1.

What is 3D technology? 3-D technology refers to three dimensional technology that is used in films and motion pictures that provides some kind of illusion of depth perception and viewers enjoy some different kind of experience to this technology! The latest release of such a technology has been in the picture called Avatar. The movie was shot with special motion camera to record the images. The technology is derived from stereoscopic photography /technology. Special projection hardware and eyewear are required to enjoy 3-D technology of the movies. The 3-D films have been there since 1950s but they have found prominence during the end decade of the last century and first years of 21st century. But 3-D technology has now experienced a world-wide resurgence and is coinciding with the computer generated imagery and introduction of high definition video standards. Today the technology has also found space in Televisions. Now it seems that soon we are going to wear the specs or eyewear to enjoy television programs with the 3-D technology already input in the TVs. RealD Cinema is the worlds most patent and highly used technology for showing 3D movies in theatres and they are very cheap to install. But the TV industry is trying to portray the fact that one wont need the typical specs for watching the 3D TVs. They are trying to revive the technology and make the 3D watching specs free affair though it has not been possible yet. Brands like Sony, Panasonic, Philips are promising excellent 3-D technology input in TVs. It is going to create a kind of 3D revolution where you would be able to experience the depth without the eyewear. Normally to watch 3D movies we need circular polarized or active LCD shutter glasses. These are glasses that are used in theatres by public to enjoy the 3D images or pictures. The present day glasses or spectacles use circular polarized or active LCD shutter that ensure that each eye has different image and have different feelings that altogether create the impact on the brain.

In the old days (Anaglyph 3D)

Probably the easiest way to make 3D images is to separate the right and left image using colors. The image has two color "layers", and you separate the layers using glasses that has blue/red lenses (or cellophane paper, in the cheapest glasses). This is called Anaglyph 3D, it's cheap and easy to do as you don't need a new TV and the glasses are very cheap. The problem is that you lose colors in the image. It simply looks bad.

Polarized (passive) 3D

A Polarized 3D uses a polarizing filter on the image so the left and right images each has a different polarization. You use passive glasses that filter the right image

for each eye. This technique is popular in the cinemas using two synchronized projectors. Making a polarized 3D LCD panel is not easy as the LCD already has a polarizing filter, and you lose half the resolution, but it is possible. LG for example seems to be better on polarized LCDs as their leading 3D technology. One of the advantages of passive glasses is that they are very cheap (around $1.5 or so).

Active-shutter 3D Active-shutter 3D

The new breed of 3D TVs and projectors make use of a simple idea - you display images for the left and right eye alternatively - once the image for the left eye, and once for the right. Now all you have to do is wear glasses that block each eye in sync with the display, and you get 3D. Active Shutter 3D glasses main advantage is that the image looks great - just as they look in 2D on the same display. Active-3D is costly, though. The display must refresh the screen fast enough - at least 60Hz for each eye, which means 120Hz for the display itself. The glasses are also expensive (over $100 usually) - they have to include 2 LCDs, and batteries. And you also has to synchronize the display to the glasses (usually using Infra-red). In short - you must get a new TV (or projector) that supports active-shutter glasses. It is projected that within a few years, most TVs on the market will support this new 3D technology, and most TV makers (including Sony, Samsung, LG, Toshiba, JVC and Panasonic) have already selling high-end models that are 3D-enabled.

No-glasses 3D (Auto-Stereoscopic)
Auto-Stereoscopic displays display different pixels to each eye, using optics (lenses or barriers) to direct the correct pixels to each eye. The nice part is that you don't need to wear any glasses to experience the 3D image! But there are many problems with these new kinds of technologies. Basically there is just one location you can be in order to view the 3D correctly (just one viewpoint). You can add more viewpoints, but each viewpoint actually requires two 'dedicated display'. This means that if you want 10 places from which you can view the 3D, you need to be able to produce 20 sets of displays - that's a lot of pixels. Another issue is that the display is always in 3D. You can't view a 2D image. There are some solutions to that, too (for example Sharp is using 2 sets of LCD layers - one for 3D and one for 2D, and you can turn off the one you do not want to use). These technologies are starting to appear now commercially, but don't hold your breath for a 3D TV for home use that will not require glasses - it will probably take a few years as the technology is very costly currently, is usually limited in the number of 'viewpoints' it provides and the quality isn't as good as polarized or active-shutter 3D...

Volumetric displays: real 3D images

The most straightforward way to create a 3D display, is to actually creating it in 3D. These are called Volumetric displays, and scientists are working on all sorts of way to create them,

which usually involves lasers and rotating or vibrating mirrors. A couple of years ago researchers create a volumetric display using a mirror that is rotating very very fast, and a projector that projects an image on it... this creates a 3D image that you can view all around (360 degrees). There was actually a prototype display built on this principle:

3D Cameras
Obviously, you have to shoot content in 3D if you want to view it in a 3D TV (although there are technology that takes a 2D film and turns it into 3D). Basically you have to shoot the same scene from 2 cameras, and make sure that they are in sync and have a fixed distance between them. Several companies are working on professional 3D movie cameras, that have 2 lenses built-in in the same camera, which obviously makes everything easier. Back in 2009 Fujifilm released the first 'home' digital camera that can shoot photos in 3D. We hope that more companies will follow suit, and shooting 3D photos and movies will be easier and more affordable.

The history of 3D technology

Jeffrey Todd Sep 25, 2010 Save this article

Watching movies and television in the third dimension might seem like space-age entertainment, but the technology is older than your great grandfather. According to Sensio, a Canada-based manufacturer of 3D home technology, stereoscopic photography, or the technique of creating a "third dimension", was first invented in 1838. Stereoscopic photography is a special motion picture camera system that records images from two different perspectives. Eyewear is then used to combine these perspectives and create the illusion of depth.

When early filmmakers Auguste and Louis Lumiere presented the first 3D film called L'Arrivee du train in 1903, Parisian audiences were thrilled and panicked as a locomotive appeared to crash into their seats. Sensio adds that the so-called "first golden age" of 3D, from 1950 to 1960, saw its first mainstream explosion when dozens of these films hit the screens. But the "revolution" in the technology occurred with the invention of the IMAX 3D format, first seen at the 1986 World's Fair in Vancouver, Canada. In 2001, the advent of animation technology and digital cameras helped to contribute to the "democratisation of stereoscopic production and screening", according to Sensio. Will this second 3D golden age also fade into the history books? Electronic giants certainly hope not. Gartner, the world's leading information technology research and adviser company, reports that the production of 3D TVs will rise from 1.6 million units this year to 5.2 million in 2011. * Jeffrey Todd

3D television
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

3D television (3DTV) is television that conveys depth perception to the viewer by employing techniques such as stereoscopic display, multi-view display, 2D-plus-depth, or any other form of 3D display. Most modern 3D television sets use an active shutter 3D system or a polarized 3D system and some are autostereoscopic without the need of glasses. [edit] History
Further information: 3D film

