Your screens may get more colorful soon
If you're ready for a more vibrant viewing experience, whether looking at your cell, watching TV, or going to the movies, professors and students at Baylor University may have you covered!
We traveled to Waco to check out 6P Color, Inc. The color imaging system is revolutionizing TV, cinema, and storytelling through vibrant colors we've never been able to see on air before.
"What they've done in the past is select certain frequencies, using red, green, and blue," explains Dr. Corey Carbonara. He was one of my professors at Baylor University in the 90s, as well as Dr. Michael Korpi, his partner in this project. They're leading the way to add magenta, yellow, cyan, and possibly emerald green to the color palette, boosting color to what they explain as color the way God intended our eyes to see.
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Dr. Carbonara's enthusiasm is just as alive today as when I was on campus, still involving students in every aspect.
"We don't want to do research, unless our students can be with us. So, everything that we've ever done from the early days of HDTV research that we had, all the way through the present looking at color, we basically make sure that we've got our students involved every step of the way. 6P is enabling that. It's allowing that opportunity for our students," states Dr. Carbonara.
We caught up with sophomore student Will Critchfield who has been working on the project. When he first heard about it, he approached Dr. Carbonara to find out if he could get involved and was immediately welcomed on board.
"I really do believe that it is the future and so I think the first thing that's really cool is just to be able to work in this system that nobody else really has experience in and to see the pioneering that happens because there is so much work that needs to be done and in thinking outside the box because there's not a system for this. We're creating the system as we go, so just being a part of that is incredible," exclaims Will.
They demonstrated how just adding cyan, a fourth color to the typical three, makes a remarkable difference, moving the color's capability from 45% to 75%.
Astronauts have always said that they just can't capture true images of what they see in space, but this is getting them closer than ever, thanks to their new partnership with Baylor University and Baylor alum Dylan Mathis.
"Dylan is at NASA, and Dylan is in charge of all the acquisition of all of the imaging that comes from the space station. Prior to that it was the shuttle, but what we have entered into is a Space Act Agreement, based on the technology that you're seeing today and we're very excited about the future of that," states Dr. Carbonara.
Dr. Carbonara goes on to tell us about his dream team, working tirelessly to bring this evolution to life.
"One of our key people involved in the company is Steven Poster, a cinematographer who's done more than 70 films and was the President of the American Society of Cinematographers, just absolutely a giant in the field. He is so enamored with this and so behind this, that he used and provided a phrase of the colors between the colors," says Dr. Carbonara.
Other impressive businessmen from the industry have helped, as well.
"Former Chief Color Scientist from Kodak, Dr. Mitch Bogdanowicz, for example. My colleague Michael Korpi and I are the ones who were first pitched this idea from a person I had worked with and started the same day when I was at Sony. So, when I was at Sony in charge of HDTV at the time, my friend Gary Mandel stayed with the company and then he retired. 36 years later, he decided to share this idea and instead of giving it to a company, decided to work with a university, and our friendship led him to us, so we were so blessed and thankful," explains Dr. Carbonara.
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Award-winning colorists from Hollywood are also taking note, by visiting Baylor to see it for themselves. The CEO of 6P Color, Inc. tells us that it has been quite a journey.
"My very first visual experience was about three years ago in this building right here. And at that time, it was significant enough to be a wow moment! It made you stop and say ‘wow.’ They have a tremendous amount of talent and professors. What we have done with Waco Ventures, which is the parent company, we've really come alongside with Baylor to help commercialize all the technologies that they have available on their campus, and we find the fastest way for them to get to market," says Dr. Brian Wood.
It's even more of a WOW moment in person, versus attempting to capture it secondhand through video. They also believe 6P Color could make a huge difference in the medical field, especially through telemedicine. Doctors would be able to better communicate and witness a patient’s condition, if they could experience sharper colors.
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Dr. Carbonara took time to thank Dr. Lee Nordt, the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Baylor, for his support.
"We're so thankful that we could be an R1 project that comes out of the College of Arts and Sciences and that's really why we're so excited about being able to show the technology," says Dr. Carbonara.
He enjoyed showing the Board of Advocates from that department what this project is all about!
6P Color could be available to the public within the next decade. Click here to learn more.
Click here for a Q&A from Baylor Arts & Sciences Magazine.