Not many of us have thought of the possible prospects of owning a web camera that records videos in 3D could be like. This little bug eyed one can actually do it. It is made up of two cameras that record videos at slightly different angles. These are later combined to create a stereoscopic image. As you would know, 3D movies require users to wear certain glasses that are either cyan or red color. These are provided with the package. The camera has an in-built USB cable. The sad part is that the two sub-cameras (if I may call it that), capture videos at just 15 fps. It also provides with picture-in-picture videos and side-by-side videos. So it’s as good as having two web cameras in one. The ‘Only’ 3D web camera comes with 5 pairs of glasses and costs about $100. The best part is you can now shoot your own 3D film at home.
Researchers at USC have taken another step towards that holiest of sci-fi dreams: the 3Dholographic display. Using a spinning mirror covered with a “holographic diffuser,” a special DVI implementation, and a high-speed projector, the team’s device can project a three-dimensional image that can be viewed from 360 degrees — regardless of the viewer’s height and distance.
The holographic display system uses a standard programmable graphics’ card to render over 5,000 images of interactive 3D graphics per second, projecting images to 360°-degrees with 1.25° degree separation and up to 20 updates per second. The images are projected onto a spinning anisotropic reflector and a motion-tracked vertical parallax is used to support 3D movements with perspective-correct geometric cues. The USC team demonstrated this technique with interactive raster graphics using a tracking system to measure the viewer’s height and distance from the projected images.
According to the scientists, their device incorporates several technical innovations including the development of new techniques for acquiring and rendering interactive 3D OpenGL graphics and photographed light fields. In this project, the scientists concentrated on the advanced mathematical calculations needed in order to generate 3D images at a correct perspective for viewers of different heights and at different distances from the display. The team said that one of the main challenges they had faced was achieving real-time updates using the projector at very high frame rates (many images projected per second) while still using standard DVI graphics’ hardware.
The researchers say that they expect this approach to be viable at the consumer level in just a few years time. “Our hope is that our contributions will enable other researchers in computer graphics and immersive displays to develop new 3D technology and content. 3D displays such as ours should become increasingly practical in the years to come as the core graphics and image projection components decrease in price and increase in capability”.
