The Worth of the Accessories.

In this blog I've brought up some accessories for cameras, monitors, glasses and other technologies which allow for 3D to be views better, or more often, or in a different way. This week I saw a new "viewer" called TOYin3D, a viewer which enables any smart phone to play 3d content by showing side by side video which it then pulls into a singular, stereoscopic image. The technology is cool in that it is another way for the masses to view 3d content and enables on the go 3D viewing, but is it viable? Among all of the new technologies and accessories out there for this purpose which I've stumbled across, I've noticed that they all seem to share this common problem. Who would use such a thing? Does it have a real place in the marketplace? 

I've read so many articles over the past few months about 3D television (and essentially post box office 3D films), being a dying art. That until the technology is easier or more widespread, it'll never be in the fore front. Last Sunday, six Oscar's were awarded to 3D movies (with categories including Best Director, Best Cinematography and Best Visual Effects), more so than ever before. The art form is at arguably its greatest place to date and I have to think that all of these articles are further from the truth. And then I see TOYin3D. Maybe the disconnection is in the accessories. Recently, 3D viewing accessories and toys has been popping up all over the place. They seem to be often marketed under the notion that 3D offers a better or cooler version of the entertainment, but in a way I often interpret as gimmicky or juvenile. I've still YET to see Life of Pi, but everyone I talk to who has seen it speaks so highly of the film, in ways far from juvenile and gimmicky. Obviously it is unfair to compare two completely different mediums, but since both live within stereoscopy, the question is: Do small 3D gimmicks hurt the big picture?

http://www.toyin3d.com/

3D Truck Stop Ads!

Hey All!

Apologies on the late post, I've had a crazy week already and it's only Tuesday! This week I wanted to share an article I found on a new 3D ad campaign and a bit of technology I which I don't fully understand but I'm hoping Chris can clarify tomorrow.

I'm studying digital marketing and new media techniques as a part of my graduate program and recently have noticed 3D being utilized more and more into advertisements and marketing campaigns. The key to advertising is engagement and 3D media is so engaging that advertisers have been searching for better ways to integrate 3D technology in to ads for years. The problem is 3D's Achilles heel, the glasses. It's just not realistic to think that one day everyone will carry around a pair of glasses for the purpose of looking at billboards. Recently however, developments allowing for glasses free, 3D viewing, have seemed to change the game. I've brought up some of this technology in previous blog posts and while exciting, it's still years away from widespread development. This week, I stumbled upon an article which discusses Warner Bros. involvement with Travel Plaza TV network in marketing their upcoming 3D movies with 3D trailers. The network (which broadcasts in travel stops such as Flying J and Pilot, nationwide) has developed a way to show the trailers in 3D, glasses free! They designed a way to include an extra layer within the screen which they describe as essentially putting the glasses on the TV. The article uses a picture diagram to demonstrate this effect, but I'm still quite unsure exactly how it works. Either way, the development is exciting and the ads will be launching in the beginning of March. So, the next time you're on a roadie and make a stop, be on the look out for some 3D advertisements!

The full article can be read here: http://www.dtvusaforum.com/news/back-to-the-future-style-3d-advertising-without-glasses-warner-bros-is-on-board-51519/

Nightmare in 3D!

Hey All,

Over the weekend I shot Reverse Window and had my first taste directing a 3D project. It was a great experience and manipulating the disparity throughout the shoot allowed me to get a better feel on how to utilize depth appropriately, while following the 1/30 rule.

This week, I wanted to share some stereograph art from Joel Fletcher. Fletcher is a photographer and stop motion animator who worked on many different hollywood projects in his career, of the most famous, The Nightmare Before Christmas. While on set, he took many photos of the sets and characters  using a stereo rig on Kodachrome slidefilm. He later digitized and transformed many into anaglyph format which resulted in some awesome Jack Skellington nightmare pics.

What I found most notable of his efforts though is the amount of depth he was able to capture and include. Many of the pics have household locations and also choose interesting elements to highlight (checkout the parallax within the mirror). Hopefully, some of the pics will provide some inspiration in the weeks to come!

More of Joel Fletcher's Anaglyph 3D Nightmare Before Christmas pictures can be seen here: http://www.joelfletcher.com/3d-nightmare.html 

Tech Dose: 3D w/One Camera?

This week while researching for my blog post topic, I found a great website on 3D technology and development: http://www.stereoscopynews.com/.

It is there where I found a posting for a single lens capable of producing 3D images. Made by Samsung, the lens is the first of it's type and uses liquid crystal "doors" to split the lens and alternately block light from one and the other. By interlacing the images from both perspectives together, a 3D image is produced. The lens will be interchangeable in the brand's compact system camera (csc). I'm not sure of the specifications yet or how adjustable the settings will be but it'll be interesting to watch and see how this technology develops. Whether or not it becomes a viable alternative from traditional 3D shooting methods will be the question.

