With the recent trickle of big 3D feature film releases looking set to become the proverbial torrent, Tim Butler, Associate Director at legendary UK screen advertising company Pearl & Dean, examines the exciting implications for the world of entertainment – in UK cinemas and beyond

‘The buzzword in cinema for 2009 has to be 3D. After successful forays in recent years with The Polar Express (2004), Chicken Little (2005), U2 3D, Bolt (both 2008) and 2008’s Journey to the Center of the Earth (which was created specifically as a 3D feature, rather than in 2D and altered for the screen), a real and growing thirst for 3D entertainment now exists within the UK cinema-going public.

‘2009 is shaping up to be a bumper year for 3D, with over 20 major releases scheduled. Films range from the recently launched animated Monsters vs Aliens, which was screened in 3D in over a quarter of cinemas nationwide on release, to James Cameron’s hotly anticipated return with the sci-fi opus Avatar, which hits the screens towards the end of the year. Already this year we have seen My Bloody Valentine, and more recently Coraline, which have had astounding box office results, clearly as a direct result of this new and improved format.’

Major investment
‘It’s no longer about ‘gimmicks’: real 3D filmmakers are interested in creating something that pulls the viewer into the experience, not just including a few ‘jump out of the screen’ moments. This resurgence of a film technology, which had long been consigned to the bargain bucket, allied to B-movies and 70s horror sequels, is undoubtedly down to considerable investment in associated technology by cinema chains seeking to develop and deepen the cinema experience.

‘Each of the major cinema chains in the UK, Odeon, Vue and Cineworld, is committed to introducing 3D capacity in their cinemas across the UK throughout 2009. By so doing, they are making the medium much more accessible to much wider audiences. UK exhibitors not investing in this innovation will simply miss out on the box-office opportunity that the new format provides.

‘This investment – in conjunction with major film producers like Disney and Warner Bros producing 3D versions of Toy Story, Bolt and certain scenes in the Harry Potter series, respectively – has also assisted in bringing modern 3D cinema to the masses. Equally, as Jeffrey Katzenberg, president of DreamWorks Animation, recently noted in an interview with CNN, 3D films cannot be illegally recorded with a camera from the stalls – undoubtedly a major attraction for an industry increasingly frustrated by film piracy.’

New 3D experiences
‘The first foray into 3D cinema advertising came in 2007, with an ad produced specially to promote the Red Bull Air Race. The three-dimensional element allowed the brand to convey the excitement, adrenaline and dynamism of the live London air race by truly bringing the experience to life on the big screen for cinema audiences. The commercial appeared on 764 cinema screens across London and the South East. Cinemagoers collected branded glasses before entering the auditorium, and were entertained by a two-minute introduction to air racing before the ad began, taking the viewer though a thrilling, multi-dimensional ride.

‘As the film industry responds to increased demand for 3D experiences in cinema by creating ever more varied and accessible product, the medium is likely to grow and spill over across differing types of cinematic experience. For example, many cinema chains, including Vue, have recently begun screening live events, such as concerts, allowing audiences to share the experience of a music event from the comfort of their local multiplex. Seeing the Genesis concert beamed live from Dusseldorf was a great experience for the viewers, but imagine how it would look in 3D, as if cinemagoers were watching the event from the best front row seat in the house. Vue has even held a live comedy event where cinema audiences could heckle a comedian performing in Liverpool from the relative safety of their cinema seats!

‘This kind of live event can be streamed across multiple channels at the same time. A recent test was performed of a live 3D concert performance by British band Keane. The event was filmed at Abbey Road studios and streamed live to a cinema screen at Vue West End, as well as to a Sky HD channel and to the internet simultaneously. Fans of the band who wanted to watch from their computer screens had been given directions on how to make a set of homemade 3D glasses, so they could experience the full impact of the performance.

‘This multichannel test of the technology worked perfectly across the different channels and has underlined the potential for 3D to work equally well through the medium of the web. At a time when the ‘multimedia schedule’ is key, 3D not only creates an opportunity to connect across multiple touch points by successfully combining cinema, TV and online, but it also does so in a hugely impactful and memorable way.

‘As audiences register their approval of increased 3D output, and this translates into tangible box office figures, it is likely that the 3D cinema experience will develop further, as more brands look to take advantage of the extra dimension it can add to advertising and the experience as a whole.

‘Looking ahead, it doesn’t seem beyond the realms of possibility that film premieres screened online in 3D and/or synchronised performances in 3D will soon be putting film and music fans right at the centre of the action – even from across the other side of the globe.’

Humans experience the real world in 3D – so it’s no surprise to learn from the experts that people prefer their virtual experiences in 3D, too. Here, Gus Desbarats, Chairman of trailblazing product and interaction design company TheAlloy, ponders the latest developments in virtual 3D interfaces, and looks ahead to the challenges of the future

Desbarats: ‘Something that uses 3D to enhance a proposition in an intuitive way can add color and richness to an otherwise poor experience.’

