Qumarion ‘Robot’ Brings Mannequins To Life
We live in an age of 3D models of just about everything, but they can be tough to manipulate with existing software tools. This Qumarion is a “mannequin input device” that allows 3D modellers to modify existing human models in real time. ...the device uses its array of 32 sensors over 16 joints...
See the full story and watch the video here:
NEC Launches New 3D Starter Kit for Schools to Gain Easy Access to 3D Experience
NEC Display Solutions Europe has announced a new 3D starter kit for schools. Similar to the very successful first version of the 3D starter kit this complete package includes NEC’s new 3D glasses and market-leading 3D content and software in one handy kit to provide easy access for schools looking to introduce the 3D experience into the classroom. ...
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Maker Faire Bay Area 2012 Highlights Including Speakers, Attractions, and More
Maker Faire, the Greatest Show (and Tell) on Earth, held on May 19 and 20 at the San Mateo County Event Center, promises a memorable weekend of creativity, learning, inspiration, and making. From learning about Arduino and 3D printing, to interacting with robots, a life-size electric giraffe and mobile muffins, Maker Faire has it all. In addition to well over 700 Makers exhibiting their amazing creations at the festival, speakers, special events, and other highlights of the weekend...
Calendar Editors A celebration of DIY culture, Maker Faire Bay Area 2012 runs Saturday-Sunday, May 19-20, at the San Mateo County Event Center, 1346 Saratoga Drive, San Mateo. Saturday, 10 am to 8 pm; Sunday, 10 am to 6 pm. $12 - $30; ages 3 and under are free. http://www.makerfaire.com . To purchase tickets, including weekend passes: www.makerfaire.com . ...
See the original press release here:
New 3D Audio Experiments (from Perth, Australia)
[Philip Lelyveld comment: this music producer in Perth, Australia has produced two very good, short 3D audio clips.]
[pogomix]
I was feeling adventurous last night. I was making progress with my remake of the Outset Island theme from Wind Waker, when I imagined how cool it would be to extrude the instruments into virtual 3D space like I did with ‘Upular’ a while back. I busted out the dummy head microphones and spread my speakers across the room. In Ableton Live, I routed each instrument to one of the 4 speakers, and experimented angling and positioning them to get believable results. I don’t think it’s quite there yet, but I’m very satisfied with how it turned out. Below is a screenshot of the composition in Ableton. ....
Listen to the audio clips WITH YOUR HEADPHONES ON here:
Judging high-frame-rate technology [and other NAB cinema news]
Technology is changing so rapidly in the motion picture arena that keeping up with it is nearly a full-time job. It certainly stood front and center at the recent CinemaCon convention in Las Vegas, where there were demonstrations of high frame rates, laser illumination and immersive 3D sound systems. ...
With major filmmakers behind 48 fps movies, this innovation is here to stay, just like digital and 3D. 48 fps also allows for the creation of very smooth slow-motion scenes, simply by double-printing each frame to yield a 24 fps half-speed version. Even for full-speed scenes, 48 fps has advantages. Fast camera moves no longer cause “strobing” and individual frames are sharper. ...
The Theatre of the Future
So what will the motion picture theatre of the future look like? We certainly got a taste of it over the last 12 months with high frame rates, laser technology, 3D immersive sound systems and booth-less cinemas all making news. Regardless of the new technologies, content remains king. The theatre may be constructed differently and what’s on the screen may be projected in a new way, but business will be predicated on the film itself. If it’s good, box office will be strong, and if it’s not so good, grosses will spiral downward. ...
On the audio front, 3D immersive sound systems add a new element of play for movie audiences. And five companies are hoping that the implementation will accelerate now. Here’s how they describe their innovations: ... [Barco, Dolby, imm sound, SRS Labs, IOSONO] ...
Booth-less cinemas are another new concept that could catch on, as they can eliminate nearly 20 percent of the construction costs of a new theatre. At a time when exhibition is being asked to spend a great deal of money on upgrades, 3D, HFR, lasers and 3D sound systems, the opportunity to save construction dollars will be vital to exhibition. FJI will report on this topic in the near future.
Physically, the theatre of the future will be quite different, but what keeps people coming back is the story. And as long as our great filmmakers keep making movies that are emotionally entertaining, audiences will flock to them. It certainly is one of America’s favorite and cheapest pastimes.
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Dimension 3 Festival (June 13-15) includes a competition in 8 categories of 3D content
From the 13th to 15th June the Dimension 3 Forum welcomes worldwide professionals and experts for a state of the art equipments and applications event dedicated to new images, from creation to screens. Dimension 3 takes place in the Paris region at the Docks de Paris in Plaine Saint-Denis.
