World Wide Web 3D | Geolocation & Stereoscopic Space

Part II: Geolocation & Stereoscopic Space

Tim here, and I want to add to a series I'm going to deem World Wide Web 3D (WWW3D) from now on. This will be a multi-part post. However, please don't regard this posting series to be on a regular basis, but sporadically, as articles will come when they come. This article can be attributed in large part to the efforts of Adobe and their recent Web Updates. Adobe Edge brings web animation closer to After Effects, which does stereoscopic graphics as well as any other 3D software application. Where will the web go with this stereoscopic revolution regarding Google Maps?

Simply put: maps are geometric calculations based on the Earth, as measured via scientifically accurate measures from satellites. Google has a street view on major cities, but also very good 3D imaging. Mobile devices are now receiving those direct navigations more accurately, and thus with stereoscopic imaging on phones the major mapping corporations will be able to use all data to accurately portray certain information to people to make them more informed.

Imagine a situation... You and a friend are out in the world, someplace unfamiliar, and you decide to find food. Based on up to date information businesses can be found, and geolocation coordinates can be discovered. Most street view software used by Google images 360° all around a given point, and merges multiple photographs together to make a composite. Soon those multiple images will have simple stereo calculations providing stereo view through processor conversion. This of course requires algorithms written by a standards comity for various screen sizes...

Most WWW3D sites will require standard screen sizes, but at the same time if one could calculate the biggest screen size imaginable and go off percentages of that, then websites and stereo calculations can be easily derived. This comes to cooperation of web-enabled devices' manufacturers. I promise that's impossible in that competitive market. Thus, it will happen in due time: one year and six months. That's at least the time required for standards to be decided on and current autostereoscopic displays could be implemented on devices already out on market. Then the web's tool sets will have to be slightly refined to include stereo space more frequently, and some language may have to be written for commands and style settings.

Now this works perfectly with the major adoptive use for phones, but finding where you're trying to go, that's the big seller of mobile devices. That's why Google Maps was so important to iPhone users. Imagine when all mobile devices are feeding traffic patterns. I know most mobile phones can get an app now that uses to navigation features to give a speedometer. Major speeding violations could possibly be tracked via satellite, and cell carriers could be fined, forcing all passengers to reinforce slower driving. However, that's another concept for another time. The key is stereo integration. Those 3D maps will be able to help people navigate places better, and the future of 3D mapping will shock many.

Don't forget some thoughts on the future from our past interpretations. Automatically navigated vehicles are a major part of those future interpretations. It will be here because of the 3D mapping, which will accurately display more detailed information to the people at the controls. Even law enforcement will benefit because they could use newly gathered traffic data to designate specific speed limits at certain times to all the mobile users in a given area. That's some decent new regulations that are best for safety and avoiding speed traps easier because you're getting a constant reminder from a phone.

How easily will those stereoscopic devices be able to give back web pages that are in stereo? Especially when the software helps code the values in percentages for various screen sizes. This easily allows web designers to gear the stereo content for the maximum screen and each screen smaller than that to a certain percentage based on the standard display sizes. In its nature Adobe Edge does this for animations and other features to be supported on the various screens. Why can't stereo be as easily controlled?

Something that will become a staple of modern technology will be in New York City cabs, and other modern city taxi services, as eventually it is possible for them to have stereo HD touch-screens that run specific apps; such as globalization map oversight, internet connectivity, and naturally ads on both a local, federal, and international level. The experience will be different, but intelligent. Transactions will be able to controlled through it because all taxis will have little computer drives in them that are offloaded by a taxi company at the end of each shift. It's all going to be connected, and the stereo is for the passenger as much as the control is there for the companies, who will make revenue from the ads. Although there are no open plans for this yet, it's a natural evolutionary step to get giddy about. Sure will make taxi rides more bearable.

As a final thought to this topic: Apple led the way with their tablets. The first tablet company (Google's Android is looking solid to lead since MasterImage uses their software) to develop all this into a device that is stereo ready, and push the web aspects along with the app design structure, will reign huge amongst the others. It's an untapped market that will happen in the next year and six months. Adoption of standards, however? We'll see how standards come into practice, and in the next post I'll cover more specifically how future updates to Edge, based on where After Effects has reached, will allow stereographers to work more elegantly through a web environment.

Rumor Control: Glasses-Free 3D - Give Me Something That Works!

Yes, glasses-free (autostereoscopic) 3D technology is advancing. It's been advancing for a very long time, especially in the past 7 years and on hand-held devices. I've seen a plethora of these ideas come and go. "I've solved it! We have the technology to take away 3D glasses from watching stereoscopic movies!"

Right. Prove it. Don't show me in some darkened convention booth with my feet firmly planted in a small yellow circle painted on the floor. Prove it pragmatically - in a theater, with me sitting in all regions of place. I want to move my head around a bit for comfort, shift in my seat. And I want perfect, high resolution with support for up to at least 60 frames per second. Can't do it? Don't waste my time!

Much has been said and shared about the recent Wired article praising a new glasses-free 3D technology out of South Korea - I just shake my head in disgust. First of all the whole article is biased against 3D to begin with - here's its first sentence: "Watching 3-D movies generally means suffering through two things: crappy plotlines that favor spectacle over substance and the need to wear some annoying, dorky glasses."

Right. I've got news for you Adam Mann (author of the post), hating 3D is soooooo 2010. We're past it. Huge infrastructure investments have been made, movie goers support the format, most of the world's creative talent have embraced it and we are well past such ignorant journalism. You want something to hate that is actually in vogue? High frame rates. I am actually heavily in favor of HFR, but I can understand why others need to be heard right now to help shape its future - just as others voiced there opinion and helped shape 3D's future 6 years ago when I started MarketSaw. Back then, I helped educate and thoroughly evangelized 3D in all forums because most people needed it. Today, they're educated for the most part. Putting on 3D glasses for 2 hours is no more annoying than wearing sunglasses at the beach for 2 hours. It's old news. Very old.

If and when glasses-free technology exists THAT WORK, I will be first in line. But before then, there is NO story here. Ridiculous waste of time. The current polarized 3D glasses are just fine thank you.

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And about the whole supposed point of the Wired post - a NEW method that could allow glasses-free 3D in theaters - complete hogwash. That's lenticular technology (the vertical lines are clearly seen in this photo from their post) and it's been around for a VERY long time. It still has the same issues, the same frustrations. There is nothing new about it. Oh it's projected? WOW! That's novel! Not.

And other movie sites pick up the story! Spreading this misleading story. Why? It's Wired. A fairly good name in breaking tech stories. Heck MarketSaw has even been featured in it. Seeing how they've handled this fiasco though, brings me a great deal of pause. Wired ain't what it used to be it seems.

Here's my final word: Lenticular 3D has been around a very long time. It works - modestly in small scale situations, like movie posters. If you move your head around a bit, it doesn't work. It's horrible with resolutions. Artifacts exist in motion. Dead zones exist depending on your position relative to the screen. Now you're saying that you want to PROJECT this mess on to a HUGE screen and call it progress? Please.

Come back when you have something that actually works well and has the potential to work well.