The technology for making and watching 3D film has come a long, long way since Sir Charles Wheatstone invented stereoscopy in 1838 and the first 3D movie was released in 1922.
Andy Stead looks at some of the latest developments, including the 2010 FIFA World Cup 3D soccer experience and a camera with two lenses that’s now being used in Gauteng.
Three dimensional imaging is the way we see in natural conditions, but most of the visuals we see on film, paintings and television are two dimensional.
Nonetheless, it has been possible to view 3D images – or stereoscopy – for many years. Stereoscopy is the enhancement of the illusion of depth in a photograph, movie, or other two-dimensional image by presenting a slightly different image to each eye, and thereby adding the first of these cues (stereopsis) as well.
Many 3D displays use this method to convey images. Stereoscopy was first invented by Sir Charles Wheatstone in 1838. It is used in photogrammetry and also for entertainment through the production of stereograms. Stereoscopy is useful in viewing images rendered from large multidimensional data sets such as are produced by experimental data.
Traditional stereoscopic photography consists of creating a 3D illusion starting from a pair of 2D images. The easiest way to enhance depth perception in the brain is to provide the eyes of the viewer with two different images, representing two perspectives of the same object, with a minor deviation exactly equal to the perspectives that both eyes naturally receive in binocular vision.
If eyestrain and distortion are to be avoided, each of the two 2D images preferably should be presented to each eye of the viewer so that any object at infinite distance seen by the viewer should be perceived by that eye while it is oriented straight ahead, the viewer’s eyes being neither crossed nor diverging. When the picture contains no object at infinite distance, such as a horizon or a cloud, the pictures should be spaced correspondingly closer together.
The practice of viewing transparencies in stereo via a viewer dates back at least as early as 1931, when Tru-Vue began to market filmstrips that were fed through a handheld device made from Bakelite.
In the 1940s, a modified and miniaturised variation of this technology was introduced as the View-Master. Pairs of stereo views are printed on translucent film which is then mounted around the edge of a cardboard disk, images of each pair being diametrically opposite. A lever is used to move the disk so as to present the next image pair. A series of seven views can thus be seen on each card when it was inserted into the View-Master viewer.
These viewers were available in many forms both non-lighted and self-lighted and may still be found today. One type of material presented is children’s fairy tale story scenes or brief stories using popular cartoon characters. These use photographs of three dimensional model sets and characters. Another type of material is a series of scenic views associated with some tourist destination, typically sold at gift shops located at the attraction.
Of course we are talking still frames here, so what was the first real 3D movie? The answer is not a simple as there are some differences of opinion. “The Power of Love”, which premiered in September of 1922, has the honour, but this film is considered lost so the short films called “Movies of the Future” from December of 1922 are considered the first.
It could however be argued that the recently released “Avatar” was the first movie to really bring home to viewers the power and wonder of 3D, and of course South Africa’s very own 2010 Fifa World Cup which gave many viewers their first glimpse of 3D soccer on television must also rank in the history books of 3D development.
During the World Cup period, in Gauteng’s Mandela Square at the Sandton City shopping mall, Sony PCL (the PCL standing for Photo-Chemical Laboratory) brought out 6.5 metric tons of equipment from Japan – including the actual enclosure used on the square to create a remarkable television viewing theatre.
They also brought out 10 revolutionary 3D cameras which were used to shoot 25 of the games around the country. The theatre’s 3D screen, measuring over nine metres, and was an LED screen with a polarisation film over it. Non-active polarised glasses were used for viewing.
The cameras were unique. They were basically two Sony 950 HD cams hotwired in a special mount – one camera in the conventional horizontal plane, and the other coming in at right angles from the top. Multiple adjustments were available – parallax, convergence – the works.
The two outputs (corresponding to the left and right eye) were then processed and recorded onto Sony’s highest form of portable field recorder which records left and right signals onto one HDSR tape thereby creating the 3D image. The development here is massive and somewhat in the prototype stage, but the results were truly incredible, and had the audience enthralled. There were several shows a day, free to the public, who were able to see edited highlights of previous day’s games, music videos featuring the likes of Shakira and some dramatic 3D footage from the Tokyo aquarium.
