What the industry needs now is “community engagement around a vision of both 3D and AR as transformative platforms for experiential advertising, marketing, education and entertainment.” /

There are times when the hype around 3D appears to be coming from another dimension.

Consider: in roughly 18 months, we’ve witnessed the birth of a new industry – almost a mini-economy – as 3D, this remnant of an earlier era, received a technology makeover and a massively new lease on life. It’s now the king of all media.

According to global consultant Frost & Sullivan, “firms across the media sector see 3D technology as one of the key drivers for future revenue growth, with hardware manufacturers, content providers, broadcasters and pay-TV operators looking to take a share of the spoils. Although the market remains at the very early stages of its development, delivering a more immersive and compelling consumer content experience with the addition of 3D will be a key to boost market expansion, both from a device sales perspective and from content subscriptions.”

But what are we to make of the 3D revival, as artists from James Cameron to George Lucas to Werner Herzog embrace the medium? What does 3D really provide us? Above all, why does 3D matter?

According to Bruno Uzzan, co-founder and CEO of Total Immersion (www.t-immersion.com), part of the answer lies in augmented reality (AR). AR – which blurs the line between the virtual world and the real world by integrating real time interactive 3D graphics into a live video stream – is, for increasing numbers of consumers, the front line in the 3D revolution. It’s the way that millions are now getting up close and personal with 3D, via near-tactile experiences.

Will AR advance the march of 3D, and if so, how?

Uzzan also says this: “This isn’t your father’s 3D. In an earlier era, 3D in films – typically horror films – was used as a trick, a foreground element. In this post-Avatar era, 3D is now the depth of the environment, a way to immerse the audience and create hyper-realistic experiences. The 3D phenomenon is part of a profound transition in expression, from analog to digital – not at the expense of the analog world, but as an adjunct to it. In short order, we will begin to consume entertainment differently, we will begin to shop differently, we will begin to see differently.”

According to Uzzan, what’s missing – what the industry needs now – is “community engagement around a vision of both 3D and AR as transformative platforms for experiential advertising, marketing, education and entertainment.”

Original post: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20101020005843/en/Whats-Buzz-3D-Market-Real-Vision-3D