The stereoscope was first invented by Sir Charles Wheatstone in 1838.[1][2] It showed that when two pictures are viewed stereoscopically, they are combined by the brain to produce 3D depth perception. The stereoscope was improved by Louis Jules Duboscq, and a famous picture of Queen Victoria was displayed at The Great Exhibition in 1851. In 1855 the Kinematoscope was invented. In the late 1890s, the British film pioneer William Friese-Greene filed a patent for a 3D movie process. On 10 June 1915, Edwin S. Porter and William E. Waddell presented tests in redgreen anaglyph to an audience at the Astor Theater in New York City and in 1922 the first public 3D movie The Power of Love was displayed. Stereoscopic 3D television was demonstrated for the first time on 10 August 1928, by John Logie Baird in his company's premises at 133 Long Acre, London.[3] Baird pioneered a variety of 3D television systems using electro-mechanical and cathode-ray tube techniques. In 1935 the first 3D color movie was produced. By the Second World War, stereoscopic 3D still cameras for personal use were already fairly common. In the 1950s, when TV became popular in the United States, many 3D movies were produced for cinema. The first such movie was Bwana Devil from United Artists that could be seen all across the US in 1952. One year later, in 1953, came the 3D movie House of Wax which also featured stereophonic sound. Alfred Hitchcock produced his film Dial M for Murder in 3D, but for the purpose of maximizing profits the movie was released in 2D because not all cinemas were able to display 3D films. The Soviet Union also developed 3D films, with Robinzon Kruzo being its first full-length 3D movie, in 1946.[4]

[edit] Technologies
See also: Stereoscopy, 3D display, and 3D film

There are several techniques to produce and display 3D moving pictures. The following are some of the technical details and methodologies employed in some of the more notable 3D movie systems that have been developed. The future of 3D television is also emerging as time progresses. New technology like WindowWalls (wall-size displays) and Visible light communication are being implemented into 3D television as the demand for 3D TV increases. Scott Birnbaum, vice president of Samsung's LCD business, says that the demand for 3D TV will skyrocket in the next couple of years, fueled by televised sports. One might be able to obtain information directly onto their television due to new technologies like the Visible Light Communication that allows for this to happen because the LED lights transmit information by flickering at high frequencies.[5]
[edit] Displaying technologies

The basic requirement is to display offset images that are filtered separately to the left and right eye. Two strategies have been used to accomplish this: have the viewer wear eyeglasses to filter the separately offset images to each eye, or have the light source split the images directionally into the viewer's eyes (no glasses required). Common 3D display technology for projecting stereoscopic image pairs to the viewer include:[6]

With filters/lenses: o Anaglyph 3D - with passive color filters o Polarized 3D system - with passive polarization filters o Active shutter 3D system - with active shutters o Head-mounted display - with a separate display positioned in front of each eye, and lenses used primarily to relax eye focus Without lenses: Autostereoscopic displays, sometimes referred to commercially as Auto 3D. Others:

In a CEATEC 2011 exhibition, Hitachi released glasses-free 3D projection systems that use a set of 24 projectors, lenses, and translucent half mirrors to superimpose 3D images with a horizontal viewing angle of 60 degrees and a vertical viewing angle of 30 degrees. Besides Hitachi, Sony is also working on similar technologies.[7] Single-view displays project only one stereo pair at a time. Multi-view displays either use head tracking to change the view depending on the viewing angle, or simultaneous projection of multiple independent views of a scene for multiple viewers (automultiscopic). Such multiple views can be created on the fly using the 2D-plus-depth format. Various other display techniques have been described, such as holography, volumetric display, and the Pulfrich effect; which was used in Doctor Who Dimensions in Time, in 1993, by 3rd Rock From The Sun in 1997, and by the Discovery Channel's Shark Week in 2000.

[edit] Producing technologies

Stereoscopy is the most widely accepted method for capturing and delivering 3D video. It involves capturing stereo pairs in a two-view setup, with cameras mounted side by side and separated by the same distance as is between a person's pupils. If we imagine projecting an object point in a scene along the line-of-sight for each eye, in turn; to a flat background screen, we may describe the location of this point mathematically using simple algebra. In rectangular coordinates with the screen lying in the Y-Z plane, with the Z axis upward and the Y axis to the right, with the viewer centered along the X axis; we find that the screen coordinates are simply the sum of two terms. One accounting for perspective and the other for binocular shift. Perspective modifies the Z and Y coordinates of the object point, by a factor of D/(D-x), while binocular shift contributes an additional term (to the Y coordinate only) of s*x/(2*(D-x)), where D is the distance from the selected system origin to the viewer (right between the eyes), s is the eye separation (about 7 centimeters), and x is the true x coordinate of the object point. The binocular shift is positive for the left-eye-view and negative for the right-eye-view. For very distant object points, it is obvious that the eyes will be looking along essentially the same line of sight. For very near objects, the eyes may become excessively "cross-eyed". However, for scenes in the greater portion of the field of view, a realistic image is readily achieved by superposition of the left and right images (using the polarization method or synchronized shutter-lens method) provided the viewer is not too near the screen and the left and right images are correctly positioned on the screen. Digital technology has largely eliminated inaccurate superposition that was a common problem during the era of traditional stereoscopic films.[8][9] Multi-view capture uses arrays of many cameras to capture a 3D scene through multiple independent video streams. Plenoptic cameras, which capture the light field of a scene, can also be used to capture multiple views with a single main lens.[10] Depending on the camera setup, the resulting views can either be displayed on multi-view displays, or passed along for further image processing. After capture, stereo or multi-view image data can be processed to extract 2D plus depth information for each view, effectively creating a device-independent representation of the original 3D scene. These data can be used to aid inter-view image compression or to generate stereoscopic pairs for multiple different view angles and screen sizes. 2D plus depth processing can be used to recreate 3D scenes even from a single view and convert legacy film and video material to a 3D look, though a convincing effect is harder to achieve and the resulting image will likely look like a cardboard miniature.
[edit] 3D production

Production of events such as live sports broadcasts in 3D differs from the methods used for 2D broadcasting. A high technical standard must be maintained because any mismatch in color, alignment, or focus between two cameras may destroy the 3D effect or produce discomfort in the viewer. Zoom lenses for each camera of a stereo pair must track over their full range of focal lengths. Addition of graphical elements (such as a scoreboard, timers,or logos) to a 3D picture must place the synthesized elements at a suitable depth within the frame, so that viewers can comfortably view the added elements as well as the main picture. This requires more powerful computers to

calculate the correct appearance of the graphical elements. For example, the line of scrimmage that appears as a projected yellow line on the field during an American football broadcast requires about one thousand times more processing power to produce in 3D compared to a 2D image. Since 3D images are effectively more immersive than 2D broadcasts, fewer fast cuts between camera angles are needed. 3D National Football League broadcasts cut between cameras about one-fifth as often as in 2D broadcasting. Rapid cuts between two different viewpoints can be uncomfortable for the viewer, so directors may lengthen the transition or provide images with intermediate depth between two extremes to "rest" the viewers eyes. 3D images are most effective if the cameras are at a low angle of view, simulating presence of the viewer at the event; this can present problems with people or structures blocking the view of the event. While fewer camera locations are required, the overall number of cameras is similar to a 2D broadcast because each position needs two cameras. Other live sport events have additional factors that affect production; for example, an ice rink presents few cues for depth due to its uniform appearance. [11] [edit] TV sets These TV sets are high-end and generally include Ethernet, USB player and recorder, Bluetooth and USB Wi-Fi.
[edit] 3D-ready TV sets

3D-ready TV sets are those that can operate in 3D mode (in addition to regular 2D mode) using one of several display technologies to recreate a stereoscopic image. These TV sets usually support HDMI 1.4 and a minimum output refresh rate of 120 Hz; glasses may be sold separately. Philips was developing a 3D television set that would be available for the consumer market by about 2011 without the need for special glasses (autostereoscopy).[12] However it was canceled because of the slow adoption of customers going from 2D to 3D. In August 2010, Toshiba announced plans to bring a range of autosteroscopic TVs to market by the end of the year.[13] The Chinese manufacturer TCL Corporation has developed a 42-inch (110 cm) LCD 3D TV called the TD-42F, which is currently available in China. This model uses a lenticular system and does not require any special glasses (autostereoscopy). It is not as good as 3D active glasses. It currently sells for approximately $20,000.[14][15] Onida, LG, Samsung, Sony, and Philips intend to increase their 3D TV offering with plans to make 3D TV sales account for over 50% of their respective TV distribution offering by 2012. It is expected that the screens will use a mixture of technologies until there is standardisation across the industry.[16] Samsung offers the LED 7000, LCD 750, PDP 7000 TV sets and the Bluray 6900.[17]

