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RoboStage: Robotic Photo Studio with Web Access

Robotic online photo studio with professional photo models and high-end photo cameras

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RoboStage: Robotic Photo Studio with Web Access

RoboStage: Robotic Photo Studio with Web Access

RoboStage: Robotic Photo Studio with Web Access

RoboStage: Robotic Photo Studio with Web Access

RoboStage: Robotic Photo Studio with Web Access

Robotic online photo studio with professional photo models and high-end photo cameras

Robotic online photo studio with professional photo models and high-end photo cameras

Robotic online photo studio with professional photo models and high-end photo cameras

Robotic online photo studio with professional photo models and high-end photo cameras

Evgheni Svirepov
Evgheni Svirepov
Evgheni Svirepov
Evgheni Svirepov
1 Campaign |
Chisinau, Moldova, Republic of
$278 USD 11 backers
0% of $75,000 Flexible Goal Flexible Goal
We are professional modeling agents and foundes of a modeling community known as TopModelGroup.com, and we launch crowdfunding for online photo studio.  Professional photographers and amateur ones can direct and control their photo shoots from anywhere in the world. Working prototype has already been developed.

IMAGINE A ROBOTIC ONLINE PHOTO STUDIO

  • High end DSLR cameras remotely controlled by you from your web browser
  • Top class 85 mm lenses
  • You can move and rotate the cameras in any of 8 directions

  • Professional photo models, remotely posing for you in the studio
  • Professional lighting presets
  • Voice and text chat makes it easy to direct model

Imagine yourself sitting on a sofa at your home and remotely performing a professional photo shoot.

Unleash your creativity, create professional photos and videos with ease.

LIMITED OFFER

When you contribute from this page, you get a LIFETIME premium membership, as well as LIFETIME free priority acess, etc (see perks in the right column). We will never make this offer again after the campagn is funded.

FEATURES

1.  Shoot photo and HD video

2.  Direct model via text or voice chat

3.  Use super smooth green screen background for further chroma keying (i.e. you can substitute your own background image or video later, see the video above for example).

4.  You hold full legal rights and copyright for all shots you make (model signs model release, which is sent to you by request)

5.  Select from 5 background and lighting presets

6.  Remotely enable wind machine, smoke machine and bubble machine

7.  Additional accessories, such as a message board, where the model can write any text you want or draw something in real time (e.g. your logo).

8.  Order your text or a logo to be printed on model’s t-shirt (for additional $15 to cover expenses for the t-shirt itself and printer ink)

FREE & PAID ACCESS

1.  Two studios are free to use for everyone (“Lite Studios”). Every free studio is equipped with 2 DSLR cameras and one HD camcorder.

Each pair of DSLR cameras in every Lite and Pro studio includes Canon EOS Mk 3 and Nikon D800, both equipped with best 85mm lenses (Canon  EF 85 f 1.2 L II and Nikon 85mm f/1.4G AF-S Nikkor)

Users wait in a queue to take control over the robotic camera of their choice. The photo session lasts for 15 minutes.

Our backers will always have priority access to the Lite studio, see our perk descriptions.

Features 1-4 from the list above are available for users of the Lite Studio, features 5-8 are not available to them.

2.  Two other studios are paid ("Pro Studios"); each studio equipped with 2 DSLR cameras and 1 HD camcorder. All 8 features from the list above are available for paid studio users.

The cost of the paid access to the Pro Studio is $150 per hour... for everyone else. But not for you! Because if you back us now, you get everything.



PERKS FOR CONTRIBUTORS

·  Lifetime priority access to the free Lite Studio (see above). Pay nothing and shoot top class models with high-end cameras.

·  Up to 70% lifetime discount for using the Pro studio, which offers even more professional options.

70% off for the Pro usage means that you only pay $45 per hour of a photo shooting, including studio, professional lighting, high-end photo cameras, lenses, additional acessories and beautiful photo models. 

Just compare it with prices of your local studio (without models, cameras, etc).

·  Some perks also include Premium photographer membership  on TopModelGroup.com

You can find specific perk descriptions in the right column at the top of this Indiegogo page.


