A friend of mine refuses to see films in the cinema that are in 3D because he hates when films have been comprimised just to get the 'popping out of the screen' shot and include knee jerkers. I however do enjoy these features but I also think that 3D is not about having things flying out at you, it has in some films such as Alice in Wonderland, been used really cleverly to greater portray the emotions of the characters. 3D technology has become a fantastic tool for movie makers to greater explore depth within the scenes. Having loved 3D in the cinema for many years I was really excited by this idea of 3D in the average household but now that I have been around it for a while - having had to sell the things to people, I do feel it to be, at least at this stage, a bit of a gimic that I dont think will stick.
For one thing, they are expensive, which is not really an issue as I know this will not be for long and soon the prices will come down but also there are not many channels being broadcasted in 3D or filmed with 3D cameras so why invest all that money for a feature you can hardley use?
If your not too sure how 3D technology that has been designed for the home works i'll try to quickly explain it. There are two ways of viewing 3D, one which is Passive and one which is Active.
Passive
Passive technology is the type that cinemas use and what the pubs are starting to invest in for its customers to view 3D football. Passive technology uses two images that are polarized in different directions, the lenses on the glasses you wear use circular polarization and are set in oposite directions to match the two images being projected. Each lens blocks the oposite eye allowing your brain to do the hard work by putting the two images together making you see one solid image and gives you that 3D effect.
Active technology is the technology used with home TVs (however this is changing - (http://www.which.co.uk/technology/tv-and-dvd/reviews-ns/lg-3d-tvs/) The glasses hold just as much of the technology as the TV does, they shut the light out of one eye whilst leaving the other to view the image, then it switches so the other eye sees the image at a slightly different angle creating the 3D effect.
I went on some core vision training in Leeds recently and we had the chance to find out more about TV technology in genreal but also we looked at and descussed 3D. We mostly agreed that another disadvantage is that you have to wear the glasses. I struggle to imagine my mum and dad sat on the sofa wearing these 3D glasses which are at least £60 a pop especially seeing as my dad wears glasses and the 3D glasses are particularly uncomfortable for people who already wear glasses. When I wore the glasses I found the flickering to be irritating and I found some scenes were blured which was dissorientating. However some scenes were crips clear and breathtaking. It was the unconsistancy of the picture quality throughout the demo that left me feeling dissapointed.
I am left thinking that at this stage I would not buy a 3D TV but I am hopeing that this is simply the first wave of this technology and that it will only get better.
.....................................................................................................................................................................
3D in other areas
Although 3D in the home did not grab me I heared of another way that companies have been using this technology within their marketing stratagies.
Vestas, a company which originates from Denmark, who produces wind turbines have created a 3D symulator for potential clients to be able to see what it is they would be buying if they purchased through Vestas. The symulator walks them from the entrance gate right through the turbines and even inside them. A demonstration like this could have them leave feeling little in awe.
"The technology used in our wind turbines is state-of-the-art. Therefore we need state-of-the-art tools to develop them. The VR installation has proved to be a very powerful day to day tool for all engineers in our R&D department. As a side bonus the installation has also turned out to be very useful for all the other departments in Vestas like sales, management, production and service." Allan Laursen Molbech, Pro/E & VR Administrator, - http://www.virtalis.com/market-sectors/power
I am told that this simulator can be taken to the client which is an important advantage, I think this tool is very advantageous and be used in many ways for lots of different companies also.
Posts
