3D-TV
Multimedia Reporter, July 1993
The creators of virtual worlds will be
chasing the sensory perfections of the real world for generations
to move. That robot-slave astronaut you're controlling may
squeeze his hand to pick up a rock when you do, and you
might even feel it in your hand. But how heavy is it really?
And what does is smell like on Mars anyway? With today's
technology it's hard enough just to tell how far you have
to bend over to pick up the rock. The 2D images sent back
to earth lack depth.
Enter San Rafael based Stereographics
with a paired-twin set of video cameras transmitting a stereo
image. Put on some 3D glasses and suddenly it's a lot clearer.
You can see how far away the ground is. You can tell how
high are the hills and how deep the valleys. Your brain
is processing the 3D stereo images the same way it does
images from your own two offset eyes.
Unfortunately our post here on Earth
is a few thousand miles away from our Mars Rover, so when
you turn the steering wheel it takes the vehicle up to 40
minutes to respond. Any kind of meaningful exchange is a
bit slow. A better solution, at least in action mode, may
be for our robotic explorers to send out a computer generated,
fully interactive simulation of the terrain they traverse.
Back on earth an operator wearing Stereograhics
glasses can pilot a simulated vehicle whose actions and
responses mirror the actual vehicle on Mars. The software
is doing real time modeling of the digitized images the
vehicle senses are within its vicinity. The time lag is
still there, but the operator can now perform a whole series
of moves in one setting. The glasses give operator an image
with depth as well as width and breadth.
But space is not the only frontier.
You probably won't see 3D TV on your
own set anytime soon, although it's technically feasible.
But you might see it at a trade show, as part of a marketing
kiosk, or in an arcade game at an amusement park. I first
saw it at Mecker's Virtual Reality conference in San Jose,
where I put on a VR headset and milled a bolt in a virtual
lathe, watching sparks fly as I cut into the "metal."
3D technology has proven to be very
useful in helping biologists visualize complex molecules,
and in training surgeons and fighter pilots. It promises
to eventually help doctors operate without cutting their
patients open.
3D technology is also helping scientists
interpret terrain data received from Venus. It will soon
be used to help explore conditions under the Ice in the
Antarctic. Tests performed at NASA with the Mars Rover will
help to decide if 3D technology will be on board an International
expedition to Mars in 1996.
Stereo pairs
All 3D images start with stereo pairs,
two slightly offset images produced by a matched set of
cameras or created by computer software in an animation
or paint program. When you're seeing a stereo-pair though
the glasses your brain processes the information just as
it does real objects seen through your eyes.
To record stereo video you will need
two paired cameras and two boxes (available from Stereographics)
to process images for recording/viewing and playback. Stereo
Video also requires a monitor with 120 lines of video (which
most new ones have) and a VCR or digital storage medium
like a large hard disk or an optical cartridge.
Computer-generated stereo graphics require
a stereo ready computer and monitor along with stereo ready
software for modeling, painting, and animation. So far that
usually still means a workstation. You can create stereo
images on a high end PC or Mac if it's stereo ready, and
many models are. (You can also buy a plug in module from
Stereographics that will make your Mac or PC stereo ready.)
But software that is stereo ready is still very limited.
There is not yet any way to use the
technology with Quicktime and other digital video applications
where video and graphics readily mix. CrystalEyes puts out
an NTSC signal, and it's not a problem from a technical
standpoint, says Inventor Lenny Lipton, but there's no off-the-shelf
solution yet. A third party program is now in development.
The glasses you wear to see in 3D are
not those funny little red and blue plastic jobs they gave
you at that movie where the natives threw spears at you.
CrystalEyes is a stylish, high-tech set of shades with polarized
lenses and built-in chips that bring you television images
you can reach out and touch. Video and animation stretches
the screen without flickers or ghosts. A VR version in a
head tracker follows the action when you turn your head
A projection system, also developed
by Stereographics, will provide a room full of viewers the
same 3D image, and it works with much simpler glasses you
can buy for $1 apiece in quantities).
20/20 on 3D
I first met Lenny Lipton, now CEO at
Stereographics at a small party in Blackpoint about 1984,
where he told me he was developing a 3D television system.
It sounded interesting, but useless to me then. Fortunately
Lipton's vision was not so limited. Last year the company
signed some multi-million dollar deals, and he's poised
to capitalize on dozens if not hundreds of new applications
in years to come.
"Stereo 3D imaging will be a 100 million
dollar a year industry in a few years, just from medical
imaging, scientific visualization, and close-circuit video
conferencing, " Litton asserts. "Eventually there will be
a mass market worth a billion dollars, but that will require
the cooperation of Sony, and the CAD people."
" It will be easier to install than
HDTV," he adds.
Litton has been working with stereo
images since his college days, and concentrating on developing
the technology for 3D TV for over a decade. Then he hadn't
even thought about today's most successful applications
such as scientific visualization and parallel electronic
stereoscopy.
"I always loved stereo images," he explains.
"I think they are beautiful. I was always interested in
producing a stereoscopic TV system and finally I succeeded.
"I had to be a combination of scientist
and artist to make it work. In college I studied physics,
but I was also a filmmaker. I was strong on physical sciences,
but also an artist. My main concern was to make objects
that were not only beautiful to look at, but useful, like
a light bulb or paper clip.
Multimedia Applications
Dozens
of companies are already using 3D in trade show applications
on a regular basis, but for the most part they are companies
doing medical research, molecular modeling, and scientific
visualization who use the technology on a regular basis
and are demonstrating the results. They already have both
the hardware and software and can justify the cost.
Just about any multimedia application
could incorporate three dimensional images, and many probably
will eventually. But not immediately.
Hardware cost is the biggest limiting
factor. For most applications you still need a Silicon Graphics
system or other workstation, if only to find stereo-ready
software. That is changing, but not very quickly. You need
the glasses (around $3500), and for video applications you
must also add the cost of the cameras and video processing
units. (About $20.000).
Right now off the shelf stereo-ready
software is pretty much limited to Molecular Modeling and
Simulation packages and CAD programs. and the market for
PC versions is still in its infancy.
But opportunities abound in an emerging
market, along with the challenges. New markets will develop
for stereo ready software, and applications from arcade
games and scientific visualization through interactive television
and virtual reality.
The line between PC's and Workstations
is breaking down, points out Marketing Director Will Cochran,
RISC-powered PC's are marching into territory previously
controlled by the Workstation crowd. And workstation manufacturers
are pushing down their low end and competing headon with
the new Macs and PC's.
"The workstation/PC distinction is no
longer meaningful, ".adds Bob Akka, currently something,.
"It will soon depend on what operating system you want to
run. Windows NT is as good as Unix."
Akka is starting a new company called
Chasm-Lake Graphics to develop more applications using 3D
technology. He'll be developing some general purpose tools,
and looking for developers with new applications.
Cochran. says Stereographics is actively
courting developers, and will bring bonafide developers
inside to work with them for a week. The company is also
forming a users group.