation tasks directly from the camera without the need for several other controllers and devices that must be independently configured and started.
By reducing the number of devices that need to be interacted with, not only can we reduce the time between concept and execution, but also reduce the overall cost and labor required to create the most expressive shots you can imagine.
Ultimately, we believe that a solo filmmaker should be able to produce expressive shots that would normally require an entire team to execute today, and to be able to do it on an independent's budget.
Of course, all of the control capabilities in the world wouldn't matter if the camera can't record breath-taking video, and to this end the Apertus team is investing heavily in creating a camera which will be on-par with any production cinema camera at a fraction of the price. Details on the specifications of this camera will be released soon.
The Open-Source Studio
Our goal at Dynamic Perception is to support the creation of open-source alternatives for all tools used in film-making. While our roots are in motion control - our heart is in the entire creative process. Over the next year, we will be creating or supporting projects covering everything from automation to lighting, and on to post-production.
These tools are only as good as the connections between them, and knowing this, we are working to make intelligent, network-able tools that allow you to control each of these devices from the most appropriate interface for your needs -- whether it be in-camera, in a specialized hand-held controller, or on your desktop with your other applications.
Kinoraw looking for funding to develop Elphel-Blender workflow
KinoRaw is a project that focuses on research and development of an Elphel-Blender workflow.
Video is in Spanish only (Also available with English subtitles)
Our plan at the KinoRaw project is what follows:
1. Extensive testing of the camera
2. To research linking Blender with Elphel for easy editing
3. Code development based on the above premise
4. Technical manuals for use
5. Filming footage exploiting its full potential (accepting ideas!)
6. Editing and pos-tproduction of filmed contents
7. Presentation and dissemination of results
Why this is Important for you
This project is directed to those who want to contribute to the return of cinema to it’s original creative freedom, because, due to the free hardware developments, we believe now that it begins to be possible.
Support usKinoraw have launched a crowd-funding campaign at Goteo. You can support it through collaborations or economically, in exchange you will receive exclusive rewards.
April News Update
It may not seem like much activity is happening on the surface but rest assured, there are some pretty cool developments happening behind the scenes. As you read this, our project is in the running to win a Prix Ars Electronica Award and we are now awaiting the results of this highly prestigious international contest.
In regard to our kickstarter appeal, we are taking the greatest care to safeguard our plans for developing a new super 35mm sensor front end. We DO NOT intend on failing, and our success will be largely dependent on your support. We’re still not ready to divulge our grand plans just yet, but each day brings us one step closer to doing so. Our opening shots will be set in motion soon, and we can only ask for your continued patience and interest in our project whilst we fine-tune it to perfection.
Kinoraw at Telenoika:
Film-maker and photographer Carlos Padial and researcher Simón Vialás have been working with Apertus at Kinoraw.net: Free Libre Open Source Software & Hardware Cinema Lab (
http://www.kinoraw.net/
) to test the workflow involved with bringing Elphel 353 footage into Blender. The first results of this work can now be seen on Carlos’ vimeo page (
http://vimeo.com/user1561190
) and in our project forums at:
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=416.
Following this, project member Biel Bestué de Luna attended the open source video workshops run by Kinoraw and organised by Telenoika in Barcelona, Spain. As a regular attendee, he gave us a first-hand report:
“On Friday the 2nd of March we attended the 2nd Kinoraw workshop and an important step was made. We first introduced the Elphel 353 camera to those who didn’t come to the last meeting. Many of the people who attended were from various backgrounds with differing knowledge on cameras. … After a little bit of playing with resolution, and studying how changes in resolution and pixel binning affected the operating speed of the camera, Carlos Padial and Eduardo Ovejero started re-streaming a copy of the stream coming out of the Elphel 353 to the local intranet. This resulted in our laptop receiving the video, albeit at a low framerate, and a mobile phone that was able to recognize the streaming ogg file.Eduardo and Carlos achieved this with VLC because they didn't get GStreamer to work with the camera (yet), and they streamed at a fairly big resolution, around 2k. At this resolution, the laptop was getting 14fps IIRC. The next Kinoraw meeting might serve to work off the GStreamer streaming and also get the mobile phone to receive and display it, amongst other things.”
New communication channels: Apertus IRC & Twitter
We now have an official IRC channel, which can be accessed through the APERTUS website at the following URL:
http://apertus.org/en/irc
Additional Info:
Server: irc.freenode.net
Channel: #apertus
There is also an official Apertus Twitter page. You can follow us at:
http://twitter.com/#!/ApertusOSCinema.