The technology required to enable the viewer at home to sit in the lounge and watch live 3D television is still in development, but there is little doubt that this will become commonplace in South Africa in the not-too-distant future. Already television commercials have been made locally for DSTV in full 3D and will be viewed together with 3D movies in cinema theatres.
Various animated 3D movies and shorts have also been made, and under production right now in Johannesburg is a 3D version of the ever-popular “Jock of the Bushveld”, a full-length animated version of the story in stereoscopic 3D. A recent preview of this production at Ster Kinekor in Sandton had audiences on the edge of their seats, marvelling at the reality of the 3D imaging.
Also recently on demonstration in Johannesburg was a prototype Panasonic 3D video camera. This camera was introduced at the NAB exhibition in 2010 and is the integrated AG-3DA1 full 3D professional AVCCAM that records onto SD card media. The AG-3DA1 is aimed at revolutionising 3D production by giving professional videographers a more affordable, flexible, reliable and easier to use tool for capturing 3D imaging as well as providing a training tool for educators.
Unlike some of the available professional 3D cameras – generally two cameras mounted on a complex rig that require accurate setup and alignment – the Panasonic is all in one, and looks very much like a conventional video camera – the only difference being that it has a twin lens mounted on the front.
Local Johannesburg-based filmmaker Peter Lamberti, well known for his wildlife expertise, had the opportunity recently of taking this 3D camera into the field to determine how it would shape up. Lamberti has a contract with Discovery to provide eight hours of 3D wildlife footage to the channel before the end of the year.
The Discovery 3D Channel is a joint partnership between Discovery Communications, Sony, and Imax and will be the first channel in the United States to air 24/7 3D TV programming.
The channel was announced on the same day as the ESPN 3D channel, but ESPN 3D will not be 24/7 3D TV to start with as it will go off the air when there isn’t live 3D sports content to broadcast.
The announcement of both channels came the day before Sony, Toshiba, Panasonic, Samsung, LG, and Vizio all announced their first ever commercially available 3D televisions. The week the Discovery 3D Channel was announced can be looked at as the launching point for the 3D TV revolution as the first commercially available 3D televisions, 3D channels, 3D Blu-Ray players, and 3D camcorders were all announced.
Lamberti took the Panasonic camera to the aquarium in Durban and was impressed with the results.
“A lot of the 3D effect was stunning” he says, “and overall this Panasonic 3D camera makes 3D accessible to anybody as it very easy to use. Its two limitations are that it only records on AVCHD, which is only 24 megabits per second, and the other, which is understandable, is that since it’s a fixed-lens unit it has a sweet zone where it really works well, and you get your best pictures between three and six metres.
“It gives you more – but that’s the sweet zone where the 3D works really well. So all you have to do is make sure that you place your subject within this parameter. 3D is a cumbersome medium and that’s the beauty of the Panasonic rig – it makes it so easy to use.”
3D television screens are also undergoing serious development. LG recently announced their LX9500 full LED 3D television. It uses an innovative backlit structure to deliver content. Viewing is by active shutter glasses which are designed for comfort and extended wear. Active glasses which are linked to the 3D screen via infrared would appear to be the standard for 3D television viewing, where as passive polarised glasses are used in cinemas.
New technology is inevitably expensive as massive research and development is required to bring this technology to the consumer. Right now if you wanted to have a 3D camera and television in you home for your home movies you would not receive much change from R250 000 (US$35 000). But, as we all know, once mass production of an item starts, prices reduce considerably, and without doubt the 3D home video camera and associated 3D television screen will be commonplace before too long.
And how long before we are able to view out favourite television programme in resplendent 3D? A while longer, it would seem, but with the good relationship between our local DSTV and the Discovery channel maybe sooner than we all think.