This year, Dimension 3 Festival and Dimension 3 Market welcomes 90 programmes from 14 countries(France, Germany, United Kindom, Rep tzcheque, Singapore, Ukraine, Russia, Canada, Italia, USA, Poland, Corea, Finland, Swiss). « We are pleased to see the raise of a serious competition between programmes registered to the Festival within the feature and the documentary categories. These two categories gather 22 films, a record for the Festival which developped a competition since now 3 years. It proves that S3D storytelling is not reserved to block-busters and it shows that we were on time to create Dimension 3 content Market regarding the maturity of the industry. There is a lake of visibility for most of the independant producers who take the challenge to develop S3D projects. Buyers looking for S3D content discover a lot of the content shown at Dimension 3. Most of companies producing indépendant content are too small to afford a booth in international and traditionnal Markets. So we felt this year it was time now to better interface the offer and demand. 25 programs are registered to the market. These programs will be avalaible to watch on demand on pods on the Dimension 3 Market screening space opened to attendees with conferences and market passes. All Dimension 3 visitors will also have the opportunity to see a 3 days loop with the Festival 26 nominated contents (or excerpt) in a free access auditorium», says Nathalie Klimberg, Dimension 3 Festival and Market Manager.
To celebrate all these S3D content, on June 14th, the Dimension 3 award ceremony will gather 300 to 400 international professionals. With the support of AUTODESK and Eutelsat sponsors and with partners as Volfoni and DVS, the rewarded producers will receive a 'Dimmy Award' plus prizes such as postproduction facility for DCP or glasses kits.
The 8 categories of the festival:
• Feature Film (Live, action and animation)
• Short film
• TV program (one shot or series)
• Animation (one shot or series)
• Live acquisition
• Special Formats
• Advertisment – Corporate – Graphics – Video clip
• School films
They have registered contents to the Festival and/or the Market
ZDF Enterprises - HesseGreutert Film - Bee Films – Lisaa - Gédéon Programmes - Les Films d'Antoine - Lardux Films - La bouée bleue - Creative Director - Nanyang Technological University - Animatix 4D Studio - Digital Prod - Anokhin Andrey - Story Hotel - Martin Hans Schmidt - 3DLIVE - Skeleton Girl Productions Inc - Redeye Filmstudio – Soulcam - 3net - Karus Productions - École nationale supérieure Louis Lumière - Supinfocom Arles - Muvi AG - ODEON & CIE - 3D Entertainment Distribution Ltd – Ascenceo - Camera Lucida –ONF -Nicolas Charmel - Day for Night -Shoreline Entertainment -Urubu SAS -Pongolin Films -Melrae Pictures LLC -Pogo Films -Emoticom AG -Outer Space Productions - Isart Digital - Milosz Hermanowicz - East Pictures - Ethnos SNC - Dongguk University - Bigger Pictures - Kalejdoskop Film - Music Delight GmbH - North Karelian University of applied sciences - Red Star 3D - KAFARD FILMS – Cow Prod – Electric Sky – Parallelle Cinema – 3D Video Leeds – Icon Films - North Karelian University of applied sciences...
See more info about the program here:
Nintendo cancels 3D TV service and Aqua Blue 3DS
When Nintendo first launched the 3DS, a separate 3D TV service was announced for Japan called “Itsu no Ma ni Terebi”. The service was launched in June last year and served up short video clips of 3D content to viewers for free. Nintendo has announced that they’re planning to cancel the service on June 20th, only a year after it first launched and with a million viewers served.
It’s not the end of the world: Nintendo say that users will still be able to download clips through its own service, the Nintendo Video Channel. Clips will still be occasionally offered for free, ... Games can look good on the display, but movies and videos would have made for a compelling argument if they were demoed more. ...
See the full post here
3D Systems CEO: We want 3D printing to be as big as the iPad
3D printing will be the canvas of the 21st century.”
That’s the prediction being made by Abe Reichental, the CEO of 3D Systems and biggest cheerleader of the Cube, his company’s first 3D printer built with the mass market consumer in mind.
While 3D Systems more or less created the industrial side of the 3D printing business, the Cube is its foray into a more fledging, uncertain side of the industry.
Reichental, however, is certain of his goal: To democratize creativity. “My assertion is that everyone can be creative if you remove all the friction and intimidation,” Reichental told VentureBeat at a press event in New York City.
That friction comes in two forms. One form, of course, is price, which is a problem for any emerging industry. The Cube, for example, will run for $1299 when it’s released this month, and rival MarkerBot’s Replicatoralready runs for $1700. Those aren’t nearly mass market prices, which is a reality Reichental seems to recognize. ...
He also aims to make it vastly easier for users to create objects and share them with others.
“There are very few artists around the world that can start painting on a blank canvas, but there are millions of people who can use a coloring book,” he said. ...
See the original story here;
Tim Burton Talks Striving For Imperfection With Frankenweenie
...
What was it like to post-convert this to 3D?
Whether you shoot it [in 3D] or it’s a conversion, you need time. You can see bad 3D or a bad conversion, or good both. It’s just a question of spending the time with it. The great thing about something like this, and it was the same on Nightmare, is that it doesn’t get any clearer than this, in terms of what the sets were and the position and the distance. All the information is there to make the conversion the way it needs to be. ...
See the full interview here:
LED TV and 3D TV Shipments to Soar in 2012, while Overall HDTV Market Remains Flat
... In some surprising news, 3D will also see a little bump in 2012, thanks to growing popularity in regions outside of North America. NPD DisplaySearch says that 3D should see a whopping 90 percent increase this year, for a total of 46 million units. The report does expect North America to be the leading 3D shipment region by 2014, with 3D becoming a standard feature on screen sizes above 40 inches. ...
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