Positive Technology Journal

By ADAM FLEMING (from www.presence-research.org) December 08, 2004 Say goodbye to your red-and-blue glasses. The once-great gimmick turned movie-house nostalgia could be in the waning hours of its twilight years, as scientists at the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center push forward with research in the blossoming field of 3-D technology, otherwise known as stereo visualization. Stuart Pomerantz and Joel Stiles hope to lower the cost and increase the convenience of displaying images and movies in 3-D for large groups of people. “We wanted to be able to show what we do in stereo, but do it, more or less, at the drop of a hat,” Stiles said, “or at very high quality, but very low cost compared to one of these gigantic, multi-projector, multi-screen systems.” The stereo-visualization process adopted by Pomerantz and Stiles involves two separate projectors. Each projector has a linear filter in front of its lens that polarizes the image it projects. Both images are then shown on one screen that is specially designed not to depolarize the images. By wearing a pair of sunglasses, for which each lens is polarized differently, the viewer receives separate images for each eye. And that, in effect, is the essence of viewing in 3-D. “You’ve got to see different images in each eye, just as we always do naturally,” Stiles explained. While reading this article, try covering your left eye. Now cover your right eye while uncovering your left, and you’ll notice that the paper appears to shift slightly. This is because humans see in stereo by forming a composite of two images. Stereo visualization, at its best, is an imitation of this natural process. Attaching polarizing lenses to projectors is not a new development, but Pomerantz and Stiles have coupled the process with new content and playback software. “What we needed to do new was create a pipeline for creating content in the form of movie files,” Stiles said. “We wanted to use stereo as a routine thing, instead of a special case or a one-off demo.” Professors at Pitt have already incorporated stereo visualization in the classroom. Kenneth Jordan and his colleagues in the chemistry department “designed and constructed a 3-D stereo-visualization system in one of the main lecture halls in the Chevron Science Center,” according to an October 2002 article in the University of Pittsburgh Teaching Times. The system in Chevron allows professors to display complex molecules and structures in 3-D, as opposed to the flat models found in textbooks and drawn on chalkboards. With stereo visualization appearing in labs and classrooms, how long will it be until methods of 3-D are available in movie theaters, or even living rooms? For now, the technology is willing, but the space is weak. The projected file size of a feature-length film, packaged for stereo visualization, would be too big for any widely available equipment. But with constant improvements being made in the storage capacity of portable disks, there may one day be a triumphant return of 3-D movies, sans those old paper glasses.