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Author
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Topic: Digital Technology for 3D??
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Mike Bianchi
Film Handler
Posts: 40
From: Independence, KY, USA
Registered: Dec 1999
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posted 06-08-2001 10:52 PM
Not to sound like I favor digital presentation over film (because I certainly do NOT), but I also love 3D and with the help of Tim Reed and the Condon family at Stereovision we've very successfully shown 3D films. Now I'm wondering if digital technology might be tapped for 3D projection.I'm hoping some of you true tech guys here would have some insight on a hair-brained scheme of mine. It may be off the wall, but such musings are often the nexus of technological advances. So what the heck? So here's my cockamamie scheme...
Connect a digital source (DVD player?) to a projection source (Proxima type projector?) in conjuntion with a silver screen of course. The DVD would contain both the side-by-side or over/under images of a 3D film. Then the projector would be outfitted with a polarized mirror box. Fire it up and set the convergence and... ... 3D, right? There is probably some technological hurdle but this epiphany hit me the other day and I finally drew up the cajones to ask. And the peanut gallery says...
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Adam Martin
I'm not even gonna point out the irony.
Posts: 3686
From: Dallas, TX
Registered: Nov 2000
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posted 06-09-2001 12:14 AM
My customers are disappointed when they don't get to wear the cool glasses!I don't see why you couldn't do polarized 3D video projection ... as long as it was "filmed" in 3D. You'd get a better result using two separate projectors (left eye; right eye) so that you get a better resolution and brightness. Don't forget the silver screen! How would the video "lines" affect the polarization? Would you have to use 45-degree polarizers?
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Jerry Chase
Phenomenal Film Handler
Posts: 1068
From: Margate, FL, USA
Registered: Nov 2000
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posted 06-09-2001 11:30 AM
Two projector digital 3-D on movie size screens has already been done. Millenium Theatre in Kissimme Fl, just down from Disney in the building that used to house "American Gladiators" did this back in 1998. They used two Barcos with a proprietary software program that turned 2-D high end video tapes into 3-D. This was actually the first place I saw true digital cinema using the TI chips. They were showing "Lost in Space" at the time I installed my ticketing software for them. The film worked well with their 3-D video software because of the large amount of panning in the film, which cued the software for depth. The effect was surprisingly good, with a very bright, clear, large picture.I'm trying to remember if there was an issue with the light coming out of the digital projectors being already polarized in some way. There might hae been or I might e confusing it with something else. Anyway, they had free standing polarizing filters in front of the units, and the throw was probably 150 feet or more. The "theatre" was never able to make money, there is a long story about environmental impact fees, seating and restaurant business.
It was one of those ephemeral projects that you have to be in the right place at the right time to witness. LCD shutter glasses are generally preferred for video based 3-D. The interlacing in the NTSC signal has been convenient for that.
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John Pytlak
Film God
Posts: 9987
From: Rochester, NY 14650-1922
Registered: Jan 2000
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posted 06-10-2001 06:57 AM
The pre-show for the 3D IMAX dome ride-film "Race for Atlantis" is done with 3D video. Seemed pretty good on a smallish screen, but the film presentation blew it away. Likewise, the 5-perf 70mm 2-strip 3D for films like "Captain EO" or "Honey I Shrunk the Audience" or the Universal Studios "Terminator 3D" attraction are very impressive. But everything pales when compared to IMAX 3D.The 3D presentation I was most impressed with was "Echoes of the Sun", done with IMAX "Solido" on a dome --- the 3D images literally surrounded you:
http://www.imax.com/films/distribution/echoes_of_sun.html ------------------
John P. Pytlak, Senior Technical Specialist
Worldwide Technical Services, Entertainment Imaging
Eastman Kodak Company
Research Labs, Building 69, Room 7419
Rochester, New York, 14650-1922 USA
Tel: 716-477-5325 Cell: 716-781-4036 Fax: 716-722-7243
E-Mail: john.pytlak@kodak.com
Web site: http://www.kodak.com/go/motion
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John Anastasio
Master Film Handler
Posts: 325
From: Trenton, NJ, USA
Registered: Sep 2000
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posted 06-10-2001 07:18 AM
There was a video game marketed quite a number of years ago that made use of field switching, showing one image per field with LCD shutter glasses plugged into the unit. People ended up with too many headaches. Perhaps you remember the system used in the Super Bowl about ten years ago which relies on the fact that your eyes respond differently to various levels of light. You had to wear a pair of glasses in which one lense was clear and the other dark. As long as the picture was being panned, you saw the depth information between the two eyes. Using polarized lenses in front of video projectors wouldn't be affected by the scan lines of the picture raster, since the lines aren't actually polarized...they're just long,thin picture segments. In other words, 3-D TV is nothing new. Shutter glasses, polarized lenses, anaglyph (2-color) 3-d has all been tried with varying degrees of success before. What's needed is a new type of display. The military is currently working with a clear crystal display which utilizes two intersecting ultraviolet laser beams. The crystal only flouresces at the intersection of the beams, so you can do a real three dimensional display (think of radar displays here). It was discovered by a young woman who was working on her graduate thesis. The problem is that the size of the crystal is limited and you only get one color. Of course, TV started that way too.
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