‘Human beings are DNA programmed and educated to interact with a three-dimensional environment. 3D sensitivity plays a key part in driving subconscious decisions on issues like priority, danger and discovery. It governs our perspective on a situation. If we were not programmed this way, we would see many more car crashes and be unable to walk through a railway station without bumping into almost every person we encounter.

‘This natural warmth for the 3D environment can be both an advantage and a burden. Through 3D simulation we are able to experience worlds that we would have no chance of encountering for real. Much of our understanding of molecular biology, for example, comes from our ability to recreate virtual 3D environments that are big enough for us to fully understand and inhabit.

‘The counter to this is that the 3D effect can be almost too compelling. Studies in Asia have already shown that 3D gaming is proving to be highly addictive, and the more immersive the experience, the harder some users find it to segregate the virtual from the real world.

‘This highlights a challenge in creating virtual 3D interfaces, one that the designers at TheAlloy face every day when designing product and interfaces in 3D: they need to create an immersive experience that is natural to humans. Anything counter-intuitive or poorly applied will be seen as a gimmick or irritating. Something that uses 3D to enhance a proposition in an intuitive way can add color and richness to an otherwise poor experience. Just as 3D movies are now creating immersive experiences people can enjoy throughout (rather than using the technology simply to have a villain burst out of the screen for shock effect), 3D interfaces are less about graphics and more about creating natural and intuitive experiences.

‘Given the potential power of combining virtual worlds and our 3D instincts to deliver a richer environment, it is surprising that, for much of the early part of the 21st Century, our desktop experience has been dominated by a broadly flat 2D screen. We can expect this to change quickly. The IT agenda, once dominated by commerce’s demand for low-cost computing, is now being driven by the consumer’s desire for phones, games consoles, cameras and multimedia devices. Consumers are demanding a richer and more immersive user experience: iTunes ‘Cover Flow’ is an early example.

‘Digital content that can be browsed and discovered is a natural environment for 3D interfaces, since it enables humans to replicate the experience of browsing in a shop or a library. In this sense, home servers and IPTV will be natural homes for 3D interfaces.

‘Users value browsing, and discovering and selecting digital content – just as they can in the real world. The creation of rich virtual bookshelves, record stores or video libraries, made up of both users’ own content and content available to buy, is likely to form the cornerstone of future digital entertainment hubs in the home. The richer the experience, the more likely the user is to purchase. TheAlloy recently developed a concept called ‘Woosh!’ to add exactly this kind of immersive richness to an IPTV service.

‘In a similar vein, websites will also display more 3D characteristics. I expect that online book, music and DVD stores will try to create 3D interfaces online, to add a level of richness to what is otherwise a rather dull, list-based, approach to content discovery. We recently reworked TheAlloy’s website to include a 3D feel to it: depth is added by the way the user interacts with the content therein.

‘The real potential for 3D interfaces lies one or two steps down the technology path with the development of augmented reality, and the ability to use gestures to interact with a virtual world. Augmented reality is currently used by fighter pilots, and works by overlaying synthetic images over the natural landscape, providing a richer environment without distracting from the real picture. Obvious applications are within vehicles, to display navigation and warning information directly onto the windscreen.

‘Once this is combined with gesture-based controls (a great example is the Nintendo Wii, where real movement is replicated on the screen), people have the capability to view a real landscape, enhanced with relevant virtual information, controllable by the user simply and effectively with the flick of a hand. Hand picking music in a virtual library, physically poking a friend’s avatar in Facebook, throwing old files on a PC into the recycle bin by hand; just a few examples of future 3D interfaces.

‘Critical to success, though, will be providing interfaces that people love to use. As always, the technology is not the primary challenge: that lies is applying it in such a user-friendly, intuitive way to add richness and value.’

Researchers working for 3M have announced that they have perfected the technology to produce a 3D mobile phone

Autostereoscopic technology offers 3D that can ‘escape the screen’.

The system, which uses autostereoscopic display technology, will be the first time that 3D technology has made it to a mobile for commercial use, and is capable of full resolution, according to Bill Bryan, technical manager of 3M’s St Paul, Minnesota-based Display and Graphics lab.

‘We expect to see a consumer electronic device by autumn in Asia, and you will see more products in the next 9-18 months,’ said Bryan, adding that 3M expected the development to drive a new market in 3D content to mobile devices.

‘This is going to be a new area for filmmakers and other content providers. Disney is now shooting all of its new films in 3D. We are already seeing 3D in the living room and the gaming room: the next differentiator in the handset market will be 3D.’

The autostereoscopic technology that 3M has opted for with its 3D screen sits between the light guides and LCD screens that are used in conventional mobile phone displays.