Graphic Design Team Update:
We now have a small team of dedicated designers and artists working on branding concepts. Their goal is to visually take our project to the next level, positioning Apertus as a vibrant professional and International force to be reckoned with. All progress can be seen on our forums here: viewforum.php?f=20
This is all for now, but before signing off we want you to know that there’s a nice surprise hopefully just around the corner. Stay tuned to our forums for further news in the next week or so.
March News Update
As we have announced in February, we are preparing the material for a major crowdfunding campaign, aimed at developing a new Sensor Front End for Apertus. The update to that statement is that we indeed have a solid technical project in our hands but that there are still one or two factors we want to consolidate before opening everything up to the public. Meanwhile, other things have progressed.
The balsamiq service has granted us free unlimited lifetime usage, which we’ll use for collaborative web and software GUI designing (thanks balsamiq!). Also, after almost 9,700 views and 216 replies in our logo creation thread, we've created a forum area for the graphic designers in our community. This section is read-only for everyone else, but the “old” logo creation thread is still open.If you're versed in what our project is aiming for and want to contribute, please continue joining in!
Concerning our plans for a Wireless Open Follow Focus, there is currently a prototype in construction phase, with community member Micheal Green using Arduinos Uno, Pro Mini and Xbee hardware components. The plan is to produce two wireless versions of a Follow Focus, one controlled via a smartphone and the other via a hardware controller (you can check the original discussion here).
Sebastian has begun working on an Android version of the ElphelVision software. It has been simplified from its tablet/pc counterpart and currently functions as a “remote control” for the Elphel camera, with live stream viewing disabled. You could think of this as a software version of what the Dictator hardware will represent.
The headlining image at the top of the page is a design mock-up for what we'd like to call “Raw Factory”, or maybe “Open Cine”. To be honest, we're still trying to decide on the best name for it. What we do know is that it's an application designed for working with DNG sequences. At present, this software does not exist, but it is envisioned to allow for a live preview of DNG clips over a timeline. It will offer a great solution for all cinema professionals, not just those working in the Apertus community. Anyone and everyone will be able to use this to convert RAW DNG footage into proxy/digital intermediate files or apply color corrections/manipulations. In March, our efforts will be directed towards getting this project accepted into the next Google Summer of Code. The discussion has just started here.
To finish this month's newsletter, we're in the running for an award at Prix Ars Electronica 2012: International Competition for CyberArts. Prizes of $10,000 and $5,000 will be given to the first three winners. We'll be entering as a “Digital Community” and all the necessary information for doing so is being gathered in this thread.
Discuss this news issue here.
Some Beans
- Yes, we are currently preparing material to start a crowd-funding (kickstarter) campaign to develop our own Apertus Sensor Front End.
- The sensor we currently favor is the CMV12000 from Cmosis (Tech Specs)
- It will be amazing and lift Apertus into a whole new level of possibilities putting us in direct competition with the current big players.
- The development will cost a lot of money. We will try to keep retail prices as low as possible.
- It will be open source/free software/open hardware.
- We will go public with it once everything is ready. We decided to rather spend more time in preparations to make it a really good and complete campaign. Then if it still fails we can at least go down with dignity ;).
If you fear you could miss the epic start of it all be sure to subscribe to our newsletter.
As posted on the forums here.
Apertus February News Update
Hola amigos, February is upon us, and so is another news update for the Apertus Project.
Introducing Apertus
Our new Project Leader, Sebastian Pichelhofer, has created a video introducing the Apertus Project and explaining our intentions. The video has subtitles in English, Spanish, Portuguese, French and Catalan (just press the "CC" button on YouTube's player to choose the one you prefer)
As an Apertus Community member, consider it your duty to share this with contacts, friends and professionals whom you think might find this to be of interest.
The video's URL is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvI7rJ_AZys
Apertus Stereo Rig
Community members Nathan Clark and Winnie Yang have developed a new Apertus rig for stereo 3D cinematography. Needless to say, we've all been blown away by their ingenuity. Congratulations goes out to them and their stunning machinists!!
New Dictator Concept (Dictator II)
Sebastian has started working on a new concept for the Dictator hardware interface. He is currently applying for art sponsorship/state funding (based in Vienna, Austria) to develop a prototype unit.