[edit] Full 3D TV sets

Full 3D TV sets include LG Full HD 3D (1920x1080p, this is, 2K x 1K; and 600 Hz) and Panasonic Full HD 3D (1920x1080p, this is, 2K x 1K; and 600 Hz). A September 2011 Cnet review touted Toshiba's 55ZL2 as "the future of television". Because of the demanding nature of auto-stereoscopic 3D technology, the display features a 3840x2160 display; however, there is no video content available at this resolution. That said, it utilizes a multi-core processor to provide excellent upscaling to the "4k2k" resolution. Using a directional lenticular lenslet filter, the display generates nine 3D views. This technology commonly creates deadspots, which Toshiba avoids by using an eye-tracking camera to adjust the image. The reviewers also note that the 3D resolution for a 1080p signal looks more like 720p and lacks parallax, which reduces immersion. [18]

How Does 3D Technology Work?

February 7, 2011 by Zachary Sniderman 120

LG Cinema 3D Smart TV - w/ Cinema Screen, 3D Sound Zooming, Dual Play & 3D Depth

Control. View!
www.lg.com

The Innovative Entertainment Series is supported by Dolby. Like Dolby for a chance to have Adam West read your Facebook status update, live, on camera, February 18th. In 1838, Sir Charles Wheatstone first described the 3D technology has come a long way since Wheatstone developed his stereoscope, then used to view static images and eventually pictures. Now we get to wear Wayfarer knock-offs and enjoy 3D films, television shows and video games. For some people, seeing cool images might be enough. But others might be curious how Pandora was brought to life, or how TRON: Legacy zapped them into its glowing world. The answer is both reassuringly simple and inordinately complex, depending on who you ask and how you look at it. How do 3D films work? Whats the difference between polarity and anaglyph (well get there), and what are the next steps for 3D gadgets and imagery? Have a look below for a breakdown of how todays it technology functions. Plus, we put in some sweet looking pictures. Whats not to love? A tremendous thank you to David Leitner, Rob Willox and Professor Ian Howard for their collective insight and help in describing the various forms of 3D technology

3D TV Technology
Hi, my name is Martin, and I'm a film and home cinema enthusiast. I've been tinkering about with home cinema and audio equipment for over 15 years. I'm not a pro in the AV industry, but I have a background in Physics and I work in software development, so I have a good head for technThe 3 Main Types of 3D Technology There's anaglyph 3D technology (pretty rubbish), polarized 3D technology (used in cinemas), active 3D technology (the one most commonly used for home 3D), and parallax-barrier 3D technology (maybe the 3D technology of the future). All are essentially just different ways to feed different images to each eye:
Anaglyph 3D technology with red & blue glasses - pretty rubbish really

Anaglyph technology has been around for a long time. The two images are coloured differently such that, when you wear glasses with different colour filters on each eye, one eye can only see one image, and the other can only see the other. It works, even on standard colour TVs (provided you have the right glasses), but it doesn't work particularly well. The images you see don't have full colour (because of the colour filtering necessary to separate out the two images) and things tend to look a bit fuzzy.
Polarized 3D technology (sometimes called "passive 3D technology")

This is the technology that's typically used by cinemas to show modern 3D films like Avatar or Alice in Wonderland. It works well, and the required glasses are cheap and light. Passive 3D isn't the mainstream technology for home 3D television, but it is a serious option that could become more and more important in the future. Click here for more information on passive 3D technology.
Active 3D technology using shutter glasses

Active 3D is currently the mainstream technology for home 3D television. Most of the major television manufacturers have active 3D TV models either released or in the pipeline. The technology works well, but it requires each viewer to wear "shutter glasses", which are heavier and more expensive than the polarized glasses required for passive 3D. Click here for more information on active 3D technology.
Parallax barrier technology - 3D without glasses - not as great as it sounds

Parallax barrier 3D technology is becoming fairly popular on personal devices like handheld gaming systems. The beauty of it is that you don't need glasses, but the problem with most implementations is that you have to look at the screen from exactly the right position to be able to see the 3D effects. Because of this limitation, it's not yet a practical option for home 3D

television, but there are signs that this might change over the next few years as manufacturers work on clever ways to make the technology work from a wider range of viewing angles. After the first 5 minutes of Avatar 3D in the cinema I was completely sold on the 3D-movie experience. And I knew that I wanted to reproduce that experience in my home. I am confident that 3D technology will bring a revolution in UK home cinemas, and in the living rooms of the mass market. And I am excited! But the technology is new, and it's pretty complex. There are multiple ways to make 3D work at home, and some technologies are better than others. I set up this site to provide the information I think every consumer should know before they invest in 3D TV technology.

Several systems and formats are currently being used in 3D-compatible cinemas. And for TV too, various 3D technologies exist for recording and for display. As the next key technology following full HD, these systems are being scrutinized from every angle, especially picture quality and cost.

Active 3D vs. passive 3D: What's better?

Curious about the difference between active 3D and passive 3D? So is CNET reader Taher. Geoff Morrison helps him out.

CNET reader Taher asks:

I'm trying to decide between two 3D TVs: a Panasonic that's active 3D and LG that's passive 3D. LG has all these international certificates for the best 3D picture and claims it's full resolution, but you and others claim Passive 3D is half the resolution of a real 1080p. Is there is a way for me to really tell the difference between an active and a passive 3D?

There sure is. The technology First, the basics. In order for you to see "depth" from a 3D TV, each eye has to see slightly different information. Ideally, the right eye doesn't see any of the information meant for the left eye, and vice versa. The two current methods to do this are called active and passive. Active 3D uses batteryoperated shutter glasses that do as their name describes: they rapidly shutter open and closed. This, in theory, means the information meant for your left eye is blocked from your right eye by

a closed (opaque) shutter. All that's required of the TV is the capability to refresh fast enough so each eye gets at least 60 frames per second. They've been able to do this for a while. Active 3D can be found on plasma, LCD, LED LCD, and all front and rear projectors for the home. Here's what the active glasses look like when they're working. Keep in mind the camera was set
Februat

a fast shutter speed itself in order to capture the lenses, well, shuttering.

Digital 3D
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search

Digital 3D is a non-specific 3D standard in which films, television shows, and video games are presented and shot in digital 3D technology or later processed in digital post-production to add a 3D effect. One of the first studios to use digital 3D was Walt Disney Pictures. In promoting their first CGI animated film Chicken Little, they trademarked the phrase Disney Digital 3-D and teamed up with RealD in order to present the film in 3D in the United States. A total of over 62 theaters in the US were retrofitted to use the RealD Cinema system. Even though some critics and fans were skeptical about digital 3D, it has gained in popularity. Now there are several competing digital 3D formats including Dolby 3D, XpanD 3D, Panavision 3D, MasterImage 3D and IMAX 3D. The first home video game console to be capable of 3D was the Sega Master System in which a limited number of titles were capable of delivering 3D.

