Apertus March Newsletter
Sebastian Pichelhofer
Welcome to another edition of the Apertus Newsletter.
Discuss this issue here.
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.
See you next month,
The Apertus Team