3D in AV

So much noise has been made around 3D in tv and cinema entertainment that it can obscure the humble penetration the technology has made into personal or professional use.

The noise is being made by consumer electronics manufacturers which have a vested interest in promoting 3D production as a means of selling higher ticket priced devices.

It’s no coincidence that these tech giants are also propping up two of the world’s major 3D tv channels – Discovery’s 3net which launched in January, the Sony-backed IMAX, and DirectTV, a 3D satellite portfolio sponsored by Panasonic. Both vendors are also supporting European 3D channels.

As sceptical as the wider industry might be about 3D’s longevity (John Logie Baird first experimented with 3D tv in 1928), it does appear that the stars have aligned this time.

“3D has really come to stay,” says Fredrik Svahnberg, marketing director, Dataton. “It’s been an interesting technology for the last three decades but this time it’s backed by a full infrastructure of acquiring media, editing and producing content, playback and 3D-ready displays of all kinds.”

Perhaps because 3D emerged as a consumer technology first, with James Cameron’s Avatar the main showcase, clients are alive to its potential. Even the Pope is keen. 3D tests have been carried out by Vatican Television Center (CTV) with the aim of distributing Papal events and messages in 3D to houses of worship.
According to Tim Brooksbank, chairman of Calibre UK: “3D is undoubtedly a gimmick,” he says. “But it’s a gimmick which for now people do seem to be willing to pay for.”

Here to stay
Jean-Pierre van Maasakker, CEO of Zero Creative which markets autostereoscopic screens (including a signage installation in Hommerson Casino at Scheveningen in The Netherlands) agrees: “3D is slowly becoming a standard for AV though sometimes still used as a gimmick. In a few years 3D will be nothing special but simply the standard. In a decade people will expect and accept nothing less than 3D, just as no-one any longer accepts black and white.”
3D is on the agenda of trade bodies such as InfoComm and CEDIA, as well as trade shows such as ISE. The technology is now being applied in almost every avenue of pro-AV, albeit at the margins.

“While 3D’s main breakthrough is in its entertainment value, the technology is showing enormous potential in other sectors, such as training and education, engineering, medical and military,” says Svahnberg. “The requirements for large-event, multiscreen shows are somewhat more challenging. 3D stereoscopic will mainly be used as a feature or special effect in certain parts of the show, at least until production and playback methods become more streamlined.”

Even Sony, 3D’s chief cheerleader, admits to little take up in pro-AV: “We’ve not seen huge adoption because the main barrier to entry is the cost of production,” says Jonny White, director of b2b at Sony Professional. “3D can be more expensive than 2D which for smaller production companies is prohibitive, while the availability of production technology is also a hindrance.”

White claims 3D budgets are dropping dramatically while the introduction of integrated 3D camcorders, which combine dual lenses in a single lightweight body, will soon put professional 3D production into many more hands. Panasonic’s AG-3DA1 twin-lens camcorder has been available for six months and Sony is about to debut a shoulder mounted version.

Sony is also aiming to widen the application of its 4K SXRD projectors into reception areas, exhibition spaces or 3D simulation but has few customers to date (see VERT left). Theatre owners are reportedly keen on installing 3D displays in cinema foyers to attract custom to 3D features while 3D projectors from Optoma, Christie and others are finding homes in higher education establishments where interactive displays can boost learning.

TI is currently involved in a 3D pilot programme across schools in five EU countries including Finland and France with plans for roll-out in Germany, Italy and Latin America in the next six months. 3D technology for the classroom is being aggressively adopted worldwide with over one million 3D-enabled projectors currently on the market.

3D displays are essential to 3D growth and the killer app could be signage but the necessity for viewers to wear glasses is stalling matters. Several manufacturers have autostereoscopic technologies in development which use on-screen filters to split the image. However, that splitting process is limited to a sweet spot, central and a few feet from the display.

