ASUS 27" 3D screen to be released soon

http://www.asus.com/Display/LCD_Monitors/VG278H/

Awaiting the release of this monitor. Shame I wasn't able to get the S3D items working in my project, but I'd be curious to try and tackle it either in my Special Interest Topics subject or within another project (possibly PhD).

3D in Cinemas

Went and saw "How to Train Your Dragon" in 3D yesterday at Birch. Good movie. Highly recommended.

Main focus here though is actual 3D being used to display landscapes...

Birch Carroll and Coyle cinemas make use of RealD technology (www.reald.com) whereas Reading Cinemas uses Dolby Digital 3D (www.dolby.com/professional/solutions/cinema/3d-digital-cinema.html)

Between the two, I found that RealD was better then that of Dolby 3D. For starters, the glasses you can keep from RealD whereas with Dolby 3D you have the staff staring at you when you walk out of the theater, almost as if they're expecting you to take off running with their glasses. (Glasses from RealD, very cheap to make VS Dolby 3D synced with the screen/video and alternating shutters, rather expensive). I'm not 100% sure where the NVIDIA 3D sits between these two different types of technology though.. It'd be interesting to see how different/similar they are in depth/perspective. Particularly if you are off center of the image or move around a lot. (An issue I didn't find with RealD).

Depth wise, both RealD and Dolby 3D were good. Though... I notice that the 3D does cut off when it hits the 'edge' of the screen. It's like looking through a window. You can see the depth of the objects, but it's not like they 'leap' out of the screen (although it appears that Dolby 3D has a better ... can't think of the word, but 'pop out' effect..)

I think with having the demo of the Paluma landscape in 3D would definitely generate a lot of public interest, not because of it being a virtual environment, but something that people can actually see in 3D. I think a lot of people would show up just to be able to experience something 'new' (not really) and cool. Plus with the 3D hype going around, it's a step towards embracing new technology.

Before I leave, just an interesting blog I found on someone else's views on 3D.

http://3dvision-blog.com/what-to-choose-imax-3d-versus-reald-versus-dolby-3d-for-3d-movies/

Enjoy.

3AM Ramble

Been getting some replies over at the NVIDIA forums regarding the glasses and maya.

Interesting reply from a user:

Since version 2009, Maya is really one of the best 3d tools to create stereoscopic movies.

Not only because it features stereoscopic cameras, but also eliminates some of the most common picture "failures" you are getting with 2 normal cameras (for advanced readers: maya is capable to use off-axis cameras with shifted sensors to create perfect matched stereoscopic pictures - with 2 normal cameras you would get frustum problems with trapezoid deformations).

The good thing is, you don't need a quadro card to use the stereo rig, but if you have one, you can see the viewport in "real" 3D if you use 2 projectors (polarization, infitec ...) or the acer one (if there WOULD be newer quadro 3d vision drivers which support the projector perfectly ).

For normal users it is enough to create a stereo rig, set the zero parallax plane, the interaxial separation and view the whole thing via the luminance anaglyph (red/cyan) option .


Good luck while trying it and don't forget to read the autodesk stereoscopic filmmaking whitepaper to understand the whole 3d functions:

http://images.autodesk.com/adsk/files/ster...per_final08.pdf

and

http://www.motionmedia.com/downloads/pdf/M..._Whitepaper.pdf

Quote: MCX

I like this idea of using two projectors to see "real" 3D. It'd be a wonder on how to set it up though. And so, so glad that a quadro card is not required. All I need now is my 3D monitor and I can start playing around and developing. Hurray!

3D Glasses + HDTV

Ahh, so last night's attempt at trying to get the 3D glasses running kind of failed.

Tried both the TV and a laptop monitor (just to a. see if we could prove NVIDIA wrong and b. see if we can get the glasses to run at half the frame rate)

The TV itself was actually only a 60Hz signal, (supposedly uses backlight flashing to double the rate to 120Hz?) despite the manual saying otherwise (NVIDIA was right on this one) and as for the laptop, well, after getting the up-to-date drivers (CD ones are outdated) and running the installation, it actually just stops midway through and says "Your laptop panel is not 3D enabled" and closes down the installation.

