Current Axiom Development Status (Jan. 20th, 2016)

Current Development Status (Jan. 20th, 2016) 

Watch this space as we will try to constantly keep it up to date with the most up to date AXIOM Beta development and production information. www.opensourcecinemauk.com

The camera internal webserver is up and running an can already serve image sensor register tables as well as Piecewiese Linear Reponse (PLR) HDR curve graphs. Color science related tasks like color calibration, non-linearity measurements as well as fixed pattern noise compensation, etc. are in full swing already. The final PCB revisions of all boards for the Early Betas have been received from OSHPark and after assembly have been tested and verified. The hardware seems to be free of design faults or bugs (as far as we can tell) and the camera is able to operate and work flawlessly from a hardware point of view. Not every single hardware component has been thoroughly tested in every possible operation mode so there is still a small chance that minor problems will be identified in the future - but we are rather optimistic everything is in order. We are also making progress with creating testing hardware that runs automated verification on the electronics for quality assurance. HDMI live output is working as well as recording high speed bursts into RAM - the sensor runs on a lower than max clock frequency so from the software side performance is set to increase over time. A small batch of Early Betas for developers and early adopters is currently being assembled manually by our team - which is a bit slow but automated assembly for such low quantities just makes no sense financially. Once those vouchers have been fulfilled the next production batch will start.

Camera shield slots

Shields

The name shields was inspired by the Arduino plugin boards that are also called "shields". The AXIOM Beta sports two shield slots with space for connectors going to both sides of the camera. In contrast to modules the shields in the Beta have slow and medium speed interfaces to the main processing FPGA and therefore are perfect for tasks like: trigger IN/OUT, genlock IN/OUT, timecode IN/OUT, sync IN/OUT or connecting external sensors or buttons, LCDs, etc.

PCIe Modules slots

Modules

The AXIOM Beta has two high speed module slots with PCIe connectors (these are not really PCIe cards, we just utilize PCIe for the connectors). Each module has a total bandwidth to/from the main processing FPGA of at least 6 Gbit/s. This makes the modules perfect for dealing with high bandwidth video outputs like HDMI/Displayport/SDI. Due to the flexibility this could also allow to create a solid state media recorder as a module in the future. For now the AXIOM Beta relies on external recording though.

Camera Beta Modularity - PCB

PCB Stack

The general approach for creating the AXIOM Beta hardware and PCB stack design was to give every board a clear core purpose and not just pack as many things onto each board as possible just because there was space left. This way each board can be replaced without affecting the rest of the PCB stack - for example as the interfaces between the boards are predefined a new image sensor can be implemented by just changing the Sensor Board. This gives the entire assembly a very sustainable future as any board that is not up to date anymore can be replaced by a newer one and any board that breaks for whatever reason can be swapped without requiring to change the rest of the boards in the camera.

AXIOM Ecosystem : OSFP-UK details

AXIOM Ecosystem

Open Source Cinema UK

Details online and Link : https://www.apertus.org/user/906

AXIOM Ecosystem

Introduction

The ecosystem of the AXIOM Modular Cinema Cameras acts as a hub to actively communicate that individual services and developments are welcome. It stimulates future developments around the cameras (as well as related services) and to offer an early communication-platform for already planned developments. The initial launch of the AXIOM ecosystem is used to collect feedback from the community to subsequently further develop and improve the system in the future.

Open Source Cinema UK listed below on the EU Map for the AXIOM Ecosystem

No license fees & No royalties

As the AXIOM and apertus° philosophies are build on a fundamental Open Hardware and Free Software approach there are no license restrictions limiting the ecosystem. Anyone can offer services or products in the AXIOM ecosystem and there are no royalties to pay.

Open Source future : Film Production

Dear All,

It feels the right time to re-introduce myself to this blog and explain why we are further approaching Open Source for Film Production in 2016, which I have been researching and working on now for over two years, with a lot more explaining and development, but that is why I have found myself involved, it is exciting and could revolutionise the industry over the coming years.

I have a background starting in cameras (assisting and focus pulling) then graduating up the ranks to Camara Operating for F1, BBC Dramas then 2nd Unit Cinematography for Feature Theatrical Productions.

During this time I also started and ran privately a camera rental house supplying digital cameras plus an onset/location company providing location Post and digital camera workflows.

This culminated just recently with a 2-3 year stint at Technicolor as their locations digital dailies supervisor, looking after projects such as Jupiter Ascending, Mortdecai and The Man from UNCLE.

During this long time servicing and working I have seen a few changes and re-iterations of the current digital workflows and it has struck me over time how much we do rely on proprietary systems for most delivery. And perhaps quite rightly so as the delivery requirements for VFX to DI to onset LUTs and more need that service.

I then made contact with Apertusº in Vienna, who were funding and developing an Open Source 4K camera. I went to see them and was immediately struck by how little Open Source, for both software and hardware, is utilised by Film Production community.

Certain single elements are there, Blender for 3D, DCP creation, but nothing has seemingly been created and developed for an entire production workflow for shooting films digitally, from the sensor and how it is used and manipulated, the colour science and the workflow (utilising both software and hardware).

It is quite a wide scope and the subject has many more strands to it, such as sensor processing, transcoding, VFX, DI and colour, LUTs and more, plus add in the actual cameras themselves then we have a very deep set of requirements needed for the entire Production pipeline and workflow.

But by continually approaching the subject now, and also introducing and researching ethical approaches to feature film production, I am hoping that we can create a community of like minded contributors who would like to see Open Source for Film production become stronger and a more realistic proposition as it continues to thrive and develop.

Thank you for reading,
Daniel Mulligan
February 05th 2016

Axiom Phase 1 : Our purchase

As the Axiom site suggested if you are a crowd funding backer / voucher holder then please make your Phase 1 payments now. We are starting to purchase essential components like the image sensor or Microzed in volume for your camera unit soon and need to start collecting funds now.

We have indeed made the February 05th 2016 deadline yesterday for payments, our camera will be delivered soon in which time we will progress and test, test and test some more.