3D

This Telepresence Options article reports JVC have released a video projector capable of showing 35 megapixels at once. It also talks about the release of a new 3D TV prototype by Philips. From the article: "1080p high definition might be well and good for your average lounge room TV screen, but cinema projectors need to offer something vastly more impressive if the movies are going to continue to offer a bigger, clearer and more impressive viewing experience than your average cashed-up punter can now get at home. The new ultra-high res standard would now appear to be set with Super Hi-Vision: 7,680 pixels across by 4,320 pixels high (approximately 32-megapixel images) - and JVC have now released a video projector capable of showing 35 megapixels at once.

This NYtimes article takes a look at the WorldWide Telescope project: a software by Microsoft Research which permits to explore a virtual reproduction of the universe. From the article: "The skies may be the next frontier in travel, yet not even the wealthiest space tourist can zoom out to, say, the Crab Nebula, the Trapezium Cluster or Eta Carinae, a star 100 times more massive than the Sun and 7,500 light-years away.

This press release announces the ICATCHER Mini 3D virtual-reality portable projection system made by EON Reality was named Discreet Hardware Product of the Year by the AeA Orange County/Inland Empire during the 15th Annual AeA High-Tech Innovation Awards on April 29. From the press release: ""We are pleased and honored to be recognized for our innovations that truly allow users to experience more,” said Mats Johansson, president and chief executive officer, EON Reality. “Whether in the classroom or in the boardroom, EON ICATCHER Mini users are immersed in a digital environment where they become participants rather than mere observers.”

Visualization Library is an open source C++ middleware for 2D/3D graphics applications based on the industry standard OpenGL 2.1, designed to develop professional applications for the Windows XP, Windows Vista and Linux/X11 operating systems. Visualization Library alpha 1 supports advanced features like OpenGL Shading Language, Frame Buffer Objects, Multiple Render Targets, Vertex and Pixel Buffer Objects, KdTree/AABB frustum culling, multilingual Unicode-based text engine, advanced texturing, DDS cubemaps, mipmaps, compressed textures and much more.

Visualization Library can be especially useful in 3D/2D scientific visualization, virtual reality, augmented reality, visual simulation, data visualization, presentations, multimedia applications, special effects, 3d/2d games.

The new features of EON 6.0 offer increased visual quality, improved effects and better integration with Microsoft Windows Vista and Mozilla Firefox browsers

IRVINE, Calif. EON Reality Inc., the world's leading interactive 3D software provider, today unveiled the next-generation technology in authoring tools, enterprise 3D software and easy-to-use viewers. The new EON 6.0 includes enhanced versions of EON Studio, EON Professional, EON CAD and EON Raptor product solutions designed to create interactive, 3D-rich content for sales, marketing, training and support applications.

The new EON 6.0 builds upon EON Reality’s already-powerful and versatile productivity tools for commercial applications. The enhanced EON product suite allows users to import nearly 100 different 3D formats, optimize for real-time, add interaction and realism with Cg shaders, and publish them to the Web with an enhanced Web viewer.

A stereoscopy.com article reports TDVision Systems unveils TDVCodec, the worlds first 2D and MPEG compatible stereoscopic format that maintains 2D and MPEG compatibility with legacy systems at the 2008 National Association of Broadcasters show (NAB) in Las Vegas, NV. From the article: "Video streams encoded in TDVCodec format are viewable in all existing 2D set top boxes, DVD/Blu-ray(TM) players and presented on 2D televisions with no loss in color, resolution or frame rate. The same digital video stream can also be reproduced using TDVReady devices and PCs with TDVision's Dejaview software and visualized in true 3D stereoscopic displays such as 3D Ready DLP televisions (Samsung(TM) & Mitsubishi(TM)) or by using the portable and immersive TDVisor from TDVision.

A stereoscopy.com article reports 21st Century 3D announced a new addition to its line up of digital stereoscopic motion picture cameras. From the article: "At a time when 3D production is booming and major studios are calling for more live action 3D camera equipment, the 3DP2 arrives as a new live action 3D camera system that shoots high definition stereoscopic images directly to solid-state memory. The 3DP2 is 21st Century 3D's first system to be developed in the beam splitter configuration. Utilizing an optical beam splitting glass element, two cameras are mounted perpendicular to one another on either side of the glass. This arrangement allows for a variable interocular spacing, ranging from 0" – 4". The operator can dynamically adjust the 3DP2's depth settings during a shot to vary the intensity of the 3D effect.

This ScienceDaily article reports Stanford electronics researchers are developing a multi-aperture image sensor (a camera with thousands of tiny lenses) for generating high precision depth maps. From the article: The camera you own has one main lens and produces a flat, two-dimensional photograph, whether you hold it in your hand or view it on your computer screen. On the other hand, a camera with two lenses (or two cameras placed apart from each other) can take more interesting 3-D photos.

But what if your digital camera saw the world through thousands of tiny lenses, each a miniature camera unto itself" You'd get a 2-D photo, but you'd also get something potentially more valuable: an electronic "depth map" containing the distance from the camera to every object in the picture, a kind of super 3-D.

Educators to experience first-hand how 3D technology is revolutionizing learning

IRVINE, Calif. – The Interactive Digital Center (IDC) Consortium, a collaboration formed by EON Reality, NVIDIA, Hewlett-Packard, Christie Digital and Microsoft to promote the advancement of interactive 3D (i3D) visualization solutions for simulation-based learning and workforce development, announces its inaugural i3D Symposium. This first-of-its kind event, to be held in Florence, S.C., April 10-11, 2008, will provide college and university educators an opportunity to experience first-hand how 3D technology is revolutionizing learning.

Educators attending the Symposium will hear from global leaders about how 3D technologies truly can change the way learning takes place, see the latest i3D technologies in action and experience for themselves how today’s learner becomes immersed in the learning environment.

This Physorg article reports DreamWorks Animation SKG chief executive Jeffrey Katzenberg promised a "new era" in moviegoing, as Hollywood studios prepared a huge slate of 3-D movies for theaters that are increasingly going digital. From the article: " "It is nothing less than the greatest innovation that has happened for all of us in the movie business since the advent of color 70 years ago," Katzenberg said in an address at ShoWest, a conference in Las Vegas where studios unveil clips and other details about upcoming movie lineups.

"Now it's our chance to deliver something that is far superior than anything that can be done in the home," he said.

Katzenberg then showed off a 3-D clip of his studio's March 2009 release "Monsters vs. Aliens," in which the U.S. military unleashes a barrage on an alien space ship as the president fires a few rounds from a handgun, shouting "I'm a brave president!"