[edit] History
Main article: 3D film

A first wave of 3D film production began in 1952 with the release of Bwana Devil and continued until 1955, a period known as the golden era of 3D film. Polarized 3D glasses were used. It was among several gimmicks used by movie studios (such as Cinerama and Cinemascope) to compete with television. A further brief period of 3D movie production occurred in the early 1980s. After announcing that Home on the Range would be their last hand drawn feature and in fear that Pixar would not re-sign for a new distribution deal, Disney went to work on Chicken Little. The RealD company suggested that Disney use their 3D system and after looking at test footage Disney decided to proceed. In 2005, Chicken Little was a success at the box office in both 2D and 3D screenings. Two more films followed in their classic feature animation - Meet the Robinsons and Bolt - along with several others. Since then many film studios have shot and

released films in several digital 3D formats. In 2010, Avatar became the first feature film shot in digital 3D to win the Academy Award for Best Cinematography and was also the first feature film shot using 3D technology nominated for Best Picture. [edit] 2D to 3D conversion
Main article: 2D to 3D conversion

In the case of 2D films that were generated from 3D models (as with CGI animated films), it is possible to return to the models to generate a 3D version. For other 2D films, different techniques must be employed. For example, for the 3D re-release of the 1993 film The Nightmare Before Christmas, Walt Disney Pictures scanned each original frame and manipulated them to produce left-eye and right-eye versions. In 2011 Disney once became the first studio to convert 2D cel animation to 3D with the 1994 film The Lion King and the 1991 film Beauty and the Beast. Dozens of films have now been converted from 2D to 3D. There are several approaches used for 2D to 3D conversion, most notably depth-based methods.
[1]

[edit] Live-action
Further information: Stereoscopy#Stereo_Photography_Techniques

The standard for shooting live-action films in 3D involves using two cameras mounted so that their lenses are about as far apart from each other as the average pair of human eyes, recording two separate images for both the left eye and the right eye. In principle, two normal 2D cameras could be put side-to-side but this is problematic in many ways. The only real option is to invest in new stereoscopic cameras. Moreover, some cinematographic tricks that are simple with a 2D camera become impossible when filming in 3D. This means those otherwise cheap tricks need to be replaced by expensive CGI. [2] In 2008, Journey to the Center of the Earth became the first live-action feature film to be shot with the earliest Fusion Camera System released in Digital 3D. This film was later followed with several other films shot in Live-action. The 2009 release of Avatar was shot in a 3D process that is based on how the human eye looks at an image. It was an improvement to a currently existing 3D camera system. Many 3D camera rigs still in use simply pair two cameras side by side, while newer rigs are paired with a beam splitter or both camera lens built into one unit. Digital Cinema cameras are not really required for 3D but are the predominant medium 99% of what is photographed. Film options include IMAX 3D and Cine 160. [edit] Animation CGI animated films can be rendered as stereoscopic 3D version by using two virtual cameras. Because the entire movie is basically a 3D model, it only takes twice the rendering time and a little effort to properly set up stereoscopic views.

In 2004 The Polar Express was the first stereoscopic 3D computer animated feature film. In November 2005, Walt Disney Studio Entertainment released Chicken Little in digital 3D format. The first 3D feature by DreamWorks Animation Monsters vs Aliens followed in 2009 and used a new digital rendering process called InTru3D which is a process developed by Intel to create more realistic 3D images despite the fact that they are animated. InTru3D is not a way that films are exhibited in theaters in 3D, the films created in this process are seen in either RealD 3D or IMAX 3D. [edit] Video games
Further information: List of stereoscopic video games

In June 1986, Sega released the Sega Master System, part of the third generation of gaming consoles. The system had a card slot that provided power to a single pair of LCD shutter glasses, allowing certain games to be viewed in 3D; however, only 8 3D-compatible games were ever released, and when the system was redesigned in 1990 in order to cut down on manufacturing costs, it lost the ability to support 3D. It was the first known electronic device released in North America to use LCD shutter glasses. In July 1995, Nintendo released the Virtual Boy, built around a 3D viewer held closely to users' eyes, acting like a pair of goggles. Both left and right eye images were red, and put strain on players' eyes; the system was a failure and was discontinued the following year. In December 2008, several third party developers for the PlayStation 3 announced they would work toward bringing Stereoscopic 3D gaming to major gaming consoles using their own technology. In the coming months, both the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3 will be capable of 3D imaging via 3D TV and system/hardware updates. On June 15, 2010 at the E3 Expo, Nintendo unveiled the Nintendo 3DS, the successor to the Nintendo DS series of handheld consoles. It is the first gaming console to allow 3D viewing without the need for 3D glasses or an equivalent. [edit] Home media
Main article: 3D television [edit] Television

After the unexpected box office success of Avatar and a record number of 20 3D films released in 2009, TV manufactures saw the demand for 3DTVs go up dramatically and went further into research and development. Samsung launched the first 3D TV in February 2010. Each TV manufacturer would make their own 3D glasses. Samsung released a 3D starter kit which included the purchase of 3 items with a discount at select retailers; the starter kit would include a Samsung model 3D TV, a Samsung brand 3D-capable Blu-ray player, and a box with two pairs of Samsung brand 3D glasses which included an exclusive 3D Blu-ray edition of Monsters vs. Aliens. Specifications for 3D also include the HDMI 1.4a standards. Some of these TVs can also convert 2D into 3D, but such features are limited as to how much depth can be generated. In June 2010 Panasonic announced Coraline and Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs as bonus 3D Blu-ray titles with the purchase of any of their 3DTVs. On June 22, 2010, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs became the first 3D Blu-ray title to be released without any requirements to buy any

new electronic hardware but free copies of this title will be included in 3D entertainment packages by Sony. In 2010 the only option was active shutter glasses and in 2011, TV manufacturers notably LG and Vizio will offer passive circular polarized glasses in mid to late 2011 as well as Sony to offer glasses free technology for 3D content.
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http://www.3dfocus.co.uk (http://s.tt/1twAU)

The Inside Story of 3D

Samsung Active 3D pulls you into a breathtaking three-dimensional universe of realistic depth and perspective. The HD quality picture is so sharp, it almost feels likes youre inside the picture.
Your Eyes + 3D TV

Because your eyes are spaced apart from each other, you see the world at slightly different perspectives. Your brain merges these two perspectives into a single three-dimensional image. This is what gives you a sense of depth and perspective. By displaying two images from slightly different perspectives, Samsung 3D TV is able to create the same effect. By using Samsung Active 3D glasses, your brain combines the images so you perceive a three-dimensional world that is completely immersive and realistic.
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3D film
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search For more information on 3D film titles, see List of 3D films.

