An interesting trend is the application of 3D Display technology in the gaming industry. Of course it’s a logical step and since years we’ve been talking about it, but now it seems that something is really happening.
At our office we see an increasingly demand for 3D Displays to be used/sold as new gaming gadget; playing 3D games in real 3D makes sense.
But it’s not only the 3D games. We’re also seeing that slotmachine producers (for casinos) are contacting us to integrate our autostereoscopic 3D displays in their machines. If used as secondairy display, players can be treated with amazing -pop out the screen- 3D effects based on their scores and/or skills, also attracting other people to start playing, etc. etc.
Last Friday, we (that’s all the CELIT members) had an interesting presentation at TNO. TNO is the Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research. The unit we visited is called Rapid Manufacturing and the presentation was hosted by John Lavrijsen.
John told us all about the various methods, processes and applications for Rapid Manufacturing. Of course, (interactive) 3D (visualizations) are of great importance in this process. All phases of the process involve somekind of 3D technology:
3D Scanning: digitize an existing object
3D CAD: tuning (or developing a new) object (3D visualization)
3D Printing: manufacture the object physically within a few hours
We saw some really amazing things. So you thought that the ‘replicator’ used in Star Trek series is science fiction? Wake up, because it’s not. At least, not completely. In this stage the technology still has many limitations, but it IS possible to instantly manufacture/create objects, using different kinds of sources, e.g. sand, plastics and even metals.
One of the unique things about this 3D manufacture technology is that products are being created layer by layer, instead of cutting material. An accuracy or resolution up to 5 micrometer is possible.
I also brought up the possibility to use autostereoscopic 3D displays during the process of scanning, modelling and “pre” visualization. This might help in understanding what people are doing or even could help avoiding (expensive) mistakes. @John: you know where to find me, to further discuss this subject.
Anyway, I asked John for permission to film our tour through the TNO laboratory and beneath you’ll find a short compilation of what we saw. It’s definitely amazing!
Tuesday June 23th I visited the Annual Conference of the Dutch “Mediapark”. Mediapark is thé centre of all media in The Netherlands where all national radio and TV stations are settled.
Here I introduced our xyZ 3D Displays to many new people. The reactions where very positive and many discussions about the future of TV combined with this 3D technology followed.
One of the prominent speakers that day, an old acquaintance of me, Gerd Leonhard was so kind to give his personal reaction and view on our 3D Display:
Gerd is a worldwide renowned speaker and media futurist.
It was a very interesting day with a lot of innovations that will definitely change the mediascape as we know it right now.
Today I visited the High Growth Forum, organized by the Port4Growth Foundation in The Netherlands. This organization helps Dutch, fast growing mid-sized companies grow even faster.
I know the people begind P4G now for almost 5 years and because I’m a huge fan of what they are doing we’re sponsoring and supporting them when we can.
Today’s main issue was “How to create oppertunities?”. A very good theme for the current times. Some very useful thoughts were shared, especially about innovation, commerce, development and new ways of ICT implementations.
More and more it’s being confirmed by other people and organizations: 3D is thé trend for visual communication. Last week DIGDIA, a company specialized in information about digital media, released an Analyses confirming that there are over 5.000 3D screens worldwide.
Though this report is mainly about the 3D entertainment industry, like 3D movies and cinemas, it does show that 3D really is alive today. More and more (Hollywood) studios are producing 3D movies. And it seems that the consumers are really enthousiastic about it.
ScreenDaily announced that only in North America already more than 1.500 3D screens are operational. The average ticket price would be around $13.75, which is just a little higher than normal (2D) tickets.
Somewhere around 2010/2011 the worldwide number of 3D screens is expected to grow above 10.000. After 2013 the 15.000 milestone could be reached.
I still think it will take 5-10 years before 3D in our homes will become mainstream. The fact that the available content is growing is a key factor and could be of major influence to the ‘time to market’ for consumer 3D displays.
Meanwhile, in our lab we’re working on technology to convert those stereo 3D files to a format which is useable for autostereoscopic/multiview 3D displays.
I’ve been (re)searching for a high quality 3D display the past years. This has lead to the first announcement of our xyZ 3D Display in the summer of 2008. Finally, we started introduction of the product last December. In the following months many people, including experts in the field of professional video and 3D had a demonstration. Almost without exceptions, all these people were amazed, demo after demo. And above all, most of those who already were aware of existing 3D Display products, where thrilled by the quality we showed!
3D Display technology is getting hotter and hotter. Each week new stories of (possible) applications seem to popup in the media. And the number of vendors has increased significantly the last years.
