Yay back from China, more about this later.

As you may know, I sorta like taking pictures. And I also sorta like VR. 3D pictures have been around since the first days of photo, but now Fujifilm is presenting __ ideas of prototypes __ to the digital consumer with a 3D camera (with autostereoscopic LCD on the back), a 3D autostereoscopic photo frame and lenticular 3D prints. The prototype set is known as FUJIFILM FinePix Real 3D System.

From Stereoscopy.com :

‘Built-in 3D auto’ determines optimal shooting conditions from both sensors. 3D auto means that as soon as the shutter is depressed, key metrics for the image, such as focus, zoom range, exposure, etc, are synchronized.(…)

According to the developer of the camera, the native storage format is one side-by-side stereo pair in one file, also containing a header area in which extra information is stored. This format is called “Multi Picture Format” (MPF), and is standardized by CIPA, the Camera & Imaging Products Association of Japan. An English translation of this very new standard (”Stereo Still Image Format for Digital Cameras”) is available for download: http://www.cipa.jp/english/hyoujunka/kikaku/pdf/DC-006_E.pdf (…)

There are no firm plans for commercialization yet.

From PhotographyBlog :

The over-sized prototype version of the Fujifilm Real 3D camera, complete with two lenses (and two 6 megapixel sensors inside).

A conventional rear layout, but note the 2D/3D button which toggles between the two modes.

I can’t wait to have to manually adjust my convergence settings =)

Tags: autostereoscopic, Photo, Stereoscopy

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This year Laval Virtual was celebrating its 10th anniversary.

The tradeshow is getting bigger and there was not enough room for all the exhibitors that wanted a booth!

There was not many technical innovations, rather evolutions of existing principles. This tends to prove the point I was trying to make last year that we are not making the best out of the current hardware.

There were much less HMDs than last year as if non intrusive displays (eg autostereoscopic screens or projectors) were preferred.

I’ll probably make another post concerning the new hardware I’ve seen here and at IEEE VR later.

Read on for more …

Read more…

Tags: cave, laval-virtual, Multi-touch, Stereoscopy, Wiimote

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Updates

[ 23 Jul 2008 : Added Workbench and Cave videos]

Index

- Projectors based

- HMD, VR Goggles

Projectors Based

The most impressive and immersive is the Cave system (also called SasCube, Move, Cube…). It’s a cube of at least 3×3x3m with at least four faces displaying stereoscopic images. The Cave at Iowa State University has just been upgraded and now has a resolution of 100 million pixels, featuring 96 GPUs and 24 Sony digital projectors.

© Arnaud Muthelet

Multiple users can fit in a Cave, enabling collaboration. Note that as of now, the displayed images have the correct perspective for a maximum of two users, and multiple-user interaction is not yet the norm.

(c) S. Kuntz

Then several systems with digital projectors exist, from the Holobench and Holostage to the Reality Center and a “simple” mono or multi-projectors wall.

Holobench - Photos © PSA Peugeot Citroën Mediatheque.

A Wall © Arnaud Muthelet

A Reality Center © Arnaud Muthelet

An HoloStage © Arnaud Muthelet

Panoscope (c) Laval Virtual

The Matsushita Electronics Hemispheric Dome  is an hemispherical screen of 8.5 meters in inside diameter, 18 projectors, with stereo images projected on the screen having a wide field of view (FOV) of 180 degrees in horizontal and 150 degrees in vertical directions.

Now that the traditional theaters are buying digital projectors that have great chances of being able to display 3D pictures. As 3D movies are coming back, we should consider them as potential VR centers !

That’s why the biggest VR display is in Paris, in the famous La Géode theater that also hosts an Imax projector.

(c) S. Kuntz

(c) Dassault Systèmes

HMD, VR Goggles

There is an impressive number of Head Mounted Displays (HMD) on the market. Some of them are getting more attention :

(c) S. Kuntz

- the eMagin Z800 seems to be the most successful. Priced at1500$, it has very nice displays (OLED, 800×600), but disappointing integrated trackers.

(c) Trimersion

- the Trimersion has the big advantage of being wireless and cheap (600$). Small resolution (640×480) and probably crappy integrated trackers. Note that the gun is not tracked.

(c) Sensics

- the piSight Sensics is a panoramic HMD, with a field of view up to 180°, and up to 4200×2400 pixels per eye ! It is made up of several OLED 800×600 displays (built by eMagin). The main problem is that if it is not perfectly setup on your head, you can see the seams between those displays. And it’s very expensive.