A 3D or 3-D (three-dimensional) film or S3D (stereoscopic 3D) film[1] is a motion picture that enhances the illusion of depth perception. Derived from stereoscopic photography, a regular motion picture camera system is used to record the images as seen from two perspectives (or computer-generated imagery generates the two perspectives in post-production), and special projection hardware and/or eyewear are used to provide the illusion of depth when viewing the film. 3D films are not limited to feature film theatrical releases; television broadcasts and directto-video films have also incorporated similar methods, especially since 3D television and Bluray 3D.
3D films have existed in some form since 1915, but had been largely relegated to a niche in the motion picture industry because of the costly hardware and processes required to produce and display Early patents and tests

The stereoscopic era of motion pictures began in the late 1890s when British film pioneer William Friese-Greene filed a patent for a 3D movie process. In his patent, two films were projected side by side on screen. The viewer looked through a stereoscope to converge the two

images. Because of the obtrusive mechanics behind this method, theatrical use was not practical.[2] Frederic Eugene Ives patented his stereo camera rig in 1900. The camera had two lenses coupled together 1 3/4 inches (4.45 centimeters) apart.[3] On June 10, 1915, Edwin S. Porter and William E. Waddell presented tests to an audience at the Astor Theater in New York City. In red-green anaglyph, the audience was presented three reels of tests, which included rural scenes, test shots of Marie Doro, a segment of John Mason playing a number of passages from Jim the Penman (a film released by Famous Players-Lasky that year, but not in 3D), Oriental dancers, and a reel of footage of Niagara Falls.[4] However, according to Adolph Zukor in his 1953 autobiography The Public Is Never Wrong: My 50 Years in the Motion Picture Industry, nothing was produced in this process after these tests.
[edit] Early systems of stereoscopic filmmaking (pre-1952)

The earliest confirmed 3D film shown to a paying audience was The Power of Love, which premiered at the Ambassador Hotel Theater in Los Angeles on 27 September 1922.[5][6][7] The camera rig was a product of the film's producer, Harry K. Fairall, and cinematographer Robert F. Elder.[2] It was projected dual-strip in the red/green anaglyph format, making it both the earliest known film that utilized dual strip projection and the earliest known film in which anaglyph glasses were used.[8] Whether Fairall used colored filters on the projection ports or whether he used tinted prints is unknown. After a preview for exhibitors and press in New York City, the film dropped out of sight, apparently not booked by exhibitors, and is now considered lost. Early in December 1922, William Van Doren Kelley, inventor of the Prizma color system, cashed in on the growing interest in 3D films started by Fairall's demonstration and shot footage with a camera system of his own design. Kelley then struck a deal with Samuel "Roxy" Rothafel to premiere the first in his series of "Plasticon" shorts entitled Movies of the Future at the Rivoli Theater in New York City .[9] Also in December 1922, Laurens Hammond (later inventor of the Hammond organ) and William F. Cassidy unveiled their Teleview system. Teleview was the earliest alternate-frame sequencing form of film projection. Through the use of two interlocked projectors, alternating left/right frames were projected one after another in rapid succession. Synchronized viewers attached to the arm-rests of the seats in the theater open and closed at the same time, and took advantage of the viewer's persistence of vision, thereby creating a true stereoscopic image. The only theater known to have installed this system was the Selwyn Theater in New York. Only one show was ever produced for the system, a groups of shorts and the only Teleview feature The Man From M.A.R.S. (later re-released as Radio-Mania) on December 27, 1922 in New York City.[10] In 1922, Frederic Eugene Ives and Jacob Leventhal began releasing their first stereoscopic shorts made over a three-year period. The first film entitled, Plastigrams, which was distributed nationally by Educational Pictures in the red/blue anaglyph format. Ives and Leventhal then went on to produce the following stereoscopic shorts in the "Stereoscopiks Series" for Path Films in 1925: Zowie (April 10), Luna-cy! (May 18), The Run-Away Taxi (December 17) and Ouch (December 17).[11] On 22 September 1924, Luna-cy! was re-released in the DeForest Phonofilm sound-on-film system.[12]

The late 1920s to early 1930s saw little to no interest in stereoscopic pictures, largely due to the Great Depression. In Paris, Louis Lumiere shot footage with his stereoscopic camera in September 1933. The following March he premiered a remake of his 1895 film L'Arrive du Train, this time in anaglyphic 3D, at a meeting of the French Academy of Science.[13] In 1936, Leventhal and John Norling were hired based on their test footage to film MGM's Audioscopiks series. The prints were by Technicolor in the red/green anaglyph format, and were narrated by Pete Smith. The first film, Audioscopiks, premiered January 11, 1936 and The New Audioscopiks premiered January 15, 1938. Audioscopiks was nominated for the Academy Award in the category Best Short Subject, Novelty in 1936. With the success of the two Audioscopiks films, MGM produced one more short in anaglyph 3D, another Pete Smith Specialty called Third Dimensional Murder (1941). Unlike its predecessors, this short was shot with a studio-built camera rig. Prints were by Technicolor in red/blue anaglyph. The short is notable for being one of the few live-action appearances of the Frankenstein Monster as conceived by Jack Pierce for Universal Studios outside of their company. While many of these films were printed by color systems, none of them was actually in color, and the use of the color printing was only to achieve an anaglyph effect.
[edit] Introduction of Polaroid

While attending Harvard University, Edwin H. Land conceived the idea of reducing glare by polarizing light. He took a leave of absence from Harvard to set up a lab and by 1929 had invented and patented a polarizing sheet.[14] In 1932, he introduced Polaroid J Sheet as a commercial product.[15] While his original intention was to create a filter for reducing glare from car headlights, Land did not underestimate the utility of his newly-dubbed Polaroid filters in stereoscopic presentations. In January 1936, Land gave the first demonstration of Polaroid filters in conjunction with 3D photography at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel.[citation needed] The reaction was enthusiastic, and he followed it up with an installation at the New York Museum of Science.[citation needed] It is unknown what film was run for audiences at this exhibition. Using Polaroid filters meant an entirely new form of projection, however. Two prints, each carrying either the right or left eye view, had to be synced up in projection using an external selsyn motor. Furthermore, polarized light would be largely depolarized by a matte white screen, and only a silver screen or screen made of other reflective material would correctly reflect the separate images. In 1939, John Norling shot In Tune With Tomorrow, the first commercial 3D film using Polaroid in the US[citation needed]. This short premiered at the 1939 New York World's Fair and was created. Another early short that utilized the Polaroid 3D process was 1940's Magic Movies: Thrills For You produced by the Pennsylvania Railroad Co. for the Golden Gate International Exposition[citation needed]. Produced by John Norling, it was filmed by Jacob Leventhal using his own rig. It consisted of shots of various views that could be seen from the Pennsylvania Railroad's trains.

In the 1940s, World War II prioritized military applications of stereoscopic photography and it once again went on the back burner in most producers' minds.
[edit] The "golden era" (19521955)

What aficionados consider the "golden era" of 3D began in 1952 with the release of the first color stereoscopic feature, Bwana Devil, produced, written and directed by Arch Oboler. The film was shot in Natural Vision, a process that was co-created and controlled by M. L. Gunzberg. Gunzberg, who built the rig with his brother, Julian, and two other associates, shopped it without success to various studios before Oboler used it for this feature, which went into production with the title, The Lions of Gulu.[17] The film starred Robert Stack, Barbara Britton and Nigel Bruce. As with practically all of the features made during this boom, Bwana Devil was projected dualstrip, with Polaroid filters. During the 1950s, the familiar disposable anaglyph glasses made of cardboard were mainly used for comic books, two shorts by exploitation specialist Dan Sonney, and three shorts produced by Lippert Productions. However, even the Lippert shorts were available in the dual-strip format alternatively. Because the features utilized two projectors, a capacity limit of film being loaded onto each projector (about 6,000 feet (1,800 m), or an hour's worth of film) meant that an intermission was necessary for every feature-length film. Quite often, intermission points were written into the script at a major plot point. During Christmas of 1952, producer Sol Lesser quickly premiered the dual-strip showcase called Stereo Techniques in Chicago.[18] Lesser acquired the rights to five dual-strip shorts. Two of them, Now is the Time (to Put On Your Glasses) and Around is Around, were directed by Norman McLaren in 1951 for the National Film Board of Canada. The other three films were produced in Britain for Festival of Britain in 1951 by Raymond Spottiswoode. These were A Solid Explanation, Royal River, and The Black Swan. James Mage was also an early pioneer in the 3D craze. Using his 16 mm 3D Bolex system, he premiered his Triorama program on February 10, 1953 with his four shorts: Sunday In Stereo, Indian Summer, American Life, and This is Bolex Stereo.[19] This show is considered lost. Another early 3D film during the boom was the Lippert Productions short, A Day in the Country, narrated by Joe Besser and composed mostly of test footage. Unlike all of the other Lippert shorts, which were available in both dual-strip and anaglyph, this production was released in anaglyph only. April 1953 saw two groundbreaking features in 3D: Columbia's Man in the Dark and Warner Bros. House of Wax, the first 3D feature with stereophonic sound. House of Wax, outside of Cinerama, was the first time many American audiences heard recorded stereophonic sound. It was also the film that typecast Vincent Price as a horror star as well as the "King of 3-D" after he became the actor to star in the most 3D features (the others were The Mad Magician, Dangerous Mission, and Son of Sinbad). The success of these two films proved that major studios now had a method of getting moviegoers back into theaters and away from television sets, which were causing a steady decline in attendance.