USE CASES

1.  Build your skills. Practice shooting with professional lighting (select from different lighting presets), using high-end cameras and lenses. Professional photo models are posing for you, practice directing them by voice or via text chat.

2.  Create commercials: Shoot professional photos and videos for selling on stock sites.

3.  Easily and quickly shoot any promotional pictures and videos: models can wear a t-shirt with your logo (printed in 10 minutes by your request); models can draw your logo or custom text on a message board in real time; models can say something about your company when you shoot video; you can shoot models against a green background to replace it later with your own background picture or video (chroma keying).

4. For novice photographers: create a professional-looking portfolio.

5.  Feel the difference between high-end Canon and Nikon cameras, equipped with the best lenses. This will promote your further professional growth.

TECHNICAL 

1.  Set camera settings via tethering (aperture, ISO, white balance, etc) or use automatic settings

2.  Create your custom presets for camera settings to use them next time.

3.  Perform a photo shoot from a web browser on any computer or mobile device (Apple and Android devices support is pending).

4. Store the resulting files on our server to download or edit them later



CONTRIBUTOR PRIORITY LEVELS WHEN ACCESSING THE FREE "LITE" STUDIOS

As you can see in our perk descriptions, every contributor has his own priority level. 

1. Priority Level 1 means, whenever you stand in a queue, you immediately become the first in the queue, unless other Level 1 users are already standing there.

Level 1 also allows you to schedule your future photo shoots in the Lite Studios, by selecting from available dates and hours.

2. Priority Level 2 means, whenever you stand in a queue, you will immediately become the first in the queue, unless other Level 2 users are already standing in the queue, and unless any Level 1 user decides to stand there. In this case you will be standing immediately after them.

3. Priority Level 3 means that whenever you stand in a queue, you will immediately become the first in the queue, unless other Level 3 users are already standing in the queue, and unless any Level 2 or Level 1 user decides to stand there. In this case you will be standing immediately after them.


NO FLAKE MODELS, NO MODELS BEING LATE

Many photographers are familiar with a situation when they schedule a photo shoot with a model, but the model is being late or even flakes (no call, no show). Preparing the studio and sitting and waiting for a model that never shows... Ugh, what may be worse?

In the online studio studio all models will always be available as scheduled and schedule of every model will be publicly viewable on site.


REFERRAL PROGRAM

Help us by spreading the word via email and social media. After the campaign is funded we'll refund your contribution in accordance with credits you earned referring people.

In short: if you successfully refer a friend to contribute to the campaign, then we will refund you $50. If you refer one more friend – we will refund you another $50. And so on.

If the amount of credits you earned has covered the sum of your pre-ordered package (so you get a complete refund), any further referral $ will be credited to your account. After the studio goes live, you can spend these $ for getting the PRO studio access. And don’t forget, as a contributor, you also have up to 70% Pro discount, as well as you have a priority access to the free Lite Studios.

Please note that contributors cannot receive referral credit for referring themselves. Of two contributors, only one can be the 'referrer' and receive campaign credit for the other's contribution.  Refunds will be made and credits applied once the campaign is over.

How to participate in the referral program:
It’s simple. Log in to your Indiegogo account . Be sure to use the same account you used when you contributed your Remote Studio Package. Then, look below our main video at the top of this page for buttons to share and copy your unique URL. Start sharing!

Need more information?  We have created detailed instructions here.


WHAT WE ALREADY HAVE

Software:
1.  We have already developed the program code to control Pan-Tilt heads and vertical/horizontal motorized sliders from computer.
2. We have the tethering code to remotely set camera settings, obtain a live-view from the camera, release camera shutter, download files, etc. For both Canon and Nikon.
3. We have a streaming server and browser client to perform a low-latency streaming of the camera's live view to your browser through the web, and control the camera. It is reliable and proven to work with a very low latency even if you're in USA or Australia when the studio is in Europe.

