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Zecotec 100 views autostereoscopic display

Zecotek has utilized its world-class expertise in optics to develop a high-performance, auto stereoscopic, 3D/2D display that leverages a highly cost-effective proprietary architecture. Zecotek’s 3D display technology provides multiple viewers with true volumetric visualization – exhibiting depth and parallax, over a wide viewing angle – without resorting to special glasses or other user aides.

Zecotek’s 3D/2D Display provides a new level of user interface aimed at a wide range of applications:

  • No glasses or other special equipment required for viewing
  • No head tracking
  • Multi viewers, with each viewer experiencing different perspectives depending on position
  • Viewers will see a changing image when moving within the viewing angle
  • Same high resolution in 2D and 3D modes

Zecotek’s patent pending 3D/2D display fulfills these requirements and offer these additional benefits and features:

  • Extremely small angle between adjacent views resulting in absence of viewing discontinuity or perspective “gaps”
  • Display utilizes off-the-shelf components making it cost effective
  • Scalable design making it customizable depending on application requirements
  • Simultaneous display of 2D and 3D with no loss of details
  • Dynamic control of number of views, viewing angle, and colour depth

A 32-inch prototype display is being demonstrated at our Vancouver offices. The performance specifications demonstrated are:

PARAMETER PERFORMANCE
3D Image Resolution, pixels 1024×768
Number of perspectives 100
Screen size, inches 32
Viewing angle, degrees ~ 40
Number of colour channels 3 (RGB)

Zecotek’s breakthrough 3D/2D display will find extensive applications in many fields including:

  • Medical
  • Entertainment and gaming
  • Advertising
  • Graphics and design
  • Flight simulators and navigation
  • Geology and mapping
  • Military and defense
  • Real estate
  • Air-traffic control

These applications represent several distinct billion dollar markets.

To attend a demonstration of our 32” 3D/2D display, please contact info@zecotek.com

link to original post: http://www.zecotek.com/EN/overview/zds_overview/

McAdams On: Where 3D is Likely to Explode (interesting 3D graphic interface, not S3D)

Everyone knows the jury’s still out on 3DTV. Nielsen’s latest scrutiny into the realm yielded a sort of shrug. Folks can’t text in shutter glasses, at least until someone comes up with 2D/3D bifocals. Which they will on the march to glasses-free 3DTV. In the meantime, the mobile media community will come to own 3D.

It may at first blush seem counterintuitive that 3D would be desirable or even discernible on mini screens. Ordinary 2D video is having a hard enough time on cell phones. The PR clamor enveloping mobile video is mostly PR clamor.

Mobile video usage doesn’t touch TV viewing, which is nearly universal. It lags online viewing, done by about two-thirds of ’Net-connected households, according to Nielsen’s latest global consumption report. Around 11 percent tune into TV content on cell phones, which have had video ability nearly as long as computers.

In the U.S. alone, roughly 7 percent of cell phone subscribers use them to watch video. Yet the mobile platform holds the greatest potential for 3D because applications are not limited to video. The Astonishing Tribe of Sweden elegantly illustrates.

The Astonishing Tribe, aka TAT, specializes in mobile user interfaces. Developing UIs is a promising field in that mobile device types are booming, from 4G phones to tablet computers and iterations between. Also, device makers have dictated UIs since Atari released its first PC, and they’re not especially intuitive. The TAT folks approach UIs as users. They develop from the point of view of the rest of us.

This week, the Tribe published a white paper on integrating 3D presentation in 2D mobile UIs in a way that blows past today’s most common visual applications.

“Typically the palette of ‘3D techniques’ has been comprised visualizations of lightning, shadows, focus, depth, camera angles and similar,” the paper states. “We conceive that 3D is more than 3D graphics. We understand ‘3D’ in user interfaces as a paradigm where the appearance of the interface displays three-dimensional or real world qualities.”

TAT actualized its thesis with Horizon 2D-3D, a new UI that smoothly transitions between the formats. The elegance of Horizon integrated into a map program is immediately evident. A 45-second video demo shows a man walking through the Swedish city of Malmö, checking a map on his HTC phone.

As he changes the screen angle by raising the phone, the map morphs seamlessly from a 2D illustration to an actual 3D image of the city. Landmarks are identified on an touch-activated menu, the man brings up the location of a restaurant and walks on.

The application makes so much sense it seems destined for ubiquity. And Horizon 2D-3D isn’t limited to maps, but can be used with almost any application, including lists, gaming, searching, even switching between files.

“Avatar” and 3DTV may have launched the format wave, but the thinkers writing software are the ones whole will plumb its potential. Sometimes it takes an Astonishing Tribe, indeed.



link to original post: http://www.televisionbroadcast.com/blog/106588

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Specification for Naming VFX Image Sequences Released

ETC’s VFX Working Group has published a specification for best practices naming image sequences such as plates and comps. File naming is an essential tool for organizing the multitude of frames that are inputs and outputs from the VFX process. Prior to the publication of this specification, each organization had its own naming scheme, requiring custom processes for each partner, which often resulted in confusion and miscommunication.

The new ETC@USC specification focuses primarily on sequences of individual images. The initial use case was VFX plates, typically delivered as OpenEXR or DPX files. However, the team soon realized that the same naming conventions can apply to virtually any image sequence. Consequently, the specification was written to handle a wide array of assets and use cases.

To ensure all requirements are represented, the working group included over 2 dozen participants representing studios, VFX houses, tool creators, creatives and others.  The ETC@USC also worked closely with MovieLabs to ensure that the specification could be integrated as part of their 2030 Vision.

A key design criteria for this specification is compatibility with existing practices.  Chair of the VFX working group, Horst Sarubin of Universal Pictures, said: “Our studio is committed to being at the forefront of designing best industry practices to modernize and simplify workflows, and we believe this white paper succeeded in building a new foundation for tools to transfer files in the most efficient manner.”

This specification is compatible with other initiatives such as the Visual Effects Society (VES) Transfer Specifications. “We wanted to make it as seamless as possible for everyone to adopt this specification,” said working group co-chair and ETC@USC’s Erik Weaver. “To ensure all perspectives were represented we created a team of industry experts familiar with the handling of these materials and collaborated with a number of industry groups.”

“Collaboration between MovieLabs and important industry groups like the ETC is critical to implementing the 2030 Vision,” said Craig Seidel, SVP of MovieLabs. “This specification is a key step in defining the foundations for better software-defined workflows. We look forward to continued partnership with the ETC on implementing other critical elements of the 2030 Vision.”

The specification is available online for anyone to use.

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