The Walt Disney Studios waded into 3D with its May 28, 1953 release of Melody, which accompanied the first 3D western, Columbia's Fort Ti at its Los Angeles opening. It was later shown at Disneyland's Fantasyland Theater in 1957 as part of a program with Disney's other short Working for Peanuts, entitled, 3-D Jamboree. The show was hosted by the Mousketeers and was in color. Universal-International released their first 3D feature on May 27, 1953, It Came from Outer Space, with stereophonic sound. Following that was Paramount's first feature, Sangaree with Fernando Lamas and Arlene Dahl. Columbia released several 3D westerns produced by Sam Katzman and directed by William Castle. Castle would later specialize in various technical in-theater gimmicks for such Columbia and Allied Artists features as 13 Ghosts, House on Haunted Hill, and The Tingler. Columbia also produced the only slapstick comedies conceived for 3D. The Three Stooges starred in Spooks and Pardon My Backfire; dialect comic Harry Mimmo starred in Down the Hatch. Producer Jules White was optimistic about the possibilities of 3D as applied to slapstick (with pies and other projectiles aimed at the audience), but only two of his stereoscopic shorts were shown in 3D. Down the Hatch was released as a conventional, "flat" motion picture. (Columbia has since printed Down the Hatch in 3D for film festivals.)
]

Another famous entry in the golden era of 3D was the 3 Dimensional Pictures production of Robot Monster. The film was allegedly scribed in an hour by screenwriter Wyott Ordung and filmed in a period of two weeks on a shoestring budget.[citation needed] Despite these shortcomings and the fact that the crew had no previous experience with the newly-built camera rig, luck was on the cinematographer's side, as many find the 3D photography in the film is well shot and aligned. Robot Monster also has a notable score by then up-and-coming composer Elmer Bernstein. The film was released June 24, 1953 and went out with the short Stardust in Your Eyes, which starred nightclub comedian, Slick Slavin.[citation needed] 20th Century Fox produced their only 3D feature, Inferno in 1953, starring Rhonda Fleming. Fleming, who also starred in Those Redheads From Seattle, and Jivaro, shares the spot for being the actress to appear in the most 3D features with Patricia Medina, who starred in Sangaree, Phantom of the Rue Morgue and Drums of Tahiti. Darryl F. Zanuck expressed little interest in stereoscopic systems, and at that point was preparing to premiere the new widescreen film system, CinemaScope. The first decline in the theatrical 3D craze started in August and September 1953. The factors causing this decline were:

Two prints had to be projected simultaneously. The prints had to remain exactly alike after repair, or synchronization would be lost. It sometimes required two projectionists to keep sync working properly. When either prints or shutters became out of sync, the picture became virtually unwatchable and accounted for headaches and eyestrain. The necessary silver projection screen was very directional and caused sideline seating to be unusable with both 3D and regular films, due to the angular darkening of these screens. Later

films that opened in wider-seated venues often premiered flat for that reason (such as Kiss Me Kate at the Radio City Music Hall). The few cartoons made in 3D had a "cardboard cutout" effect, where flat objects appeared on different planes.

Because projection booth operators were at many times careless, even at preview screenings of 3D films, trade and newspaper critics claimed that certain films were "hard on the eyes."[citation
needed]

Sol Lesser attempted to follow up Stereo Techniques with a new showcase, this time five shorts that he himself produced.[citation needed] The project was to be called The 3-D Follies and was to be distributed by RKO.[citation needed] Unfortunately, because of financial difficulties and the growing disinterest in 3D, Lesser canceled the project during the summer of 1953, making it the first 3D film to be aborted in production.[citation needed] Two of the three shorts were shot: Carmenesque, a burlesque number starring exotic dancer Lili St. Cyr. and Fun in the Sun, a sports short directed by famed set designer/director William Cameron Menzies, who also directed the 3D feature The Maze for Allied Artists. Although it was more expensive to install, the major competing realism process was anamorphic, first utilized by Fox with Cinemascope and its September premiere in The Robe. Anamorphic features needed only a single print, so synchronization was not an issue. Cinerama was also a competitor from the start and had better quality control than 3D because it was owned by one company that focused on quality control. However, most of the 3D features past the summer of 1953 were released in the flat widescreen formats ranging from 1.66:1 to 1.85:1. In early studio advertisements and articles about widescreen and 3D formats, widescreen systems were referred to as "3D", causing some confusion among scholars. There was no single instance of combining Cinemascope with 3D until 1960, with a film called September Storm, and even then, that was a blow-up from a non-anamorphic negative.[citation needed] September Storm also went out with the last dual-strip short, Space Attack, which was actually shot in 1954 under the title The Adventures of Sam Space. In December 1953, 3D made a comeback with the release of several important 3D films, including MGM's musical Kiss Me, Kate. Kate was the hill over which 3D had to pass to survive. MGM tested it in six theaters: three in 3D and three flat.[citation needed] According to trade ads of the time, the 3D version was so well-received that the film quickly went into a wide stereoscopic release.[citation needed] However, most publications, including Kenneth Macgowan's classic film reference book Behind the Screen, state that the film did much better as a "regular" release. The film, adapted from the popular Cole Porter Broadway musical, starred the MGM songbird team of Howard Keel and Kathryn Grayson as the leads, supported by Ann Miller, Keenan Wynn, Bobby Van, James Whitmore, Kurt Kasznar and Tommy Rall. The film also prominently promoted its use of stereophonic sound. . Top Banana, based on the popular stage musical with Phil Silvers, was brought to the screen with the original cast. Although it was merely a filmed stage production, the idea was that every audience member would feel they would have the best seat in the house through color

photography and 3D.[citation needed] Although the film was shot and edited in 3D, United Artists, the distributor, felt the production was uneconomical in stereoscopic form and released the film flat on January 27, 1954.[citation needed] It remains one of two "Golden era" 3- D features, along with another United Artists feature, Southwest Passage (with John Ireland and Joanne Dru), that are currently considered lost (although flat versions survive). A string of successful 3D movies followed the second wave. Some highlights are:

The French Line, starring Jane Russell and Gilbert Roland, a Howard Hughes/RKO production. The film became notorious for being released without an MPAA seal of approval, after several suggestive lyrics were included, as well as one of Ms. Russell's particularly revealing costumes.[citation needed] Playing up her sex appeal, one tagline for the film was, "It'll knock both of your eyes out!" The film was later cut and approved by the MPAA for a general flat release, despite having a wide and profitable 3D release.[citation needed] Two ape films: Phantom of the Rue Morgue, featuring Karl Malden and Patricia Medina, and produced by Warner Bros. and based on Edgar Allan Poe's "The Murders in the Rue Morgue", and Gorilla At Large, a Panoramic Production starring Cameron Mitchell, distributed through Fox. Dial M for Murder, directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring Ray Milland, Robert Cummings, and Grace Kelly, is considered by aficionados of 3D to be one of the best examples of the process. Although available in 3D in 1954, there are no known playdates in 3D, since Warner Bros. had just instated a simultaneous 3D/2D release policy. The film's screening in 3D in February 1980 at the York Theater in San Francisco did so well that Warner Bros. re-released the film in 3D in February 1982. Gog, an Ivan Tors production, dealing with realistic science fiction. The second film in Tors' "Office of Scientific Investigation" trilogy of film, which included, The Magnetic Monster and Riders to the Stars. The Diamond Wizard, the only stereoscopic feature shot in Britain, released flat in both the UK and US. It starred and was directed by Dennis O'Keefe. Irwin Allen's Dangerous Mission released by RKO in 1954 featuring Allen's trademarks of an all star cast facing a disaster (a forest fire). .

