Tag Archives | 3D

DARPA Creates Interactive 3-D Holographic Map Table

By BananaFamine on April 6, 2011 in News 2

A 2D Representation of UPSD's 3D Image. Source: DARPA

Long gone are the days of pushing plastic armies around hand-drawn maps. Today’s military planners deserve technology of the future, and that means nothing less than 3-D holograms will do. Luckily, we have DARPA, ever-ready to step in with a solution. The Urban Photonic Sandtable Display (UPSD) allows up to 20 participants to simultaneously view and manipulate the 360-degree, 3-D image on the table, without having to wear 3-D glasses.

The display can be expanded to as large as six feet, and has a visual depth of up to 12 inches. UPSD is also interactive – battle planners can freeze, rotate and zoom in on the images. They can also print out two-dimensional representations of the 3-D data (seen above) that troops can carry with them on their missions.

Zebra Imaging won the contract to create the technology for UPSD, and DARPA is using LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) systems for the data.

… Read the rest

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US Approves First 3D Mammography Device

By Pelliciari on February 14, 2011 in News 9

U.S. Navy photo by Ensign Ann-Marie Al Noad

Movies aren’t the only industry jumping on the 3D bandwagon. Now breast cancer screening images can be seen in the third dimension. Via Bloomberg:

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved on Friday the first X-ray mammography device that provides three-dimensional images of the breast for cancer screening and diagnosis.

The Selenia Dimensions System, an upgrade to Massachusetts-based Hologic Inc.’s FDA-approved two-dimensional system, can provide 2-D and 3-D X-ray images of the breasts. The 3-D images may help physicians more accurately detect and diagnose breast cancer, the FDA said in a news release.

“Physicians can now access this unique and innovative 3-D technology that could significantly enhance existing diagnosis and treatment approaches,” said Dr. Jeffrey Shuren, director of the FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health.

[Continues at Bloomberg Business Week]… Read the rest

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Apple Patent Reveals Pans for Holographic Display

By HAL9000 on December 28, 2010 in News 8

Richard Gray writes in the Telegraph:

A recently granted patent reveals that Apple, the company behind the iPod and iPhone, has been working on a new type of display screen that produces three dimensional and even holographic images without the need for glasses.

The technology could be used to produce a new generation of televisions, computer monitors and cinema screens that would provide viewers with a more realistic experience.

The system relies upon a special screen that is dotted with tiny pixel-sized domes that deflect images taken from slightly different angles into the right and left eye of the viewer.

By presenting images taken from slightly different angles to the right and left eye, this creates a stereoscopic image that the brain interprets as three-dimensional.

Read More in the Telegraph… Read the rest

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Star Wars Saga To Be Released In 3D

By Pelliciari on September 29, 2010 in News 12

Following the 3D trend, George Lucas has found yet another way to make money from the Star Wars saga. Telegraph reports:

The saga in 3D will begin with the release of the 1999 prequel Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, with the remaining films following in sequence.

A statement from Lucasfilm, the US director’s film production company, on the Star Wars website said: “The live-action Star Wars saga will be converted to 3D.

“There are few movies that lend themselves more perfectly to 3D; from the Death Star trench run to the Tatooine Pod race, the Star Wars Saga has always delivered an entertainment experience that is completely immersive.

“The cutting edge conversion will take that immersion to the next thrilling level.”

Industrial Light And Magic, the visual effects company which will supervise the project, said converting the films will take time.Visual effects supervisor John Knoll said: “It takes a critical and artistic eye along with an incredible attention to detail to be successful.

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Glasses-Free 3D Television Set In Production

By Pelliciari on August 24, 2010 in News 0

It seems that every big blockbuster to hit box offices lately have been in 3-D. From Avatar to Alice In Wonderland, and currently Despicable Me, 3-D is used as common as computer animation. Now television companies are working on bringing the life-like effects into your home. TechNews World reports:

Toshiba has reportedly confirmed it is working on technology for a 3-D television set that won’t require viewers to use special glasses.

However, details are scant, and the company declined to say when such TVs will hit the market.

Toshiba isn’t alone in working on technology that will let viewers watch 3D TV without glasses.

“Every major manufacturer will be working on auto-stereo, or glasses-free, 3D TV,” David Mercer, a vice president and principal analyst at Strategy Analytics, told TechNewsWorld.

Technology that lets people watch 3D images without glasses already exists. For example, Nintendo is using it in its 3DS handheld video game device, which it demonstrated at the E3 show in Los Angeles in June.

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Hong Kong Filmmakers Shoot “First” 3D Porn Film

By bluemana on August 9, 2010 in News 5

Reports the AFP via Google News:
3D Audience

A group of Hong Kong filmmakers have started shooting what they claim will be the world’s first 3D pornographic film. The 3.2 million-US-dollar 3-D Sex and Zen: Extreme Ecstasy, set for release in May, has already generated interest in a host of Asian film markets, as well as Europe and the US, the Sunday Morning Post reported.

Loosely based on a piece of classical Chinese erotic literature, The Carnal Prayer Mat, the movie will star Japanese adult actresses Yukiko Suo and Saori Hara, the Post said.

The film chronicles the story of a young man who, after being introduced to the erotic world of a duke, realises his ex-wife is the love of his life and features “orgies, swinging and some very graphic sex scenes”, the paper said.

Producer Stephen Shiu acknowledged that censors would likely block the movie’s screening in mainland China, a key market for Hong Kong filmmakers.

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Can 3D Save the Porn Industry?

By disinfogreg on March 29, 2010 in News 4

The Daily Beast seems to think so. What’s next… smell-o-vision?
boobies-3d

It was just a matter of time before the Avatar-technologies that set Hollywood all aflutter—and that are similarly exciting the makers of next-generation televisions—reached the adult-film world. (Think about it: What genre should benefit most from 3-D’s ability to bring the viewer closer to the action on the screen?) But it turns out Sridix’s film has been in the works for a year, and it could have been released long ago, but he delayed it for the release of James Cameron’s epic in December so that his innovative film could ride the wave. “We had to wait for Avatar to come out,” he says proudly, “and be huge.”

Thanks to the record-breaking box office of Avatar, the 90-minute Shortcuts 3-D—which promises to immerse viewers in an even more “intimate and sensual universe”—is set for a mid-April release on DVD as a result of a distribution deal inked with France’s most famous high-end porn company. Initial sales won’t be huge, given that the first-generation 3-D televisions are only now arriving in stores. But the filmmakers and distributors are gambling on consumers’ curiosity: Will the actress or actor on the screen really seem to be a naked nymphomaniac in your living room?

Amid the current surge to provide enough content to convince folks to fork over thousands of dollars for 3-D televisions, much of the talk has been about the dozens of 3-D feature films set for release and sports events like the 2010 World Cup, which will be broadcast in 3-D, but it is worth remembering that pornography has already proven itself as a driver of technological adaptation. A generation ago, the porn industry tipped the balance in favor of VHS video, undercutting Betamax tapes, and Hollywood soon followed suit.

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