Hardware:
1. We have already tested third-party pan-tilt heads for this system. They work fine, they are reliable and not expensive.
2. We performed some testing for vertical/horizontal sliding of the entire system (will be mounted on vertical and horizontal rails). Not ideal yet, but OK.
3. All devices (motors, lighting) are interfaced with Raspberry Pi via Arduino (single-board microcontroller, intended to make building interactive objects or environments more accessible).


Human:
1. We very well know how to manage the development of the technical part of the project, as we have experience in managing software development and microcontroller/robotic development.
2. At the same time, being modeling agents we have the full understanding of working with photo models.
3. Finally, we have top class photo models ready to work for affordable rates. This will allow us to keep prices stated above for the Pro studio, and even provide free access to the Lite studio. See more information about this below, in the Q&A section.

WHAT WE NEED

Software:
1. We need to implement a web interface to flawlessly control the local code mentioned above (both positioning and tethering) via the web.
2. We need to build the website: designing the layout, managing user accounts, managing access permissions to different studios, queuing and scheduling access to free studios, priority access for contributors, etc. This is possibly the most trivial part, but at the same time the most boring and expensive stage of the software part of the project.

Hardware:
As said above, we still need some working over the horizontal/vertical sliding system. 

Other:
We need a photo studio itself including:

  1.  Placement - we are going to acquire ownership of the estate property to get rid of rental fees, because this will significantly reduce the price of the service for end users. Therefore it will also be more profitable to us, so this is a win-win solution.
  2.  Equipment for the studios.

QUESTIONS & ANSWERS

1.  How many photo studios are planned?

At first, we will start with four photo studios located in the adjacent rooms of the same building. If we’ll see the service is demanded, we will increase the number of studios, as we don’t feel lack of photo models.

2.  The life cycle of the shutter of a camera is limited. How often will you replace cameras in a studio? This might be costly.

While testing our business model, we revealed that the most active and tireless photographers take about 10 shots per minute during a 30-minutes photo session. The production cost of one shot in terms of the resource of a shutter is calculated as $0.016 per shot (the average market price of Canon 5D Mk3, $2400, divided by the life cycle of a shutter claimed by the company - 150,000 actuations). For Nikon D800 costs are even lower. Therefore, in terms of camera’s resources the cost of production of one hour of the most intensive shooting is 10*60*0.016=$9.6. This sum pays off by additional paid services. Also, we carry on negotiations with potential sponsors - photo equipment vendors interested in supporting the project if it proves to be demanded.

3.  Professional models working in two free photo studios and two low-cost ones – sounds good, but how you are going to pay them? What is the source of the funds?

We are the founders of the TopModelGroup.com portal, model agents recruiting and training models. Among other countries, we also work in several developing economies where hourly rates are much lower (several and even dozens of times) than in US, Europe and other developed countries. Such countries are Moldova, Ukraine, Byelorussia, which is geographically located in Europe, but are actually developing economies with average monthly salary about $400.

After finishing training and before signing an international contract (that means earning real money), our every model must complete a 6-month probation. During this period they get a salary typical to the country they live in. At the same time, they are already top-class models passed through our hard training and possessing stunning looks. Due to the same reason we don’t have to overpay to such specialists as make up artists and hair stylists. Our first photo studio will be opened in one of such countries, and further in other countries too.

4.  Ok, hiring even the best models is not expensive for you. But what about rental fees for a photo studio? They are still high. How can you keep prices low and even more – offer free services as well?

We plan to acquire ownership of the photo studio, because this will allow us to get rid of monthly rental fees and therefore minimize prices for end users. Thanks God, real estate costs are low in the countries we are talking about comparing with USA or Europe.

Free studios are funded by paid studios.

5.  What if you won’t receive backing in full?

All promised bonuses for our backers will remain valid. Partial funding means we will embody our idea step by step. Instead of four studios, we will stop on just two (one Lite and one Pro). The entire process may slow down, but we'll complete it anyway.

6.  What if you will see more backing than you ask?

In that case we will equip more photo studios, not just four, in proportion to received funding in order to supply the demand and grant our bonuses to all contributors faster.





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      Choose your Perk

      Thank You!