3D's final decline was in the late spring of 1954, for the same reasons as the previous lull, as well as the further success of widescreen formats with theater operators. Even though Polaroid had created a well-designed "Tell-Tale Filter Kit" for the purpose of recognizing and adjusting out of sync and phase 3D,[citation needed] exhibitors still felt uncomfortable with the system and turned their focus instead to processes such as CinemaScope. The last 3D feature to be released in that format during the "Golden era" was Revenge of the Creature, on February 23, 1955. Ironically, the film had a wide release in 3D and was well received at the box office.[20]
[edit] Revival (19601984) in single strip format

Stereoscopic films largely remained dormant for the first part of the 1960s, with those that were released usually being anaglyph exploitation films. One film of notoriety was the BeaverChampion/Warner Bros. production, The Mask (1961). The film was shot in 2-D, but to enhance the bizarre qualities of the dream-world that is induced when the main character puts on a cursed

tribal mask, these scenes went to anaglyph 3D. These scenes were printed by Technicolor on their first run in red/green anaglyph. Although 3D films appeared sparsely during the early 1960s, the true second wave of 3D cinema was set into motion by Arch Oboler, the same producer who started the craze of the 1950s. Using a new technology called Space-Vision 3D, stereoscopic films were printed with two images, one above the other, in a single academy ratio frame, on a single strip, and needed only one projector. Arch Oboler once again had the vision for the system that no one else would touch, and put it to use on his film entitled The Bubble, which starred Michael Cole, Deborah Walley, and Johnny Desmond. As with Bwana Devil, the critics panned The Bubble, but audiences flocked to see it, and it became financially sound enough to promote the use of the system to other studios, particularly independents, who did not have the money for expensive dual-strip prints of their productions. In 1970, Stereovision, a new entity founded by director/inventor Allan Silliphant and optical designer Chris Condon, developed a different 35 mm single-strip format, which printed two images squeezed side-by-side and used an anamorphic lens to widen the pictures through Polaroid filters. Louis K. Sher (Sherpix) and Stereovision released the softcore sex comedy The Stewardesses (self-rated X, but later re-rated R by the MPAA). The film cost $100,000 USD to produce, and ran for months in several markets.[citation needed] eventually earning $27 million in North America, alone ($140 million in constant-2010 dollars) in fewer than 800 theaters, becoming the most profitable 3-Dimensional film to date, and in purely relative terms, one of the most profitable films ever. It was later released in 70 mm 3D. Some 36 films worldwide were made with Stereovision over 25 years, using either a widescreen (above-below), anamorphic (side by side) or 70 mm 3D formats.[citation needed] In 2009 The Stewardesses was remastered by Chris Condon and director Ed Meyer, releasing it in XpanD 3D, RealD Cinema and Dolby 3D. The quality of the 1970s 3D films was not much more inventive, as many were either softcore and even hardcore adult films, horror films, or a combination of both. Paul Morrisey's Flesh For Frankenstein (aka Andy Warhol's Frankenstein) was a superlative example of such a combination. .
[edit] Rebirth of 3D (19852003)

In the mid-1980s, IMAX began producing non-fiction films for its nascent 3D business, starting with We Are Born of Stars (Roman Kroitor, 1985). A key point was that this production, as with all subsequent IMAX productions, emphasized mathematical correctness of the 3D rendition and thus largely eliminated the eye fatigue and pain that resulted from the approximate geometries of previous 3D incarnations. In addition, and in contrast to previous 35mm based 3D presentations, the very large field of view provided by IMAX allowed a much broader 3D "stage", arguably as important in 3D film as it is theatre. In 1986, The Walt Disney Company began more prominent use of 3D films in special venues to impress audiences, Captain Eo (Francis Ford Coppola, 1986) starring Michael Jackson, being a very notable example. In the same year, the National Film Board of Canada production

Transitions (Colin Low), created for Expo 86 in Vancouver, was the first IMAX presentation using polarized glasses. Echoes of the Sun (Roman Kroitor, 1990) was the first IMAX film to be presented using alternate-eye shutterglass technology, a development required because the dome screen precluded the use of polarized technology. From 1990 onward, numerous films were produced by all three parties to satisfy the demands of their various high-profile special attractions and IMAX's expanding 3D network. Films of special note during this period include the extremely successful Into the Deep (Graeme Ferguson, 1995) and the first IMAX 3D fiction film Wings of Courage (1996), by director Jean-Jacques Annaud, about the pilot Henri Guillaumet. Other stereoscopic films produced in this period include:

The Last Buffalo (Stephen Low, 1990) Jim Henson's Muppet*Vision 3D (Jim Henson, 1991) Imagine (John Weiley, 1993) Honey, I Shrunk the Audience (Daniel Rustuccio, 1994) Into the Deep (Graeme Ferguson, 1995) Across the Sea of Time (Stephen Low, 1995) Wings of Courage (Jean-Jacques Annaud, 1996) L5, First City in Space (Graeme Ferguson, 1996) T2 3-D: Battle Across Time (James Cameron, 1996) Paint Misbehavin (Roman Kroitor and Peter Stephenson, 1997) IMAX Nutcracker (1997) The Hidden Dimension (1997) T-Rex: Back to the Cretaceous (Brett Leonard, 1998) Mark Twain's America (Stephen Low, 1998) Siegfried & Roy: The Magic Box (Brett Leonard, 1999) Galapagos (Al Giddings and David Clark, 1999) Encounter in the Third Dimension (Ben Stassen, 1999) Alien Adventure (Ben Stassen, 1999) Ultimate G's (2000) Cyberworld (Hugh Murray, 2000) Cirque du Soleil: Journey of Man (Keith Melton, 2000) Haunted Castle (Ben Stassen, 2001) Space Station 3D (Toni Myers, 2002) SOS Planet (Ben Stassen, 2002)

World 3-D Expositions

In September 2003, Sabucat Productions organized the first World 3-D Exposition, celebrating the 50th anniversary of the original craze. The Expo was held at Grauman's Egyptian Theatre. During the two-week festival, over 30 of the 50 "golden era" stereoscopic features (as well as shorts) were screened, many coming from the collection of film historian and archivist Robert Furmanek, who had spent the previous 15 years painstakingly tracking down and preserving each film to its original glory. In attendance were many stars from each film, respectively, and some were moved to tears by the sold-out seating with audiences of film buffs from all over the world who came to remember their previous glories.

