Last year was when the third dimension made a re-entry into our lives in a new avatar, quite literally. James Cameron's blockbuster was a game changer not just in getting the audience back in massive numbers to the cinemas but also in re-introducing 3D or stereoscopic experience.
It was third time lucky for 3D — the previous attempts (first wave in the 1910s and 1920s with some simple reels and later the second wave in 1950s with the “gimmick cinema”) were written off as mere fads by the West.
In India, audiences got an experience of native 3D movies much later though. “My Dear Kuttichathan,” produced by Navodaya Appachan, was released in 1984. Audiences wore the classic anaglyph “black and red plastic glasses” and tried fending off dollops of icecream rushing towards them.
But at end of the day, 3D was just a fad.
Indications now are that the third wave of 3D, post “Avatar”, is here to stay. Because not only are more and more Hollywood productions embracing the format, but there are also consumer electronics companies lining the holiday shopping shelves with a new range of 3-D products, some of which don't even require those clunky viewing glasses. This could well be the start of an era where 3D moves out of the cinema halls and quite literally into one's hands.
Two developments in the recent months make the future very exciting: Nintendo's much awaited next generation handheld game console, the Nintendo 3DS, that has been previewed at major electronics expos around the world; and various glasses-free 3D television prototypes being unveiled by companies such as Toshiba and Philips.
Path-breaking technology
So how do the gadgets eliminate the need for those glasses? Let's face it. They are good to wear at best for two or two-and-a-half hours inside a cinema hall. I, for one, felt a bit fatigued, though I was overawed by “Avatar".
The answer lies in the advancements in the field of autostereoscopy. While the conventional stereoscopy technologies have required viewing glasses to interpret two different images and create an illusion of depth perception to achieve 3D images, autostereoscopy targets developing displays, which while viewed at optimum angles, create the same effect without glasses.
Flat panels use two technologies to achieve autostereoscopy: the most popular among these are parallax barriers and lenticular lenses.
Japanese electronics giant Sharp was the first to introduce the glasses-free 3D touchscreen display earlier this year. It incorporated a series of vertical slits into its display to control the direction of light from the screen so that different images can be directed to the left and the right eye creating an illusion of depth.
Similar technology is also in use in the Fujifilm Finepix Real3D camera that retails in the Indian market at around Rs. 35,000. Panasonic has already announced a rollout of an HD 3D camcorder.
Key challenges remain though: the biggest one being to ensure that the display works from all angles and not just the standard angles. Though there is some informed scepticism about how these 3D gadgets will be received, every electronics major agrees on one thing: By 2015, 3D would have penetrated every barrier. And 2010 will be the year that the revolution began on a mass scale.
Want to try creating 3D images?
* With all gadgets going the 3D way, are you tempted to create 3D content? Try Microsoft's PhotoSynth technology. A Photosynth is nothing but making a mega image comprising several hundreds of photos to create a 3D illusion in a click, zoom and pull interface.
* Just go to photosynth.net and create your own 3D photosynth images. You can photograph anything in three dimension using your basic digital camera and show it off on your blog or website using the embed option.
