3D: Here it Comes
We've talked on multiple occasions about the future environment of gaming: a room where you can adjust a three-dimensional image to any size you want.Here we go
(http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/050901/ukth016.html?.v=13, and thanks to Slashdot for the link):
PARIS and JENA, Germany, September 1 /PRNewswire/ -- Visitors at this year's IFA in Berlin will for the first time ever be able to experience live content streamed in a glasses-free, three-dimensional television format. Newsight GmbH (formally Opticality/X3D Technologies) has together with companies Grundig and 3D Image Processing (3D IP) succeeded in capturing live video and streaming it through an autostereoscopic 3D display system in real time whereas prior 3D content had been limited to post-production material.
Real-time 3D content without special glasses. Here's how they do it:
The innovation is based on the ability to capture 3D with a remarkable single stereo-camera 1920x1080 (HDTV) in combination with a real-time processing operation. In the past, such 3D content was typically captured with eight or sometimes two cameras, and then it was processed for delayed off-line playback. With this new advancement, a scene is captured live in two perspectives using a professional high-resolution stereo camera with special image processing hardware code-named Black Betty, developed by partner company 3D-IP. These two data streams are then routed through a converter chip, which synthesizes multiple viewpoints from a 3D scene in real time. A total of eight stereo views are generated, combined and then played back on a modified Grundig Tharus 3D TV screen.
Very professionally written press release-"typically captured with eight or sometimes two cameras?" Good grief, people.
Regardless, it's very impressive technology. And I think it clearly leads the way to the first 3D gaming device. Before 3D technology is ever incorporated into a console, a video processor will take output from a console (or PC) and convert it to 3D in real time. This will also require a custom monitor that will be bundled with the video processor. It will be a boutique item, clearly not mass-market, but unlike some new technologies like multi-GPU solutions that are largely overkill, this would be a product with a totally unique, immersive appeal.
How much would people pay for 3D games on a 21" monitor? If the effect was convincing, I can make this not-so-difficult guess: a lot.
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