Tags: Active Stereoscopy, cave, DLP, emagin, HMD, Holobench, LCD, Passive, reference, resource, sensics, Stereoscopy, trimersion, Virtual Reality, VR Displays

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Introducing the PanoramaScreen :

The PanoramaScreen is a cylindrical projection environment for 360°-panoramic projections, which has been developed at the ZKM | Institute for Visual Media in collaboration with the iCinema Research Centre, Sydney since 2005.
The screen has been implemented to display panoramic movies via 4 or 6 projectors, such as 3D animations or video footage. For the recording of 360°-moving imagery, the Institute specially developed a high resolution 360°-PanoramaCamera.
The screen can also be used for stereoscopic VR-applications. Furthermore, the environment is equipped with an 8-channel audio system and offers by means of the Panorama Display Software, a software system developed at the Institute, a wide range of applications for interactive real-time applications, which are being further developed in the context of international artistic and research projects and co-operations.

The first version of the PanoramaScreen [PSI] measures 3.50m in height and 10m in diameter. The second version of the environment with currently a higher resolution  [PSII] measures 2.80m in height and 8m in diameter.

Thanks to Whaly

Tags: Curved Screen, iCinema, Projector, Stereoscopy

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Ken Wittlief, a senior engineer at Vuzix (formerly  Icuiti Corp), “makers of VideoEyewear and other micro display systems”, has written an excellent article about do’s and don’ts when creating a stereoscopic entertainment. Here are some highlights of the article, but I highly recommend you to read it all :

(…) our depth perception is only good out to approximately 200 yards. Beyond that distance everything appears to be flat, and we use sideways motion to judge distances. (…)

The first rule of getting it right: you have to know how the images will be viewed. You are creating a virtual space in front of the viewer and you must know what that space is, before you can start placing shapes and objects at different distances. The reward for your attention to this detail is that it is possible to create images that will appear to exist in real space, across the front of the theater, extending halfway out the screen towards the viewer, and receding back for 200 yards or more.

(…) Focus is an issue with no easy solution. The best we can do with existing systems is to not violate the convergence/focus lock the viewers eyes have learned over their lifetime too harshly. [Don’t] push objects off the screen more than half the distance to the viewer (…).

(…) The average person has an Inter Pupil Distance (IPD) of 2.5 inches.   (…)  limit the separation on the screen to the minimum IPD that might be present in the audience: around 2 inches.

(…)  The second rule for getting it right: don’t turn the audience into giants! You must use the correct camera separation for the camera field of view. For animation this means that first you must put your viewer into the virtual space itself. If you are animating bugs then how tall is your viewer? Do you want it to feel like the person watching the film is 6 feet tall, looking at bugs on the ground? Or do you want to bring your viewer down to bug size, so his eyes (your cameras) are the same distance apart as the bugs eyes?

(…) The third rule for getting it right: set your cameras to converge on the most distant objects in view, and adjust your separation so that infinity is 2 inches apart at the screen, and let the foreground objects find their own place in that space. Resist the temptation to converge your cameras on the center of attention. If you really want to lock the viewers attention on one area, then use a depth of focus effect to blur the rest of the image, so the viewer will not be inclined to look around the area at other things.

(…) The fourth rule for getting it right: you must know the timing of the projection system. (…) But when objects move quickly there comes a point when your brain sees the left view in one place, and the right view in another place, but then the left view has moved considerably and your brain cannot pull them together. The result is you see two objects: the stereoscopic 3D effect is lost.

Tags: HMD, icuiti, reference, Stereoscopy, vuzix

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Nec is introducing the N704iµ, reportedly having a stereoscopic screen. I can’t find any more information than this picture, so if you come across something interesting, please leave a comment =)

Tags: phone, Stereoscopy

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Did you know that in 1995 Nintendo released a portable VR console, called the Virtual Boy ? With a monochrome stereoscopic HMD with a 384×224 resolution, it was priced at 180$ and reportedly Nintendo sold 700′000 units. The failure of the system had them discontinue the project one year later.

A bit sooner, Sega also tried to release a VR console [and wikipedia here] in 1994, with LCD screens and inertial trackers:

The Sega VR console combined full color LCD screens and stereo sound. Weight was distrusted evenly, and the device was reported to be comfortable. Also, unlike the Virtual Boy, it was truly portable, not requiring a cumbersome tripod for enjoyable game play.

(…)

Due to limited resources, strategic planning, the complete and utter failure of Nintendo’s Virtual Boy, underwhelming graphics and performance, as well as motion sickness, Sega was wise in not bringing this cliché console to the market.