Doesn't even let you attempt to try it at a lower rate. Which is a bit of a let down.

Can't get the monitor this week either. Apparently I have to claim hours at JCU for payment, so it's not like Cairns which was done automatically. *laughs* Oh well, another 2 week wait I suppose.

Been looking at a lot of things surrounding the glasses and modelling. Will post information as I come across it anyway.

120Hz TVs and NVidia Forums

Been trawling through sites for information about 3D.

Glasses won't work with a 120Hz TV apparently: http://nvidia.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/nvidia.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=2368&p_created=1233880927&p_sid=IDrlJFXj&p_accessibility=0&p_redirect=&p_srch=1&p_lva=&p_sp=cF9zcmNoPTEmcF9zb3J0X2J5PSZwX2dyaWRzb3J0PSZwX3Jvd19jbnQ9NzUsNzUmcF9wcm9kcz0xMzImcF9jYXRzPTAmcF9wdj0xLjEzMiZwX2N2PSZwX3NlYXJjaF90eXBlPWFuc3dlcnMuc2VhcmNoX25sJnBfcGFnZT0x&p_li=&p_topview=1

I decided to sign up an account over at the NVidia forums as well, seeing as I got the glasses now. Figured I should check out the information in the community that's available and see how it goes.

I threw up a post earlier to ask if anyone has actually experimented with the 3D glasses, monitor and maya and would like to know what results they got. So far, there's 3D support for "Gaming, Applications, Movies and Pictures". Depending on which way I develop my project it can either be put into a gaming engine that is supported by DirectX 10 or I can try and do it as a 3D Movie (example) and use the NVIDIA Stereoscopic 3D Movie player.

Also, I'll need to address presenting methods...

Below is a list of the displays available with support: [http://www.nvidia.co.uk/object/GeForce_3D_Vision_faq_uk.html]

3D Vision-Ready Displays

1920x1080 Desktop Displays

• ACER GD245HQ 120 Hz LCD display
• ACER GD235HZ 120 Hz LCD display
• Alienware OptX AW2310 120 Hz LCD display

1680x1050 Desktop Displays

• Samsung® SyncMaster 2233RZ 120 Hz LCD display
• ViewSonic® FuHzion™ VX2265wm 120 Hz LCD display
• ViewSonic FuHzion VX2268wm 120 Hz LCD display
• 100 Hz and higher analog CRTs

HDTVs

• Mitsubishi® 1080p DLP® Home Theater TV: WD-57833, WD-60735, WD-60737, WD-60C8, WD-60C9, WD-65735, WD-65736, WD-65737, WD-65C8, WD-65C9, WD-65833, WD-65835, WD-65837, WD-73735, WD-73736, WD-73737, WD-73833, WD-73835, WD-73837, WD-73C8, WD-73C9, WD-82737, WD-82837, L65-A90
• Mitsubishi 1080p LaserVue TV: L65-A90
• Generic DLP HDTV mode

Projectors

• Acer X1130P
• Acer X1261
• Acer H5360
• DepthQ® HD 3D Projector by LightSpeed Design, Inc.
• DQ-3120 by LightSpeed Design, Inc.
• ViewSonic PJD-6210-3D
• ViewSonic PJD-6220-3D
• ViewSonic PJD-PJD5351-3D
• ViewSonic PJD-PJD5111-3D

I remember Ian mentioning about the 3D Projectors, but I can't remember the model he was looking at. The monitor however I was looking at is the AlienWare AW2310 ... Acer, after my dangerously bad run of a dodgy laptop though, I try to avoid unless there is more then a year warranty available. (The laptop spent more time being repaired then in my possession, in the end everything bar the case and screen were replaced and it was found out that it was missing some heatsink or cooling device or whatever...)

Anywho, enough updates for me. Sleep time now.