I like films. I read some time ago about James Cameron's next film called Avatar. I think James tries always to innovate and to surprise us. He did with Aliens, Terminator and Titanic. These last two used very innovative CGI effects... and, of course, all of them were excellent movies! But his next project just makes me to drool! Avatar. Avatar. Avatar! ( a sci-fi action movie )
Keep this name in mind because gonna S.H.O.C.K you. Movies will be never the same! Before explaining you why, let me mention a related thing ... and you'll see why I must mention it now:
Today NVIDIA presented its 3D glasses on the CES ( I know, ELSA had something similar some time ago for the NVIDIA cards too ... but these ones are very improved ):
As you can see these are a pair of POLARIZED glasses, not the old blue-red ones ( do you remeber Back to the Future's Beefs's gang? :D ). To achieve the 3D effect correctly you'll need also a special 120Hz LCD ( so each 60Hz the image is swapped for each eye ). There are also some 3D monitors which generates automatically the effect but you need to be exactly on its front or the 3D effect will be lost... I think the glasses are a better solution because they allow you to move and turn your head with more freedom.
More info here:
http://www.fudzilla.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=11324&Itemid=1
By the way, DisplayPort 1.2 gonna include native hardware support for stereoscopy ( two different video signals, one for the right eye and other for the left one ).
That technology is very interesting. I don't know if you can see the 3D effect using simple paired-cross-eye images ( somebody simply cannot without getting a nice headache) ... but it's amazing if you can overlap these images together:
You can find more of these wonderful photographs at
http://digital-photography-school.com/blog/9-crazy-cross-eye-3d-photography-images-and-how-to-make-them/
Why I tell you all this? Because Avatar gonna use this kind of 3D technology! ( although I don't know if NVIDIA is involved in the Avatar's game ... probably not ). See this video with a very good explanation of the cameras which are being used to make Avatar and why you'll need a pair of polarized glasses:
The idea is to use two digital cameras... one gonna film for the right eye and the other for the left eye. Then, the image will be combined by the cinema's projector or a 120Hz monitor in the case of a PC. To achieve that, a pair of polarized glasses are needed... so the light incoming to you can be directed to the right or to your left eye. The red-blue glasses only generate ugly and cheesy artifcats! Polarized ones are much better in my opinion.
The only problem is that the cinema's projector needs to be adapted to this new technology... they will use two independent projectors: one will project the left eye frames and othe other the ones for the right eye. The frames will overlap on the screen... so the polarized glasses are used to filter the overlapped images for your eyes!
The only main problem I find with this is one: are you going to need to buy your own glasses or does the cinema will provide them? I prefer to buy my own polarized glasses in a site like Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/TV-Eyes-3-D-Glasses-Watch/dp/B000W9Y294/ref=tag_tdp_sv_edpp_i/188-3984203-8836026
I don't like to touch objects that other strange person used :p
There's also other problem... Avatar is expected to come by summer 2009 ( or december 2009... it was delayed to avoid other film's competency like Harry Potter or Star Trek XI and to finish last-minute things ). By then, the most important cinemas in the world must be already adapted for this new amazing 3D technology ( like IMAX did some time ago ) .. and that costs a lot of money and time!
Now let's talk a bit about the Avatar movie...
Here's a concept sketch showing one of the exotic world's creatures:
And the teaser poster:
The synopsis is something like this: a space marine enters a worm's hole and travels into an exotic world plenty of wild life. There are some intelligent creatures there slaving other. He will help the oppresed to fight for their freedom... or something similar! ( the argument is not yet unveiled ... but reminds me to the "The Time Machine" movie )
You can find much more details about the 3D system and the film on this excellent Vanity Fair's article:
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117983864.html?categoryid=1043&cs=1
I can't wait to watch it in 3D!