The company claimed the project was stopped because the VR was so real users would move while wearing the headset and injure themselves.

Hum. Lol.. =)

[update : here’s a video of the ad]

Tags: Anaglyph, console, Game, HMD, nintendo, OldSchool, sega, Stereoscopy, Virtual Reality, VR Applications

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Here I’ll try to list references to documents on stereoscopic game development.

There is a chapter in the NVidia GPU Programming Guide about Stereoscopic Game Development (Chapter 9) with some useful tips about “How stereo works”, and “Things that hurt stereo”.

Why care about Stereo ?

People see with two eyes in the real world. While artificial stereoscopic viewing (on a screen versus in real life) is not a huge market, many gamers enjoy the extra sense of presence obtained by playing games with inexpensive shutter glasses along with NVIDIA’s stereo override driver.
In addition, there are benefits to viewing your game in stereo during development. You immediately pick up on things that look fake. Keep in mind that motion parallax gives similar visual cues to stereo but the stereo viewer perceives instantaneously what users see if they move around and obtain depth information via motion parallax.
Using stereoscopic viewing while developing a game is a competitive advantage; you see and correct visual defects before they even come out in a game. This of course will also enhance the experience of those who play your game in stereo.

For more extensive informations about stereoscopy for immersive applications, check out the Stereographics Developers Handbook.

For more information about the available stereoscopic displays, check Stereoscopy at home.

For technical information about asymetric frustums : Stereo geometry in OpenGL

Some rules to follow to create successful stereo effects : Stereoscopic 3D Film and Animation - Getting it right.

Tags: Game development, reference, resource, Stereoscopy, Virtual Reality DIY

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The DLP 3D technology is reaching mass market!

This ZDNet article says that those TVs “which uses DLP-based rear projection and ranging in price from $1499 to $4500″.

Moreover, Mitsubishi is planning 3D Blu-Ray player for early 2008.
From the DLP official site :

DLP® 3-D HDTV System Requirements:
• A DLP® 3-D Ready HDTV offered by either Mitsubishi or Samsung
• VESA compatible LCD shutter glasses and sync signal transmitter
• Video or graphics source which shows 3-D pictures using DLP® HDTV 3-D format.

Advantages of DLP® 3-D HDTV technology

- The DLP® 3-D HDTV technology supplies a 60Hz frame rate signal to each eye (equivalent to 120 Hz).

- The technology has a virtually zero implementation cost on new DLP® HDTV, benefiting consumers with a future proof capability.

DLP® HDTV 3-D Image Format

3-D stereoscopic video content is sent to the TV digitally, through an HDMI or DVI port. Left and right stereo images are independently filtered, then sampled in an offset grid pattern. The resulting views are then combined, and appear as a left and right checkerboard pattern in a conventional orthogonal sampled image. This format preserves the horizontal and vertical resolution of the left and right views providing the viewer with the highest quality image possible with the available bandwidth.

This whitepaper has more information about the image format.

Tags: Active Stereoscopy, DLP, HDTV, mitsubishi, Norm, Projector, samsung, Stereoscopy, TV, Virtual Reality DIY, VR Displays

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[Update 20 Nov 2008: Added a possible way to have up to date nVidia drivers with stereo]

[Update 17 Nov 2008 : Added list of stereoscopic drivers]

I’ve found some pretty interesting material about professionals and enthusiasts building up stereoscopic displays for home use:

- 3D Flight simulator has a lot of information about affordable stereoscopic displays, projectors, 3d-DLP TVs, and tutorials on how to setup your system.
- Here’s a forum which lists a lot of “cheap” projectors to do active stereo.
- Here’s a very recent pdf (aug 06) about the use of LCD monitors and DLP projectors for active stereo. The bottom line: no lcd monitor is good, lot of dlp projectors are good.

- By the same author, more recent, a technical paper about “The compatibility of consumer DLP projectors with time-sequential stereoscopic 3D visualisation” and a list of the results.

- A Stereo Emitter with long range and adjustable frame delay.

- A nice article at tom’s hardware : Wall-Sized 3D Displays: The ultimate gaming room

- Infos about DLP 3D HDTV & HD Projectors

- Stereoscopic drivers : IZ3D Drivers, TriDef Drivers, Vuzix Drivers , nVidia Stereoscopic drivers

- How to have nVidia Stereo drivers with recent drivers.

See also VR Resources for forums about stereoscopy.

Tags: Norm, Projector, reference, resource, Stereoscopy, TV, Virtual Reality DIY

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