[Wired]

After Hollywood made the jump to 3D, the rush was on to give everything an upgrade ( 3D TV! 3D opera! 3D fashion shows!). Clubbing appeared safe — until Novak, a collective of Newcastle-based creatives, launched 3D Disco, a high-tech, globally-touring party.

Clubbers in red-and-cyan shades watch 3D visuals on 3.5m-diagonal screens at eye level around the dancefloor — but with pre-rendered graphics, images can’t react in real time.

Andrew Nixon, a 34-year-old partner at Novak, turned to Unity, the software used in games such as Marvel Super Hero Squad. With Unity, visuals can be altered on the fly. “It’s built to react instantly,” says Nixon. “It’s like playing an instrument live, rather than playing back sections of recorded music. For every beat, say, we could have a circle getting bigger.” If 3D graphics operators can immediately alter the imagery, they can react to the crowd and potentially create new shows with other acts. And to think, people used to take narcotics to have 3D visions in discos.

See the original post here: http://www.wired.co.uk/magazine/archive/2012/01/play/music-in-3d