RE: RE: RE: No Warrants--That's nice
Battelle researchers are working with a Canadian company to create a camera that might change the way movies are made, whether by Hollywood directors creating big-budget films or parents shooting a grade-school musical.
The work involves high-definition, 3-D technology, the same that gives moviemakers the power to shoot eye-popping extravaganzas such asAvatar.
The twist is the new work involves one camera and a single lens. For years, 3-D productions required two cameras, or single cameras outfitted with multiple lenses.
The upgrade would make putting together a complex movie a lot easier -- and cheaper. Existing cameras can be retrofitted with the new equipment.
And that means more high-def, 3-D movies. And it's not just the big-money, fancy-pants directors and producers who will benefit.
In a few years, moms and dads will be able to pull out their 3-D camcorders at soccer games and birthday parties. Then they can watch them on their 3-D TVs, or perhaps on their cell phones.
For the past six months, Battelle researchers have been developing a system with Montreal-based ISee3D.
Battelle created a new HD shutter for the company after it asked Battelle to use its digital patents to create prototype liquid crystal 3-D lenses.
In the past, a mechanical shutter with a rubber damper flipped from the left side of the lens to the right to create a 3-D image.
Now, the electronic shutter blocks the light from the left side of the lens to the right 60 times a second, interlacing the image by tracing out alternate scan lines.
In October, the company announced Battelle had successfully assembled components for the camera and captured 3-D video and still images.
"It's a huge deal," said Dwight Romanica, ISee3D's president, who is at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this weekend showing off the technology.
By using one camera with one lens, operators can eliminate registration errors since one lens captures the left-and-right information that two cameras must do now.
"It's an elegantly simple invention," said Nigel Horsley, an ISee3D spokesman.
There's a strong demand in Hollywood for such a one-camera system, said Alex Morrow, a Battelle research scientist specializing in optics.
John Laudo, Battelle's research leader, said a one-camera system lessens worries about vibrations, which play havoc with traditional two-camera systems.
Moviemakers can get rid of registration errors by capturing "left" and "right" information with one camera, Laudo said.
Three-D technology is constantly being refined.
For example, one-camera 3-D technology has been around since the 1990s. Romanica's company created a niche for it, selling 3-D endoscopes to surgeons.
"Surgeons are the pickiest image-quality people in the world, bar none," Horsley said. "Any compromise in patient safety, you and your system are out the door."
Today, Romanica said at least a dozen companies are discussing the single lens 3-D camera with him.
Sony, Vizio and Panasonic all expect to unveil high-definition 3-D TVs in 2010. According to PC World, Sony hopes 3-D capable sets will account for half of the TVs it sells by 2012.
"Sony is betting the farm on 3-D," Horsley said.
Three-dimensional video games will help drive those sales, Horsley said.
"The home-entertainment experience will revolve around 3-D -- but good 3-D," Horsley said.
For the past 60 years, every generation thought 3-D would arrive for them. Remember 1953's House of Wax?
Now, because the Sonys of the world have committed to it, it should finally work for all, Horsley said.
Last week, ESPN announced it was launching a 3-D sports network this year with at least 85 live events, beginning June 11 with the first World Cup soccer match between Mexico and host South Africa.
"Three-D," Laudo said, "is not going away."