Converting 2D films into 3D

     With the recent zeal in 3D films, many producers of older films want to get more money out of their films by re-releasing them in 3D, films like Titanic, and Jurassic Park to name a few.  I wanted to look into how the process of converting films from their original state to 3D worked.  It is a crazy process that takes a lot of man power and money to accomplish and there are potential pit falls every step of the way.  To start the director of the conversion has to make a decision as to what the depth of the each scene should be.  Then frame by frame a team of artists (300 for Titanic) rotoscope every object in the frame to create a depth map.  This is then used to create 3D models of the scene which are used to help create the stereoscopic image.  There are many possible problems because if the parallax built by the artists does not agree with the other signals people get about depth such as focus and perspective then it can cause discomfort.  Also if the two images that create the 3D effect are not the right distance apart then it can make the audience disoriented and uncomfortable.  Converting Titanic required 450 artists to work for a year and cost over 18,000 dollars, but a cost that was worth the effort, as it grossed over 300 million dollars.