(Phil Lelyveld comment: EON, XpanD, and TI are involved in 3D education trials in US school systems.)

EON Reality, the world’s leading interactive 3D software provider, announces EON Creator, a new 3D creation tool used to simplify the implementation of engaging Interactive Virtual Learning Environments (IVLE) for training and educational purposes.

The software in its beta phase provides a robust set of automatic tools to help users build their own customized virtual environment in minutes. It allows the user to search from thousands of 3D objects, configure, scale and combine objects in a totally interactive 3D world. Basic manipulations can be performed and interactions created in EON Studio or EON Professional will be carried over to the new interface.

EON Creator allows you to do basic manipulations and if you have created the object in EON Studio or EON Professional, it will carry over those interactions. EON Creator is a tool that allows users to build engaging interactive learning simulations for training and education purposes.

• Select, configure and scale your 3D object (search from thousands of 3D objects).
• Position the object within the space or select many different objects and combine them in the environment.
• Preview the environment and lock the room to a specific location in case you’ve got multiple rooms.

The Interactive Virtual Learning Environment (IVLE) can then be displayed on a laptop or in a fully-immersive environment such as the EON Icube for a user equipped with a featherweight headset.

“EON Creator is a standalone tool that is used to create EON 3D scenes for use primarily within EON Coliseum, the interactive multiuser environments,” said Mr. Sridhar Sunkad, MD of EON Reality Pte Ltd. “It’s a simple tool to use from usability point of view, negligible learning curve and follows the intuitive Microsoft Office 2007 look and feel (Graphical User Interface). It provides the functionality of advanced edit mode for EON Coliseum. Since EON Coliseum version 2.0 was released in March 2010, large Fortune 500 corporations have already deployed EON Coliseum to facilitate internal communication through 3D based online virtual meetings. EON Reality has also seen a tremendous interest in the APAC region with one of the premier universities in Singapore introducing EON Coliseum as an IVLE platform based on EON Reality’s proprietary 3D SBL (Simulation Based Learning) technologies,” added Mr. Sridhar Sunkad.

For further information, visit www.eonreality.com.

source: http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/Build-Your-Own-Interactive-3D-Virtual-Environment-in-Minutes-With-EON-Creator-1354892.htm

A few minutes before I came face to face with the three dimensions (3D) television, I told a colleague in my trade that we were about to see a TV that can only be meaningful if you wear ‘shades.’ I had seen it on TV so I was a bit of an “expert” on the subject.

But her response to my revelation was; “You are kidding me! That can’t be true.” It was not so long before she experienced 3D entertainment. At the end of it, she posted these remarks on her Facebook status update: “Am not into gadgets but this Sony 3D is just the bomb! You have to wear glasses and you will see the images coming to you! As in you stretch your hand and feel your inside the TV and part of the movie! This technology has beaten my understanding!”

But her statement proves one point: You will need a pair of glasses to complete the broadcast circuit. 3D television is a runner up to High Definition (HD) TV but with clearer and sharper images and dolby sound. But what gives the immersive phenomenon a distinction from HD is its ability to make the images one is viewing seem like they are flowing out of the screen and moving closer to the viewer.

There is also a noticeable depth within the background that gives the viewing a better than natural feel. If you are watching a football game, you feel like you are on the football field with the players.

“Sony’s 3D world is about subtlety and detail to totally engage the viewer,” Osamu Miura, the managing director Sony Gulf Miura told Business Power at the unveiling ceremony of the technology in East Africa.

But the engagement cannot be experienced without the unique pair of colour glasses that comes with each TV set. Buy an extra one and you will part with $100 (Shs227,000). That’s about the price of an ordinary 14” colour television. The actual television sets come in 14”, 46” and 52” and will cost between Shs640,000 and Shs900,000 in Uganda. An ordinary 14” TV set costs about Shs250,000 depending on the brand.

Going by this example, the 3D TVs are about three times more expensive than the normal 2D sets. The 3D sets and other products including; Home Theater systems, and Blu ray disc players will go on sale for the first time in Uganda next month, according to Rajeev Pallippamadm, the chief representative Sony East Africa Operations.

Globally, sales of 3D sets are expected to grow from 4 million in 2010 to 78 million by 2015, or about two-fifths of the projected global flat-screen market, the Financial Times reported quoting statistics from iSupply, a research firm. Toshiba, another electronics company is set to introduce 3D Television sets that don’t require viewers to wear 3D glasses. This is based on research indicating that consumers are not interested in spending hours watching television with glasses on their faces.

By Walter Wafula

source: http://www.monitor.co.ug/Business/Business%20Power/-/688616/1053962/-/150ikj2z/-/