The new design came about when he started to create a 3D model of his previous Dictator concept. As pointed out by Sebastian, there were several design flaws with the prior design:
- The wheels would always be getting in your way when the operator tries to reach for the buttons next to the LCD
- Having buttons left/right of LCD requires the text on the LCD (showing each button's function) to take up pretty much the entire display.
In the new design, the buttons are located above/below the LCD (in a similar manner to the Arri Alexa layout), which solves the problem of wasting the limited space available on such a small screen.
Sebastian's new design concept is focused on allowing a DOP to also operate the DICTATOR with only one hand when shooting with a shoulder rig.
New Website (launching soon)
Work is continuing round the clock on our revamped website http://dev.apertus.org/
Public access is currently denied whilst the new site is a work-in-progress. Data from the current site has been edited, reviewed and transferred into a layout that is professional, sleek and easier for new community members (and non open-source users) to understand. No release date has been set as of yet, but take our word for it that things are going to be DAMN cool when the new site launches (hopefully soon...)!
Community Map (on new Apertus website)
Apertus is an International Project, and it is simply remarkable to realise just how far our community of engineers, developers, artists and followers extends across the planet. Here is a snapshot indicating where some of the Apertus Team members are situated:
Preparing Apertus for the Libre Software Meeting
The Libre Software meeting is not until July, but plans are in the works for how to best grow our community and spread awareness of the Apertus project at this international summit.
Sebastian has suggested that we make an Apertus film about the event, with the possibility of streaming talks and presentations live to the web with Elphel cameras. Nathan is also interested in having a real-time stereoscopic Apertus rig, setup and functioning in our booth. The awesomeness of all this is still sinking in!
Michael Green has offered to run a workshop on the future of cinema and where our project fits in. This will also give us the opportunity to discuss a wide range of digital cinema topics.
Sasha is then planning on delivering a 10-20 minute presentation examining how we've fostered an international community of engineers, developers, artists and followers through our project website and online forum. The intention is to follow this up with a discussion analysing the success/disadvantages of our forum and whether its implementation is a viable strategy that other open source projects might benefit from.
Following up on the VLC issue from January's newsletter
In last month's newsletter, we mentioned that newer VLC versions were not displaying the data stream generated by the Elphel camera correctly. Following up on this issue, we can now say that the problem has been alleviated. To correctly display a live-stream through VLC (Version 1.1.11 and later), either flash your Elphel camera to an image compiled from the latest source code or manually install the fixed streamer as described here:
http://apertus.org/forums/viewtopic.php?p=2190
As a quick fix -if you don't want to rebuild an entire Elphel camera flash image from source- you can replace the camera internal /usr/local/bin/str binary with this one:
http://apertus.org/forums/download/file.php?id=285
Run "sync" on a camera terminal afterwards to clean crc checks with the changed file. If you have any questions or feedback, reply on our forums in the following thread:
http://apertus.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=5&start=30
2012: The Year of Apertus
As the next key stage of development approaches, we'd like to thank everyone for providing so much critical support and feedback. Members from Telenoika: AudioVisual Open Creative Community (Barcelona, Spain) have contacted us to express their interest in developing software tools and/or plugins for working with Apertus camera footage in Blender (http://www.blender.org/). All progress here will be reported in the following months.
2012 is already shaping out to be a spectacular year for Apertus. However, we can also foresee that greater contributions will be necessary before we're in a position to release our powerful new prototype. At present, there are but one or two bottlenecks stopping our design from meeting the desires and requirements of industry professionals. To combat this, we're gearing up for a flight that will make Apertus surge on the radar.
Unfortunately, our projected flight-path is also going to take us right through the storm clouds. As this month's newsletter draws to a close, we extend a special invitation. Dear friends, collaborators, radicals and colleagues, help spread the word of our project and join us as we prepare to break through the very roof of the stratosphere. Stay tuned to our forums and website as more information regarding new developments will follow shortly.
Best wishes to you all,
Sasha
The Newsletter: new Maintainers, New Schedule, new Languages
These new newsletters will arrive straight to your inbox on the first Thursday of every month and keep you up to date with latest Apertus news, development progress and features.
The newsletter is released in multiple languages:
English
http://groups.google.com/group/apertus
Spanish
http://groups.google.com/group/apertus-newsletter-espanol
French
http://groups.google.com/group/apertus-newsletter-francais
Catalan:
http://groups.google.com/group/apertus-newsletter-catala
Subscribe now!
Nathan did it!
Dude! you're the first human being to shoot stereo imagery on a free and open cine camera in human history!
how cool is that?!
