Technology | DOI: 10.1145/1787234.1787241
Kirk L. Kroeker
Looking Beyond
Stereoscopic 3D’s Revival
Researchers working in vision and graphics are attempting to develop new
techniques and technologies to overcome the current limitations in stereoscopic 3D.
SteReoscopIc 3d Is experi- encing a strong resurgence, with moviemakers no lon- ger using the technique pri- marily as a gimmicky audi-ence-draw consisting of objects poking
from the screen into the theater space.
In today’s cinema, stereoscopic 3D is
being used more subtly as an aspect of
storytelling to enhance immersion into
environments that appear to invite the
viewer inside. The film Avatar is a testament to this shift in how moviemakers
now use stereoscopic 3D, and yet the
movie industry is not alone in embracing the technique.
Television manufacturers and
broadcasters have fallen under the
spell of the third dimension, with stereoscopic 3D TVs and Blu-ray players now widely available, and new 3D
products expected this year from major
manufacturers such as LG, Panasonic,
and Sony. ESPN and other broadcasters are rolling out dedicated 3D cable
channels. Also, the market for stereoscopic 3D computers is expected to
grow rapidly, with one million units
shipped this year and 75 million by
2014, according to Jon Peddie Research
(although most of these computers
will be stereoscopic 3D-capable due to
their graphics processors, they’ll still
require a special monitor, glasses, and
content). And mobile device-makers
have begun to incorporate 3D technology into their handhelds, with the most
recent example being the Samsung
SCH-W960, a smartphone designed to
convert 2D content automatically into
stereoscopic 3D.
While the stereoscopic 3D resurgence continues to have a powerful
impact on consumer culture, distinct
challenges remain. Researchers working in this area—a field that draws on
vision science, display technology, visualization, and cognitive science—are
kurt akeley is
experimenting with
an approach related
to light-field theory
in which the display
is replaced with
a volumetric light
source so light comes
directly from the
simulated distance.
attempting to develop new techniques
to overcome the limitations associated
with traditional stereoscopic 3D strategies, many of which have remained
unchanged since the 19th century. New
research has found, for example, specific physiological reasons for the visual fatigue that viewing stereoscopic 3D
media sometimes causes. And while
the technology for creating such media has become more sophisticated,
the content remains costly to produce
and cumbersome to consume, requiring special cameras, projectors, and
glasses.
Kurt Akeley, a principal researcher
at Microsoft Research Silicon Valley,
says that while stereoscopic 3D tech-
niques and technologies are growing
more sophisticated, they remain far
from mature. “I enjoyed viewing Ava-
tar, and I experienced no discomfort
during the three-hour showing, which
is a big improvement over previous
cinematic experiences,” says Akeley,
who cofounded Silicon Graphics and
led the development of OpenGL. “But
many people I’ve spoken with did ex-
perience discomfort, or were annoyed
by certain cinematic techniques, such
as the limited depth of field in many
scenes.”
There are several kinds of depth
cues that researchers working in this
area are actively studying to improve
such stereoscopic 3D experiences. For
example, one kind of cue is motion
parallax, which conveys depth through
apparent object movement. When
looking out the side window of a mov-
ing vehicle, for instance, objects be-
side the road appear to move past the
window more quickly than objects in
the distance. Currently, while movies
can render parallax for camera motion
correctly, they cannot create parallax to
account for a viewer’s head movement.
After all, everybody in an audience sees
the same image on the screen, despite
head movement and regardless of seat
position in the theater.