      $1 USD
      Personal thank you email from one of our models and our sincere gratefulness :) It is included into all other perks as well. Also this perk grants you lifetime 3% discount for the PRO studio
      Estimated Shipping
      October 2015
      3 claimed

      Special Thank You Package

      $15 USD
      Set of 10 desktop HD wallpapers with our models + backstage video of how the photo shoot for this set was performed + personal thank you email from us. This package is also included in all other perks. Also this perk grants you lifetime 5% discount for the PRO studio
      0 claimed

      Near Early Bird PRO

      $50 USD
      LIMITED EDITION OFFER: This is the PRO package with 90% off. • Lifetime free priority access to the Lite Studio (Level 1 priority) • 5 hours of Pro Studio usage ($700 off!) • Lifetime 50% off for the usage of the Pro studio • Your logo printed on the default background in the Lite Studio (above average size) • 3 months of Platinum photographer membership on TopModelGroup.com Only 25 PRO packages available with this Near Early Bird 90% discount.
      Estimated Shipping
      October 2015
      2 out of 25 of claimed

      Basic

      $100 USD
      • Lifetime free priority access to the Lite Studio (Level 3 priority) • 1 hour of Pro Studio usage ($50 off!) • Lifetime 10% off for the usage of the Pro studio
      Estimated Shipping
      October 2015
      0 claimed

      Semi Early Bird PRO

      $250 USD
      LIMITED EDITION OFFER: This is the PRO package for half price • Lifetime free priority access to the Lite Studio (Level 1 priority) • 5 hours of Pro Studio usage ($500 off!) • Lifetime 50% off for the usage of the Pro studio • Your logo printed on the default background in the Lite Studio (above average size) • 3 months of Platinum photographer membership on TopModelGroup.com Only 100 PRO packages available with this Semi Early Bird 50% discount.
      Estimated Shipping
      October 2015
      0 out of 100 of claimed

      Advanced

      $300 USD
      • Lifetime level 2 priority usage of the free Lite Studio • 3 hours of Pro Studio usage ($150 off!) • Lifetime 30% off for the usage of the Pro studio • Your logo printed on the default background in the Lite Studio
      Estimated Shipping
      October 2015
      0 claimed

      Early Bird VIP

      $350 USD
      LIMITED EDITION OFFER: This is the VIP package for half price • Lifetime level 1 priority usage of the free Lite Studio • 7 hours of Pro Studio usage ($700 off!) • Lifetime 70% off for the usage of the Pro studio • Your logo printed on the default background in the Lite Studio (largest size) • 1 year of Platinum photographer membership on TopModelGroup.com Only 100 VIP packages available with this Early Bird 50% discount.
      Estimated Shipping
      October 2015
      0 out of 100 of claimed

      PRO

      $500 USD
      • Lifetime level 1 priority usage of the free Lite Studio • 5 hours of Pro Studio usage ($250 off!) • Lifetime 50% off for the usage of the Pro studio • Your logo printed on the default background in the Lite Studio (above average size) • 3 months of Platinum photographer membership on TopModelGroup.com
      Estimated Shipping
      October 2015
      0 claimed

      VIP

      $700 USD
      • Lifetime level 1 priority usage of the free Lite Studio • 7 hours of Pro Studio usage ($350 off!) • Lifetime 70% off for the usage of the Pro studio • Your logo printed on the default background in the Lite Studio (largest size) • 1 year of Platinum photographer membership on TopModelGroup.com
      Estimated Shipping
      October 2015
      0 claimed

      Fanatic

      $999 USD
      • Lifetime level 1 priority usage of the free Lite Studio • 10 hours of Pro Studio usage ($500 off!) • Lifetime 70% off for the usage of the Pro studio • Your logo printed on the default background in the Lite Studio (largest size) • Lifetime Platinum photographer membership on TopModelGroup.com • One of our models will wear a t-shirt with your logo, name or custom text (not offensive) everywhere she goes for 24 hours. Making selfies and posting them to Instagram with any #hashtag you want.
      Estimated Shipping
      October 2015
      0 claimed
      sold out

      Early Bird PRO

      $25 USD
      5 out of 5 of claimed

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