“Mobile devices such as the Nintendo 3DS (which work fine autostereoscopically because of the 1-1 viewing experience) or tablets could help drive 3D applications,” says Neale Williams, business development manager of Digital Media and Cinema Products at NEC. “3D could be combined with augmented reality techniques on mobiles as a means of wayfinding or brand promotion.”

Japanese mobile operator DoCoMo for example unveiled a glasses-free interactive 3D display that provides a touch sensation using a pen and magnetic forces. Williams reckons 3D will remain a niche at least until the glasses barrier is breached.

Sony has shown prototypes of autostereoscopic ultra-thin OLED panels while Zero Creative has a range of glasses-free displays available now and aimed at the corporate market. Reseller MMD has an autostereoscopic signage display based on Philips WOWvx3D technology and incorporating a slanted multi-view lenticular lens which creates a viewing cone of 150 degrees.

Samsung has said it will bring a glasses-free, 55in LCD tv to market by 2015. The company showed off a prototype in March enabling viewing from nine different viewpoints within 2.5m to 6m.

Wow factor
In the events market 3D can deliver that all important wow factor to help get a message noticed.

“It can offer an amazing level of engagement which in turn may make customers more responsive to the exhibitor’s products or services,” says Alistair Reece, head of DBpixelhouse, DB Systems’ creative arm. “It’s also useful when exhibiting items, which are either too big or too complex to place on the exhibition stand.”
DB created a 3D representation of an aircraft engine at Farnborough Airshow in 2009 as an alternative to exhibiting the real thing. “Many production companies who want to wow the viewer use extreme 3D which can detract from the story,” warns Brooksbank. “3D itself is not the message, so productions with great 3D but no real entertainment or educational value soon wear thin.”

Jennifer Davis, vp marketing at Runco which offers the D-73d projector, agrees: “Most corporate communications are not necessarily more compelling in 3D, so it will be difficult for this to become a mainstream approach.”

Looking further ahead – perhaps as much as 50 years – stereo 3D will be superceded by holographic technologies which use lasers to project a 360-degree virtual image.

However, Musion has devised a holographic video projection system for live, staged 3D applications. Already used at music concerts and conferences for Cadillac, BAT and Adidas Musion Eyeliner deploys a specially developed foil that reflects projected images ranging in size up to 20m x 100m from within a Peppers Ghost stage environment.

Another example is the use of 3D Pyramid units which are a form of 3D holographic projection. “You can walk around the projection and see it from all sides, or the content can be designed to move and rotate so you see the entire product from a standing position,” says Reece.

In order to achieve true holography though, the image leaving a projector needs a surface to be displayed upon, and it is not possible to project on to thin air – yet.
“People are no longer interested in simply looking, they want to be part of the experience, which is what interactive technology allows. Those with the biggest budgets (aerospace, banking, pharmaceutical) are interested in using a variety of interactive technologies, not just 3D.

“It looks far more impressive to incorporate AR and touchscreens alongside 3D. When done correctly, the technologies really do complement each other,” says Reece.

CORPORATE 3D APPLICATIONS

Medical: Volume rendering software combined with 3D monitors can be used with Computed Tomography (CT), Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), Positron Emission Tomography (PET) and Ultrasound (US) to enable physicians to make quicker, more accurate diagnostic assessments. Surgeons can plan a procedure and consult a patient using a stereo monitor.

Geospatial: Photogrammetrists use stereo pairs of aerial and satellite imagery to create 3D digital elevation models.

The NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) uses Planar’s StereoMirror technology for gathering information, such as changes in river levels, coastal erosion or tsunami predictions.

Oil and Gas: Exploration geophysicists use explosive charges and seismic sensors to build a 3D dataset of material densities for subterranean mapping. This can potentially make oil and gas exploration more efficient.

Simulation and Training: Stereo viewing is used in flight simulation because it makes the situation more realistic and helps the learner progress quicker. This is sometimes called Serious Gaming.

Mechanical Design: Mechanical engineers and industrial designers can use stereo imaging to help them and the client get a more accurate understanding of depth and position. Architects can visualise a building long before it is built.