The full article can be seen here: http://www.stereoscopynews.com/hotnews/3d-cinema/shooting-cameras-rigs/2884-samsung-first-single-lens-3d-camera.html

Life of Pi Editor: Tim Squyers

Hey All,

I have yet to see Life of Pi, but a friend of mine did and she was recently telling me how great it looked and how it really turned her impression of 3D in film. I had heard about the movie but did not know much of the story line and after some online browsing, came across an interview with the editor, Tim Squyres. It was his first attempt editing a 3D movie and he has been nominated for an Academy Award for his work. In the article, he discusses some of his thought processes and how his approach differed from editing a 2D film. Although the scopes of our projects differ, many of us will be approaching the editing process from the some place as Tim Squyres did, “first timers."

From the article, I found few things to possibly think about when starting our own 3D editing processes.

·       Squyres edited everything in 3D and exclaims in the interview "We figured if we just worked in 3D, we wouldn’t have to intellectualize that [what it will look like]. We could just respond to what we were seeing." 

·       All the editing was done on a large screen so that he did not have to imagine the extent of the 3D the audience will experience.

·       His thoughts on utilizing 3D for immersion in storytelling.

The full interview can be seen here: http://www.screendaily.com/reports/interviews/editor-tim-squyres-cuts-down-3d-tigers-on-life-of-pi/5051090.article

3D's Achilles Heel?

I visited a friend over the holidays who had recently bought a new 3D television. There were six people and five pairs of glasses. While having extra pairs on hand is key, the glasses are an obvious barrier between the consumer and the 3D content. At home, I recently noticed that my roommate's cellphone has two lenses and takes 3D pictures. Like the camera's we used in our first class, the screen didn't require glasses to view the content. I mentioned it and we started back and forth on the limitations of only being able to view and share 3D media with similar devices and the lack of these type of devices in the marketplace.

I was further reading up on this year's CES after last week's post and came across a 60" glasses-free 3D TV that Philips demoed. While high resolution televisions (4K and above) were the main focus, Philips think that their product is the answer to 3D TVs slow to date popularity rise with consumers. To them the glasses are more like goggles and are the technology's "Achilles heel." Their television's picture (at 4K) can be viewed from many different positions within the room.

On the smaller scale, I also read about a proposed 8" android tablet by NEO3DO which can display content "glasses free." Its developers, David Briggs and David Spriggs, announced its production this week. They think that the tablet will help secure 3D content's success on portable devices. Spriggs, in a youtube interview, said "The amazing part of this product is that it frees users to shoot and capture video in the field, to display it in the field, to be free of the television and free of the glasses that have been a hindrance to the roll out of traditional 3D." This changes the game in terms of producing and shooting 3D content.

Whether or not the glasses are in fact 3d content's "Achilles heel" is debatable, regardless, the ability to view 3D content "glasses free" will be key in the medium's continued success. Maybe the department will purchase the tablet for the rig once it launhces...

Philip’s Glasses-Free 3D TV

NEO3DO’s Glasses-Free 3D Tablet

Three Dimensional Transparency

This is the first post of a string of blog articles which will discuss 3D technology, more specifically of the media variety (although 3D printers are the coolest new thing. I'll include a link with more info at the end). If there are particular stereoscopic interests that as a reader you would like more information on, bring it to my attention and I'll see what I can find. I'll do my best to post a variety of 3D interest areas, but there might be some slight favoritism towards 3D for marketing/advertising purposes as well as towards new technology which incorporates 3D content (as is the case with today's article).

I recently stumbled upon an article about a new 3D television which was presented at the 2013 CES, or consumer electronic show. The 3D television offers a transparent display. Viewers can essentially see through the television when off or when on and displaying 3D content. I wondered how this would effect how audiences viewed the content. This technology seemed like a novelty to me at first, but then I thought about heads up displays and how that can involve 3D technology. If you aren't aware, heads up displays allow viewers to see data on transparent glass. The technology is currently being incorporated into paned glass, car/airplane windshields and windows.

These new ways of presenting digital 3D images, in an augmented reality setting, expands the possibilities for 3D content. It begs the question: Will we start seeing 3D content, in narrative form, interact with real world dimension?

3D Transparant TV: http://www.gizmag.com/hisense-transparent-3d-tv/25712/pictures#4

3D Heads Up Display: http://www.gizmag.com/tre3dnavsystem/20278/picture/145690/

3D Printer (Check it out!): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8aghzpO_UZE