However, my analyses of the current available products uncovered something I hadn’t thought about before: the idea that “poor” products could seriously harm the complete 3D Display industry. Yes, my conclusion is that almost all products are of relative low quality. If, within a new marketspace, too many products are introduced that aren’t good enough, people might begin to think that the whole product concept is bad. In this case, there’s a serious threat, that the power of 3D Displays - in general - are getting misunderstood or under estimated. Result could be a total collapse of the 3D Display market and an end to this very innovative and promising technology. To avoid this from happening, I came up with 2 solutions:
Companies that develop under performing 3D displays should shut down their activities
Professionals and end-users that are interested in this technology should always compare multiple solutions, if possible also ours
Below you’ll find some tips for those who are exploring the possibilities to start with 3D Displays. The purpose of these tips is to avoid people from buying stuff they actually can’t use afterall AND to further increase the overall quality of the products in the 3D Display sphere…
Ask for the brightness and constrast ratio values of the displays: many companies don’t publish these, because they simply don’t dare to.
Never, ever, choose for a “barrier” technology, unless you’re just seeking for something cheap and want to use it in darker environments (if you have too much light in your environment, barrier lense based displays are almost worthless).
Make sure the lense (barrier/lenticular) is attached in a slanted way (diagonal), to avoid the Moiré effect. The Moiré effect can easily lead to sickness and so.
Watch out for too many “transition” zones. Transitions exist between the visible 3D zones of a 3D Display. It looks like a strange vertical or diagonal ‘echo’ through the display. You should be able to move your head a little left and right without seeing such an effect. In some cases there’s simple no viewing spot to find without one, two or even three of these transitions at once in the display (which is very very bad!).
Check out whether the display is really multiview or not. Some displays need the viewer to stand exactly on one (or two) predefined spots to see real 3D effect, this might be unusable for your application.
Before you even go visit a demo, make sure that it’s an autostereoscopic display, so you don’t need any 3d glasses to view the 3D.
Ask how you can get your own 3D content, without proper content, your 3D Display isn’t of any value.
Also ask about warranties, prices and other hardware you might need to get everything up and running.
Be confident of the 3D effect, in the end, this is why you want to use a 3D Display in the first place!
I can assure you, that most of the companies offering 3D displays will fail on at least one, but probably even two or three of the things I pointed out above. Hopefully this article can help you to make the right decision and the market to become more and more professional and mature.
One of the most promising R&D we’re working on at Zero Creative is our “Gesture Control” technology. Since we’ve introduced our lenticular glasses free 3D Display we’re very sure that these new forms of media also need newer forms of interaction between viewer and system. In my opinion this new form is human gesture control interactivity, or “computer vision” as some might call it.
Meanwhile we have our first projects running, an ancient Greek Amfora, which was reconstructed in 3D together with Visual Dimension. Below you’ll see one of my partners, Michel de Klein, controlling this Amfora in real 3D on our xyZ 3D Display:
Now this IS some promising technology! Every single person that I demonstrated this is VERY impressed. Please understand that the real out-of-the-display 3D effect isn’t noted on this picture, because you can only see it if you’re really looking at our display with both your left+right eye. (See www.zerocreative.com/xyz )
While Microsoft can’t show this to you in person, I do can, if you visit our office I’ll show you this technology, even in combination with a 3D Display, making it even more exciting.
Zero Creative Ultimate Cultural Heritage ExperienceZero Creative Ultimate Cultural Heritage ExperienceTwo weeks ago I was one of the speakers at an international workshop about “3D” applications in the cultural heritage sector. The 2-day workshop took place at the Allard Pierson Museum in Amsterdam. On behalf of our company and partners I introduced the participants to the world of interactive 3D environments, new ways of 3D interaction (like Gesture control) and our xyZ 3D Display technology.
Though the guests were already interested in 3D, only 50% of the attendees already used 3D. After showing the ”holographic” xyZ 3D Display (3D without glasses) I counted only (around) 15% of the group had seen this before. Everyone was very impressed and I hope they all received some new inspiration for the future!
A short version of my presentation took place yesterday at the Themen Museum in Heerlen (NL) in front of the members of the CELIT.
Today I finally got my first blog installed. Actually, the blog already existed ‘in my head’ for quite some time, but from now on this new project has been launched officially.
The mission of this blog is to share information, ideas, thoughts etc regarding the usage of “3D” and interactivity. It’s not (only) about technology, most of the items will reflect to the actual application of 3D in the real world, such as in Marketing and Communication projects.
The goal (or “BHAG”) for this blog is to make at least 10.000 professional readers happy with the information supplied, in 5 years.
So, help me out; subscribe now and forward this blog within your network