In May 2006, the second World 3-D Exposition was announced for September of that year, presented by the 3-D Film Preservation Fund. Along with the favorites of the previous exposition were newly discovered features and shorts, and like the previous Expo, guests from each film. Expo II was announced as being the locale for the world premiere of several films never before seen in 3D, including The Diamond Wizard and the Universal short, Hawaiian Nights with Mamie Van Doren and Pinky Lee. Other "re-premieres" of films not seen since their original release in stereoscopic form included Cease Fire!, Taza, Son of Cochise, Wings of the Hawk, and Those Redheads From Seattle. Also shown were the long-lost shorts Carmenesque and A Day in the Country (both 1953) and William Van Doren Kelley's two Plasticon shorts (1922 and 1923).
[edit] Reported audience decline

In the wake of its initial popularity and corresponding increase in the number of screens, more films are being released in the 3D format. However, industry observers have noted that 2011 showed a considerable decline in audience interest. For instance, only 45% of the premiere weekend box office earnings of Kung Fu Panda 2 came from 3D screenings as opposed to 60% for Shrek Forever After in 2010.[31] In addition, the premiere of Cars 2 opening weekend gross consisted of only 37% from 3D theatres.[32] Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 and Captain America: The First Avenger were major releases that achieved similar percentages: 43% and 40% respectively.[33] In view of this trend, there has been box office analysis concluding the implementation of 3D presentation is apparently backfiring by discouraging people from going to movie theatres at all. As Brandon Gray of Box Office Mojo notes, "In each case, 3D's moremoney-from-fewer-people approach has simply led to less money from even fewer people."[34] According to the Motion Picture Association of America, despite a record total of 47 3D movies being released in 2011, the overall domestic box office receipts were down 18% to $1.8 billion from $2.2 billion in 2010.[35] Although revenues as a whole increased during 2012, the bulk has so far come from 2D presentations as exemplified by little over 50% of moviegoers opting to see the likes of The Avengers and 32% choosing Brave in their 3D versions. Conflicting reasons are respectively offered by studios and exhibitors: whereas the former blame more expensive 3D ticket prices, the latter argue that the quality of movies in general is at fault. However, despite the perceived decline of 3D in the U.S. market, studio chiefs are optimistic of better receipts internationally, where there still appears to be a strong appetite for the format.[36][37] Studios are also using 3D to generate additional income from films that are already commercially successful. Such re-releases usually involve a conversion from 2D. For example, Disney has reissued both The Lion King and Beauty and the Beast, with plans to add some of its other wellknown titles.[38] Titanic has also been modified for 3D,[39] and there are also plans to similarly present all six Star Wars films.[40] Jeffrey Katzenberg, one of the leading proponents of 3D film and the producer of some of the most critically acclaimed films in this format, such as How to Train Your Dragon and Kung Fu Panda 2 (RT 82%[41]), blames oversaturation of the market with inferior films, especially ones photographed conventionally and then digitally processed in post-production. Examples include The Last Airbender (RT 6%[42]) and Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore (RT 13%[43]), which have led audiences to conclude that the format is not worth the additional expense to see.[44] Daniel Engber, a columnist for Slate, comes to a similar conclusion: "What happened to 3-D? It may have died from a case of acute septicemiatoo much crap in the system."[45]

However, at the global box office there are six films whose combined 2D and 3D versions achieved grosses of over $1 billion each: three in 2011, two in 2010 and one in 2009. Film critic Mark Kermode, a noted detractor of 3D, has surmised that there is an emerging policy of distributors to limit the availability of 2D versions, thus 'railroading' the 3D format into cinemas whether the paying moviegoer likes it or not. This was especially prevalent during the release of Prometheus in 2012, where only 30% of prints for theatrical exhibition (at least in the UK) were in 2D.[46] His suspicions were later reinforced by a substantial number of complaints about Dredd from those who wished to see it in 2D but were denied the opportunity.[47] [edit] Techniques
See also: Stereoscopy

Stereoscopic motion pictures can be produced through a variety of different methods. Over the years the popularity of systems being widely employed in movie theaters has waxed and waned. Though anaglyph was sometimes used prior to 1948, during the early "Golden Era" of 3D cinematography of the 1950s the polarization system was used for every single feature length movie in the United states, and all but one short film.[48] In the 21st century, polarization 3D systems have continued to dominate the scene, though during the 1960s and 1970s some classic films which were converted to anaglyph for theaters not equipped for polarization, and were even shown in 3D on television.[49] In the years following the mid-1980s, some movies were made with short segments in anaglyph 3D. The following are some of the technical details and methodologies employed in some of the more notable 3D movie systems that have been developed.
[edit] Producing 3D films [edit] Live action Further information: Stereoscopy#Stereo photography techniques

The standard for shooting live-action films in 3D involves using two cameras mounted so that their lenses are about as far apart from each other as the average pair of human eyes, recording two separate images for both the left eye and the right eye. In principle, two normal 2D cameras could be put side-to-side but this is problematic in many ways. The only real option is to invest in new stereoscopic cameras. Moreover, some cinematographic tricks that are simple with a 2D camera become impossible when filming in 3D. This means those otherwise cheap tricks need to be replaced by expensive CGI.[50] In 2008, Journey to the Center of the Earth became the first live-action feature film to be shot with the earliest Fusion Camera System released in Digital 3D and was later followed by several others. Avatar (2009) was shot in a 3D process that is based on how the human eye looks at an image. It was an improvement to the existing 3D camera system. Many 3D camera rigs still in use simply pair two cameras side by side, while newer rigs are paired with a beam splitter or both camera lenses built into one unit. While Digital Cinema cameras are not a requirement for 3D they are the predominant medium for most of what is photographed. Film options include IMAX 3D and Cine 160.

[edit] Animation

CGI animated films can be rendered as stereoscopic 3D version by using two virtual cameras. Because the entire movie is basically a 3D model, it only takes twice the rendering time and a little effort to properly set up stereoscopic views. In 2004 The Polar Express was the first stereoscopic 3D computer-animated feature film. In November 2005, Walt Disney Studio Entertainment released Chicken Little in digital 3D format. The first 3D feature by DreamWorks Animation, Monsters vs Aliens, followed in 2009 and used a new digital rendering process called InTru3D, which was developed by Intel to create more realistic animated 3D images. InTru3D is not used to exhibit 3D films in theaters; they are shown in either RealD 3D or IMAX 3D.
[edit] 2D to 3D conversion Main article: 2D to 3D conversion

In the case of 2D CGI animated films that were generated from 3D models, it is possible to return to the models to generate a 3D version. For all other 2D films, different techniques must be employed. For example, for the 3D rerelease of the 1993 film The Nightmare Before Christmas, Walt Disney Pictures scanned each original frame and manipulated them to produce left-eye and right-eye versions. Dozens of films have now been converted from 2D to 3D. There are several approaches used for 2D to 3D conversion, most notably depth-based methods

Ocean Wonderland (2003) Falling in Love Again (Munro Ferguson, 2003) Misadventures in 3D (Ben Stassen, 2003)

By 2004, 54% (133 theaters of 248) of the IMAX community was 3D-capable.[21] Shortly thereafter, higher quality computer animation, competition from DVDs and other media, digital projection, digital video capture, and the use of sophisticated IMAX 70mm film projectors, created an opportunity for another wave of 3D films a 3D film, and the lack of a standardized format for all segments of the entertainment business. Nonetheless, 3D films were prominently featured in the 1950s in American cinema, and later experienced a worldwide resurgence in the 1980s and 1990s driven by IMAX high-end theaters and Disney themed-venues. 3D films became more and more successful throughout the 2000s, culminating in the unprecedented success of 3D presentations of Avatar in December 2009 and January 2010.