ISee3D Inc. announced the availability of its single lens 3D capture technology.
According to the statement, existing two lens technologies suffer from cumbersome equipment, calibration issues, complex post-production work and high costs. ISee3D removes each of these barriers by allowing users to capture 3D video through one lens.
For more information visit: www.ISee3D.com
Unedited press release follows:
ISee3D Breaks With 100 Years of 3D Tradition-Introduces Innovative Single Lens Capture Technology
ISee3D Removes Barriers to Mass Adoption of 3D Eliminating Need for Two Cameras and Arduous Post-Production Work
TORONTO, ONTARIO–(Oct. 19, 2010) – ISee3D Inc. (TSX VENTURE:ICT) today announces the availability of its breakthrough single lens 3D technology designed to usher in a new era of 3D. Existing two lens technologies suffer from cumbersome equipment, calibration issues, complex post-production work, and high costs. ISee3D removes each of these barriers by allowing users to capture 3D video through one lens.
This advancement brings significant advantages to 3D capture, eliminating many of the problems inherent in current standards of shooting 3D. For the consumer market, it presents the first viable option to put natural, high quality 3D into existing devices with a camera. Cell phones, digital cameras, and camcorders can all utilize the ISee3D optical process to allow users to shoot and produce 3D with the ease and speed that they currently associate with 2D.
“Most 3D approaches have focused on improving existing post-production techniques; now ISee3D is bringing the advancement to the camera, not the computer. Our single-lens process streamlines the entire process and provides the most effective way to bring real-time 3D to the present,” says Dwight Romanica, CEO at ISee3D. “By using our technology to drive a new 3D era, based on a single lens, we can enable universal adoption across numerous markets opening 3D up to health care, consumer electronics, science, and manufacturing.”
New State of Single Lens – Better, Faster, Cheaper
ISee3D’s unique optical process simplifies 3D capture in many ways. Here are some elements of the process:
* Optical Switch: The original patents describe a method of capturing stereoscopic images by occluding the left and right half of a lens in sequence, which in essence moves the ‘center’ of the lens. This shifting center allows the capture of different perspectives through a single lens. These separate perspectives can then be fused together to create a single stereoscopic (3D) image.
* Perfectly Matched Image Pairs: Because both images are coming through one lens, the image pairs are always perfectly matched. Vertical, horizontal or rotational misalignment are non-issues with ISee3D enabled technology, and unlike other 3D capture methods, focus / zoom are as easy and natural in 3D as they are in 2D.
* Scalability: Because ISee3D’s technology scales across device sizes, it can be applied to many different industries from consumer electronics to car manufacturers, from health care to security. In each case, the optical switch can work within any device from endoscopes and cell phones, to the Hubble Space Telescope — making it possible for scientists, doctors, independent film-makers and average consumers to capture in 3D.
Old State of 3D: Bad for Your Health, Even Worse for Your Wealth…
Many of the issues that make shooting 3D so complex can be tied directly to the use of two cameras (or two lenses) to create 3D. They include:
* Cumbersome Equipment: Current 3D camera rigs holds two cameras and can easily weigh in at over 100 lbs. and demand significant physical space. This presents a challenge to the film crews who must be flexible and work quickly when filming scenes.
* Calibration Complexity: Because of current technology restraints, real time 3D isn’t economically feasible. Each camera must be specifically calibrated, a process that can take several hours as the cameras are sensitive to misalignment. This adversely affects the 3D quality, making the viewing experience uncomfortable and could lead to 3D sickness, or alternatively, require expensive post-production work to correct.
* Complex Production: Even with the most careful setup and calibration, post production correction is required just to correct differences between lenses, such as color tracking and misalignment. This ‘clean-up’ work is costly and time consuming.
* High Price Tag: The current offerings are still based on the old, two-lens technology that makes 3D expensive. Some movie directors may spend upwards of $300 million in production and post-production costs, causing a barrier for either shooing in 3D or doing a 2D-3D conversion cost.
Through its single lens image capture technology, ISee3D is creating a new world for 3D production, one in which capturing 3D is as easy as shooting in 2D.
About ISee3D
ISee3D is driving the universal adoption of 3D single lens capture – from consumers and Hollywood to health care and military. The company is introducing the first commercially feasible single lens, single camera 3D capture technology. Scalable in size from one mm in diameter to more than over 250 mm, the patented technology can be applied across many devices. Through its patented optical switch technology, ISee3D continues to aggressively pursue the best in 3D innovation to ensure an immersive 3D viewing experience, rather than the traditional two lenses or 2D conversion approaches that are the current standard. The company is headquartered in Toronto with offices in New York City, Vancouver, and Montreal.