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3D Stereoscopic devices have been around since the Victorian era. When stereoscopes were very popular for viewing 3D photos. Many different 3D silent film shorts were made including a train arriving at a station by the Lumiere brothers in the 19th century. Then with the introduction of TV's in the '50s, and a fall in cinema popularity. 3D movies were introduced to reinvigorate and refocus the publics attention on cinemas.
Original 2.35:1 movie clip
victorian Stereoscope
The Anaglyph system used red (right eye) and blue (left eye) glasses. The first ever
3D movie (with sound) was Bwana Devil (1952) but House of Wax with Vincent Price was the first major 3D movie hit at the time
The Anaglyph system 3D then languished for 30 years till 1983. With the release of Jaws 3D and Amityville 3D reaching its peak in the 1986, with the release of Michael Jacksons - Captain Eo. At this time 3D was branded a gimmick, used to sell poor product.
2003 - Spy Kids 3D and IMAX launched the last batch of 3D anaglyph films to be released. IMAX in particular has been very successful because it uses 3D not as a gimmick but to immerse you in a different environment
2010 - With Home Cinema projectors and Blu-ray disc's offering a cost effective alternative with better image quality than commercial Cinema. Cinema numbers were again down. To the rescue new improved whiter than white 3D in all its glory. Savior of the cinemas? Again 3D movies refocused the publics attention on the Big Screen, with Cinema's installing Real-D's technology ASAP. Numbers were up nearly as high as the price of popcorn, which exceeded that of gold, popcorn Jewellery was all the rage.
3D had given Cinema a needed shot in the arm, moving cinema technology ahead of other mediums. Avatar like IMAX before it, used 3D to take the viewer to a different world and 3D was reborn. Unfortunately, not all 3D movies were Avatar quality, many relied on software to convert the 2D movie to 3D, and content was compromised
One great potential for 3D is the broadcasting of events. The first concert recorded was of U2 in 2007, Gimmick free the feeling was as close to a live event as you could get. The first 3D sporting broadcast, 1st February 2010, was a football match between Manchester United and Arsenal. Football fans across the UK and Ireland are said to have been "wowed" by the broadcast, with the greatest impact when close-up and slow motion replays were shown.
"It was amazing," said one spectator, "you really begin to feel like you're there!"This use of 3D again compliments the content and transports you.
With each incarnation, 3D has evolved. Currently there are a number of systems available each using a different technique. Wowing the audiences in cinemas is the Passive polarization system.
Active shutter glasses: Uses LCD switching to allow dedicated images for each eye. Glasses may not be interchangeable between brands.
Technology has been around for many years. The 3D graphics cards for PC's available in the mid 90's would only work with dedicated 3D content.
This technology has been reinvigorated with software capable of converting 2D content to 3D on the fly. Produces great 3D from dedicated content not
so good from converted 2D. Many glasses and bulky and not as trendy as these shown here. Available in wireless and cabled options.
Lenticular viewing: Using a "lenticular" lens similar to the grooved plastic pictures that move when flexed, Philips 3DTV sends different signals to each eye to trick your brain into seeing images floating in front of the screen. No glasses are needed but the viewing area is specific. This is primarily a technology being pioneered by Phillips and is not yet commercially available
Passive polarized glasses: As seen in your local cinema - Real D. This system uses cheap polarizing glasses
and projects left and right eye images sequentially. Produces fantastic 3D as seen in Avatar.
LAS VEGAS, Comdex: Dimensional Media set up a booth full of 3D displays that projected images of objects, such as cell phones or soda cans into space in front of the viewer.
The effect was not unlike the famous special effect in Star Wars where R2D2 projects a holographic display. But unlike R2D2's grainy video, the images were reported as vivid and solid like real objects.
Unlike most other 3D displays, Dimensional Media's does not require special glasses or any kind of headgear.
"It's magic," said Anna Zharkova, an event manager from Russia, who was running around the booth like a headless chicken. "I cannot believe it. It's just magic."
Her colleague, Natasya Savina, said: "I think it is incredible. I never thought at this exhibition to see something so wondrous. Everything is quite common. But this is so new, so amazing. Next year, I would like to use it for myself so that my image can be at the booth, and I can be somewhere else."
Dimensional Media, which is based in New York, originally developed the technology for the military with funding from Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). The military wanted a true, volumetric 3D display that didn't require special glasses or complex electronics.
The simplest version of the technology is based on a system of mirrors and lenses. The object whose image is being projected sits inside a pedestal, which projects the object's light into space above the pedestal, where the image is reformed. The effect is as if the object itself is hovering above the pedestal's surface.
The company also demonstrated video versions of the technology, which projected video images in 3D.
The Russians played with a 3D teller-machine whose buttons floated in space in front off the viewer. To activate the system's virtual "buttons," the viewer simply pointed a finger at the image of the button. The system uses a grid of infrared lights similar to systems in stores that beep when a shopper enters to calculate the position of the viewer's finger.
Dimensional Media said its images are already starting to turn up in advertising displays at shopping malls and airports around the world, and they should become quite common this year as more and more are installed.
"We are really starting to sell these systems," said CEO Daniel Pfeffer.
Dimensional Media said the company will start testing the first volumetric 3D computer monitor early next year, which it hopes to sell to medical providers, the military and CAD/CAM companies.
Pfeffer said for the first time, the display will give viewers full "look around" of a projected image.
"I could project the image of your face and have full look-around, like you were really in front of me," he said.
As an example of its use, Pfeffer said the monitor could project X-Ray or NMR data in 3D, creating a precise image of the inside of a patient's skull and the location of, say, a tumor. The display could then overlay another image onto the patient's actual skull, showing the surgeon the exact place to cut.
Amazing stuff but unfortunately there would be limited movies to watch but business presentations would be Mad!!