For those interested in the minutiae of the process, the screen is made from a double-sided micro-replicated film, which has microstructures on the bottom and the top. A directional back-light system is then used to generate the 3D effect.

Using a time delay, LED lights load an image onto the left side of the screen and then five milliseconds later, do the same for the right side of the screen. The whole process runs at 120Hz, so it does not generate screen flicker.

However, running the screen at such a rate could be a drawback according to some 3D experts, who see it as a limitation, because the screen uses four times more energy than the ones in use today.

The 3D screen can only be viewed when the screen is held at a particular angle, generating what is known as a ‘sweet spot’ – something that did not annoy those using the device, maintained Bryan.

‘The thing that we have noticed is that because mobile phones are handheld, people tend to naturally move them around until they have got it in the right place.’

The result, according to 3M, is 3D that can escape the screen it is generated on.

Blog: Kresten Thomsen

‘What you don’t see is all the 3D that looks like real photographs.’

When the word ‘3D’ appears in the headlines it is, almost    invariably, supported by crappy images that look like crappy imitations of real life. We have all seen these lame ducks, either in the news or in computer games.

But what if you could take photographic images without the use of a photographer – or even a product? What if you could use 3D technology to produce high-end pictures of homes, furniture or materials without having to produce each product or material? Imagine eliminating the use of prototypes because you can see the end product in real life as you design it (it would certainly reduce the greenhouse effect), and then use the same technology to test user-friendliness, determine inventory and stock, and minimize losses with products that your focus group doesn’t approve of anyway.

The idea of taking a proposed product, testing it against the market, redesigning according to calculated focus group demands, and producing marketing material without an actual production run makes incredible sense – not only from a green tech point of view, but also in terms of hard cash. To reduce the cost of photography by 50 per cent is, in itself, highly relevant; but also to adjust your inventory according to demand is almost invaluable for anyone in the manufacturing business.

And then when you saw the word ‘3D’ again, you would still see all those crappy images. But what you don’t see is all the 3D that looks like real photographs – because you just don’t notice them. That’s when 3D technology becomes relevant from a user’s perspective, a designer’s perspective, and from the finance director’s perspective.

3D photorealism isn’t about making things look like real life; 3D photorealism is about making 3D a part of everyday life without anyone noticing. That’s when you’re really talking photorealism – when it isn’t a ‘Second Life’, but already part of your real life…

Messaging that incorporates 3D as a means to demonstrate a complex problem or share views of properties and infrastructure projects is about to become standard internet practice, says industry insider Harry Vitelli

One of the features of United Lane’s pioneering Go CreateTM technology, 3D internet emailing has already been successfully developed for use with high-end civil engineering systems, according to Harry Vitelli, VP of platform product management for Bentley Systems MicroStation and ProjectWise 3D products. (is this still Harry’s position?)

‘We have been producing 3D systems for the infrastructure marketplace for a number of years, and we have found that it was relatively easy to send that information in a PDF format,’ he says.

Bentley’s software is used in large-scale building projects, such as bridges, roads, sports stadiums and power-plants, projects that range in cost from thousands to millions of dollars.

Given the complexity of the models the company was building, Bentley devised a system that, by dragging a mouse over a particular part of a 3D model, could pull out the 3D co-ordinates and store them so that they could be sent out as a snapshot or fragment of the parent model.

By working with Adobe, Bentley has perfected this method of working so that its customers can now send out 3D PDFs to contractors and other parties involved in a large project.

Says Vitelli: ‘We work on visualization during conception, design, construction and operation. We are there for the entire life cycle of a building to make sure that an asset is sustainable and cost-effective. 3D PDFs are instrumental in that, because you can send out a picture that shows the problem you are having and you can then discuss it.’

The company has found that this increased capacity for problem sharing has slashed production costs, and has led to improved efficiencies by allowing enhanced teleconferencing. ‘One of the great advantages of 3D is that it allows far better visualization. It’s the difference between a video and a photograph; it’s the reason why 3D is revolutionizing the civil engineering arena. There are now far more projects being carried out in 3D than in 2D and that trend is going to continue.’

And the growing demand for 3D is not restricted to the construction industry. Vitelli says Bentley is now seeing an increased demand for 3D by the public so that projects can be demonstrated and progress tracked.

‘When we do a bridge retrofit we are finding that we are being asked to make models available to the public so that they can get an idea of how a project will be done.’

For more information on Go CreateTM technology, please visit www.Open3dHouse.com

US educational software giant Knowledge Adventure is proving 3D technology’s worth as an aid to learning with its theme park website for children and the development of virtual classrooms

Children learn in an interactive fantasy land

‘The feedback that we were getting from the children using our games showed that the demand now is for 3D, which is why we have focussed on it,’ says David Lord, CEO of the California-based company, which is the largest supplier of educational CDs in the US.

