Evan Kovacs and William Lange Advanced Imaging & Visualization Laboratory Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (AIVL) Woods Hole Productions Marine Imaging Technologies (MITECH)
This presentation will focus on some of the new tools and techniques that have been developed through scientific, archaeological and cinematic collaborations and how these tools can be used by the documentary film community. These tools include “Pixel,” a new Cinema class remotely operated vehicle (ROV) designed principally for underwater cinematography and precision scientific imaging. Additionally an advanced penetration ROV designed for exploring deep inside shipwrecks, submerged downed aircraft and other hazardous underwater sites was devleoped. This ROV, nicknamed11th Hour, successfully completed many deep penetrations as well as recovered samples from inside the US Arizona in Pearl Harbor with the National Park Service Submerged Resources Center and PBS. Both of these ROVs are equipped with VR and 4k UHDTV 3D imaging systems and can be used for scientific or cinematic imaging. A very important aspect to scientific imaging is the ability to reconstruct objects large and small in their full context as they relate to the seafloor and the rest of their environment. AIVL working with Marine Imaging Technologies and the National Park Service Submerged Resources Group has developed a revolutionary new multi-function underwater imaging system capable of generating ultra-high definition television (UHDTV) video, 2-D mosaic imaging, and 3-D Optical Volumetric models. The system is capable of producing near-millimeter accurate 3-D models that are built using digital optical imagery—rather than lasers—and are able to represent the volume of an object with high resolution detail derived from optical image data. Examples of volumetric optical models will be shown during the presentation including open discussions with filmmakers as to how this new technique can be applied to documentary and wildlife filmmaking.