4 Cameras. 3 Dimensions. 0 Glasses.

“When it comes to producing 3D TV content, the more cameras that are used to simultaneously record one shot, the better.

At least two cameras (or one camera with two lenses) are necessary to provide the depth information needed to produce the left- and right-eye images for conventional 3D, but according to researchers at Germany’s Fraunhofer Institute for Telecommunications, at least four cameras will be needed if we ever want to achieve glasses-free 3D TV.

Calibrating that many cameras to one another could ordinarily take days, however … which is why Fraunhofer has developed a system that reportedly cuts that time down to 30 to 60 minutes.”

How To “Touch” That 3D Character In Front of You…

“Here’s a 3D screen of a different kind: a research team at Japan’s Keio University has developed a display that allows users to “touch” virtual 3D characters.

The way the so-called RePro3D works is that it combines a naked-eye, full-parallax 3D display with a tactile interface that lets users manipulate virtual objects in a 3D environment with their fingers.

The makers explain:

RePro3D is a full-parallax 3D display system suitable for interactive 3D applications. The approach is based on a retro-reflective projection technology in which several images from a projector array are displayed on a retro-reflective screen. When viewers look at the screen through a half mirror, they see a 3D image superimposed on the real scene without glasses.”

Attack on a Single Cancer Cell Captured in 3D

“That white blob on the left is one of the ninjas living inside your body, a Natural Killer blood cell. This photograph shows it attacking a cancerous cell (on the right) in unprecedented detail.

The image was captured in 3D by an Imperial College London research team lead by Professor Daniel Davis. They used a completely new technique developed with the help of physicists and the college’s Photonics Group: optical laser tweezers combined with a super-resolution microscope.

Before this technique, microscopes captured multiple bi-dimensional slices and scientists stacked them up to create a 3D image. The process was slow, limiting the speed of the action. Furthermore, the resulting detail and resolution was poor.”

Scan 3D Objects With HP Topshot

“For some reason, HP thinks your small business really needs the ability to scan 3D objects — which is why it is releasing the TopShot LaserJet Pro.

“TopShot” is the fancy name for the all-in-one’s overhanging arm with a high resolution camera, which combines six images (three with flashes from different angles, and three in ambient light conditions with different exposure levels) to mimic a studio-like product shot.”

Toshiba To Launch 3D TV – No Glasses Needed

“If you’ve been waiting for someone to take the glasses part out of the current 3D TV viewing experience, Toshiba has finally put a launch date on its glasses-free 3D TV.

The world’s first to be available to the public at the size, the ZL2 will take its place at the top of the company’s range of sets when it launches this December in Germany (no word yet on other European countries, or anywhere else for that matter) complete with an LED-backlit QuadHD resolution (3,840 x 2,160) LCD panel and Cell-processor based CEVO engine technology within.”