‘Worlds that are 3D are more fun, and that is a key to learning. We had a series of products that used 3D, but they were not really online. That became a key goal for us.’

Knowledge Adventure’s exploration of 3D as a key component of education and training is also echoed by leading futurologist Daniel Burrus , who sees e-learning as one of the main areas for the adoption of 3D in the future.

Lord picks up on that point: ‘The great advantage of 3D is that you explore in a very natural way. We have developed a theme park-based website, with a one-off entrance fee, that children can walk around in 3D, and into that we put our educational games.

‘You could call those games the main attractions. We surround them with other things that the children can do, which, I suppose, you could call sideshows.’

The aim is to draw children to those main attractions, as they represent ‘deep silos’ of content that the children will be immersed in for from three to six months.

According to Lord, it is a world that would not be possible without 3D.

‘3D gives us a robust platform to work with,’ he says. ‘If we tried to do this in 2D, then we would have to work with what are, essentially, a series of pictures. In 3D, you just program an avatar to move through worlds that you have already built.’

For Knowledge Adventure, though, the real success will arrive in the next few weeks, when the company will be able to open up its platform for its users to develop their own content, and start to build the classrooms from which shared learning will develop.

It’s a milestone that could prove crucial to the development of online learning, as 3D virtual classrooms can then be used as a major educational tool – not just for people in developed cities but right across the world.

‘You could see virtual classrooms being used to support remote communities anywhere, from a Scottish island to a village in Africa,’ says Lord, who also maintains that this educational use of 3D and the demand for 3D systems signals an important change for the internet.

‘The fact that children are demanding 3D, and like using it, means that it will accelerate the demand for the development of 3D right across the web,’ he says. ‘It’s the reason that Microsoft is putting a ton of money into this.

‘Once the opportunity existed, then it became a good business opportunity – and Microsoft is only interested in very big business opportunities.’

3D software and its associated hardware systems will be one of the key emerging technologies over the next two years, says one of the world’s leading technology forecasters

Burrus: 'The day of a fairly complete digital world is not far off.'

According to Daniel Burrus, founder and CEO of Burrus Research, two different applications of 3D technology are set to change the way we see the world.

‘The two different variations are, firstly, interspatial 3D of the sort that you can already see in Xbox and PlayStation, where you go into a 3D world,’ says the futurologist, whose research and consulting firm monitors global advancements in technology-driven trends.

‘This is going to be very big because you don’t need new equipment to view it; you will be able to access it via your home PC.

‘The other type involves 3D screens that you will wear augmented glasses to view, and the development of screens that you won’t need glasses to view. This area won’t grow as fast [initially] as the interspatial area.’

With interest in 3D now developing at an incredible pace, Burrus predicts that we will shortly see the development of 3D web browsers which will interface with other web sites, so that someone browsing the web will be able to interact with the products developed by a company.

‘What that means is that you will be able to visit an auto dealer, for example, and walk around looking at the cars, opening the doors, getting inside and playing with the controls.’

It’s a vision that was predicted around 10 years ago during the internet boom, when companies talked of a wonderful hi-tech future that was just around the corner. The difference now, according to Burrus, is that the timing is right.

‘We are at a stage now where users are only going to be limited by their own imagination,’ he says. ‘Processing is getting so powerful and readily available – so is bandwidth – and storage is also much less expensive. The timing is now.’

The fact that the timing is now has not been lost on the technology world’s biggest players.

‘When you combine what is being done on these new digital 3D worlds with the digital world being built by Microsoft and Google – and, believe me, they know this world is coming – then you realize that the day of a fairly complete digital world is not far off,’ says Burrus, adding that techniques for extracting 3D information from video have already been developed.

It’s a 3D world in which much of the work has already been done. With many modern buildings now being designed using CAD/CAM programs, many of the measurements have been digitally recorded, some are already in 3D.

It is a process that also involves many old buildings, with many museums and period houses already rendered into 3D by the architects entrusted with looking after them. In Dresden, Germany, researchers have even developed a way of recreating the streets fire-bombed out of existence during World War Two, by turning old photographs into 3D images and then mapping views taken from the opposite ends of a street onto each other.

In the future, the amount of 3D worlds and vistas that are fixed on a particular geographic point will only be limited by the amount of information that has been created on a particular point or object. (not sure what this means). It’s an idea that creates a novel – for some, perhaps frightening – image of a world where every location has the potential to be a massive 3D encyclopedia, full of information, sounds, images and memories.

As Burrus states, it is a world that knows no boundaries. But he also counsels that the application of this technology must be well considered.

‘I think one of the things that people will quickly realize is that there will be a need to integrate 2D and 3D together, and that you should not use one where the other will do a better job.

‘You should always use the right tool for the job. Why read a novel from a CD? The best reading material to put on a computer is reference material.’