Cooke Optics And Foundry Collaborate On Post

A premier manufacturer of precision lenses for the motion picture industry, Cooke Optics, has announced that it is working with The Foundry to incorporate /i Technology into Nuke, the powerful compositing application.
The /i 'Intelligent' Technology enables the recording of extremely accurate, frame-by-frame lens and camera data, saving visual effects artists hours of time in post-production by eliminating the need to guess lens parameters and camera information.
The Foundry recently carried out a test shoot at Blenheim Palace using the new Sony F35 camera, which supports /i.
Ben Minall, Demo and Training Manager, The Foundry, said: "We wanted to test how the /i data would help us to solve issues of lens distortion when shooting with a zoom lens. We shot lens distortion grids with different focal lengths and the /i data gave us an accurate focal length. We then used a lens tool to un-distort the plate, then used the camera tracker within Nuke to reapply this to the footage. Having the /i data makes the tracking process much simpler, particularly since lens distortion changes with the zoom."
Minall continued: "Having /i data is an excellent sanity check - you know exactly what you've got, from frame rates to focus to aperture. You don't have to rely on on-set notes, the metadata provides a failsafe backup."
The Foundry introduced the concept of metadata support into Nuke 5.2 because it realised that metadata was becoming a major asset to post-production teams.
The forthcoming Nuke 6 release will have an in-built 3D camera tracker, to which the user can provide additional hints and constraints about the shoot to recreate the camera - for example, which lens was used. Incorporating Cooke's /i Technology to capture lens metadata is a huge step forward in The Foundry's aims to provide more accurate information for post work.
Richard Shackleton, Nuke Project Manager, The Foundry, said: "The buzz about Cooke lenses is phenomenal, they have a great reputation so it's a great fit for us to work with them. Cooke is one of the first manufacturers to really embrace metadata and understand its power. A lot of time is spent in the post process getting information from pictures in order to do a better job, but often that information might be very basic or even guesswork. Cooke /i lenses provide real and accurate data which is invaluable."
Les Zellan, Chairman and Owner, Cooke Optics, said: "The use and support of metadata is becoming increasingly prevalent in post circles. As budgets and timeframes continue to shrink, providing post teams with metadata from /i enabled lenses saves time and money while allowing them to focus on their creativity."
(KMcA/BMcC)