The Future of Cinema - 'Real' 3D 193
GunSlinger writes "The IGN movies site is running a story on an old movie concept seeing a resurgence. 3D movies are making a cinematic comeback via new, more sophisticated techniques. Yes, you still wear glasses. No you don't get a headache. Yes, the effect is fantastic. This story looks at the technology, past and future projects, and why just about every major studio is now planning in three dimensions. 'There is indeed a revolution in cinema taking place. It's quietly slipped under the radar of most technophiles, beginning its assault on the way we consume media clothed in thoroughly unassuming garb -- the Disney Digital 3-D film, Meet the Robinsons ... no, we don't blame you for being skeptical. Most people in their mid-20s or later think of 3-D movies from the old school perspective -- goofy red and blue coloured glasses, strained eyes, possible migraines. And most importantly, a so-so 3-D effect. No more.'"
Just keep your head perfectly still.. (Score:2, Insightful)
Call me when you can give me 3d that I can walk around.. aka white light holograms.
Not really (Score:3, Insightful)
Wake me up when a 3D film wins an Oscar for Best Picture.
Re:Not really (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Just keep your head perfectly still.. (Score:4, Insightful)
Grasping at straws (Score:3, Insightful)
No "strained eyes, possible migraines?" No way. (Score:5, Insightful)
OK, these guys may have developed a better way to deliver and display a stereo graphic image, but in the end, it's the same old crap we've seen for decades. You're still wearing stereo glasses. You put some glasses on, your right eye sees one image, your left eye sees another image, your brain converges the two images, but you can't focus on the depth of your choosing. Focus is predetermined by the film.
Human stereoscopic vision relies upon two mechanisms, convergence and accommodation. This cinema tech doesn't account for the latter. With this tech you still can't focus on depths of your choosing... as you would with a volumetric image or a real 3D object in the real world. These guys are trying to skirt around accommodation by limiting shots to particular ranges of depth. While this may help to minimize the problem, it doesn't eliminate it.
All in all... move along, nothing new to see here.
Re:3D sends the wrong visual cues. (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Parallax is NOT solved (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:3D sends the wrong visual cues. (Score:3, Insightful)
This was a few years back, but when I saw one of the Imax 3D movies (some girl goes back in time and sees a bunch of dinosaurs) I realized that some new conventions would be needed for 3D films. When you're looking at a 2D movie, all the action is in one plane, and your eyes can easily focus on that distance.
But a cross-fade in 3D broke my brain. I couldn't figure out where to focus as some objects were getting transparent and fading away, and others were fading in. It was all a confused mess until the crossfade settled down.
(Say, what's the 3D equivalent of a star-wipe? :-> )
Re:Parallax is NOT solved (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Clarification on IMax 3D. (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Parallax is NOT solved (Score:4, Insightful)
Indeed, it doesn't even do that. If you tilt your head, the images of the movie your eyes get will still be shifted horizontally in respect to the ground, instead of in respect to your head (after all, there are only those two images, and the camera doesn't know about your head movement). Since stereo seeing in your brain works through the horizontal displacement in respect of your eyes, tilting your head will make the 3D effect go away.
Now you might argue that the 3D effect won't go away if you don't tilt your head too much, but then, in that case you also don't get noticeable wrong-eye images with linearly polarized light.
Re:Parallax is NOT solved (Score:4, Insightful)
I think I've got a way to get round this. How about having actual objects that the audience watch, a real set, and real actors performing the storyline?
Re:Don't second guess if you haven't seen the movi (Score:3, Insightful)
The only problem I had was that at the very beginning, after getting the instructions to put the glasses on, the first 3D stuff was a trailer for a Tim Burton animated Halloween movie - this scared the crap out of my kids (aged 5, 5, and 4, this being the first time they experienced 3D), with all sorts of nasties reaching out of the screen at them. They followed that with an old 1950's 3D cartoon with Donald Duck, which was harmless and would have made a much better introduction to 3D for the millions of little kids who will see it.