Monday, July 05, 2010

Now, you may not know it but 3D technology has been around since 1844, when David Brewster invented the 'stereoscope'. It could capture 3D images by taking pictures of the same thing from different angles, and then placing the images side by side. It soon became very popular and Louis Jules Duboscq later improved upon the original invention. 3D movies became popular in 1950's America, with films such as Creature from the Black Lagoon, and House of Wax being released in 3D. 3D cinema had another brief surge of popularity in the 1980's and 90's film industry. Films like Jaws 3D made audiences recoil as the images flew out of the screen at them. Now, thanks to the pioneering work of James Cameron and the huge success of his film Avatar, 3D is once again a hot item.

There have been several different types of 3D glasses and devices through the last couple of centuries. Already mentioned is the stereoscope, however a much more famous type is that requiring the traditional red and cyan (blue) glasses, originally used in the 50's to wow audiences. Nowadays there are 3 main types used. The cheapest to produce, and most popular is the Odeon type- realD glasses; these work via a set of polarising filters (which were also around in the 80's), that are orientated at different angles to one of the sets of images on the screen. Another type is the Dolby 3D type-used in Vue cinemas, which enable you to see in 3D by sending out specific wavelengths of different colours, and the eyeglasses filter out certain specific wavelengths. Another, less popular method is the Xpan 3D glasses (probably due to the price) that contain liquid crystal and use alternative frame sequencing to allow 3D capability.

But lately Autostereoscopic technology means you wont have to wear glasses at all. So far this has only been applied to smaller devices such as mobile phones. Autostereoscopic 3D works by producing 9 images per frame. In normal 2D TV's there are 30 frames per second; meaning that with an Autostereoscopic TV, you have 270 pictures. The 9 pictures in each frame are rasterized by the lenticular overlay on the screen.

Some of the major uses of 3D technology are in:

• Cinema
• TV
• Computers
• Phones
• Gaming devices

Lately there have been a lot of popular 3D things, but one of the main leaders in the 3D revolution has been Avatar. James Cameron's 3D epic affected audiences worldwide, and made some people think seriously about how we need to stop Global warming, due to the films evident sub-text. A second film is due out in the next couple of years, and is apparently based mostly in the aquatic life of Pandora.

Another 3D device that will be released in the upcoming months is the 3DS, Nintendo's new 3D device that claims 3D capability. Now while this is true but I doubt it will be a stunning as the type used in cinemas. With new 3D televisions, the possibility for 3D gaming has grown even greater. TV's like the NVIDIA® 3D Vision are compatible with only certain games, such as Resident Evil 5, Just Cause 2, and Batman: Arkham Asylum. Also available are spectacular sets like the ATI Eyefinity, which is composed of 6 screens to give the ultimate viewing experience. Unfortunately, while there are games and TV's that support 3D, there has so far been no evidence that there will soon be a console that solely plays 3D games. Perhaps because they believe it would be restricting the console too much. There is also computers available supporting 3D, such as the Zalman TRIMON, which uses polarising filters. The main problems with any 3D device though, are that both the screen and the game/ disc itself have to be programmed to work in 3D, meaning you can't have one without the other.

Where will this new 3D technology take us? Some say it is unnecessary, and it ruins good films with gimmicky new effects. But surely this is where film is meant to go next. It will be the third advance. First from silent movies to 'talkies', then from black and white to colour. Now 2D to 3D. Perhaps the next big leap will be movies we can step into, view a film from the inside, truly immersive 3D, almost virtual reality. Imagine witnessing a war from right in the middle of the battle, without the disadvantage of being shot, sitting in the trees with marmosets while watching National Geographic. The possibilities for the future of cinema are endless.