Apple Reveals Wildly Intelligent Multi-Tiered Haptics System
...a wildly intelligent multi-tiered haptics system. The system will actually allow an iDevice display to deform so that it could provide the user with a button, an arrow or even a geological map to physically pop right out of the screen to give it 3D depth. If that wasn't cool enough, Apple's patent discusses a flexible OLED display that could be used for video glasses. ...
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Peter Jackson Considering Dolby Atmos for ‘The Hobbit’
Peter Jackson is considering the new Dolby Atmos audio format to create the sounds of Middle Earth for The Hobbit, his two-part prequel to The Lord of the Rings.
“Dolby are coming down to New Zealand to give us a demonstration,” Jackson told The Hollywood Reporter. “Our particular postproduction schedule is reasonably tight (but) three dimensional sound would be fantastic. If we can do it I would be pretty keen.”
Jackson is already experimenting with advancing technology onThe Hobbit. The films are being shot in 3D and -- for the first time on a major Hollywood film -- at 48 frames per second.
The Dolby Atmos format is developed to create “lifelike” and “immersive” sound and involves the placement of speakers all around an auditorium as well as across the ceiling. The system is designed to transmit up to 128 simultaneous and lossless audio channels, and renders from 5.1 up to 64 discrete speaker feeds, according to Dolby. ...
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Unveiling of “Glasses Free” 3D TV Advertising Network
Elixir XES 3D announces phase 1 of the world’s first glasses free 3D TV advertising network, located at the Tropicana Resort and Casino in Atlantic City, NJ. Through the Elixir XES 3D proprietary technology brilliant images literally dance off the screen in front of the viewer – without the need for 3D glasses. Elixir XES 3D has partnered with Viaduct International for sales and distribution of this state-of-the-art, industry changing advertising opportunity. Elixir and Viaduct share the excitement of the Tropicana Resort and Casino in introducing the world’s first deployment of their autostereoscopic 3DTV. ...
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Handheld 3D Scanner Let’s You Digitize Objects And Rooms In Minutes
A Silicon Valley startup wants to give you the power to “scan your world” with a handheld scanner that rapidly creates 3D maps of objects and rooms, complete with colors and textures. While it may seem like you’d have to have a steady hand and move slowly through a room to scan it, a demo video of the device from MatterPort implies that the 3D maps can be generated by simply passing it through the space, sort of like virtually painting a room. Just imagine you’re using a squeegee and you get the idea. Inone of its promotional videos, the startup even claims, “MatterPort does for 3D modeling what photography did for painting.”According to co-founder Mike Beebe, the device is 20 times faster than other 3D scanners on the market.
And if you think it looks like a hacked Kinect sensor attached to a handle, you’re not too far off — Kinect was used in the prototype....
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Peter Jackson Responds to ‘Hobbit’ Footage Critics, Explains 48-Frames Strategy
...“A lot of the critical response I was reading was people saying it’s different. Well, yes, it certainly is,” Jackson, speaking by phone from New Zealand, said. “But I think, ultimately, it is different in a positive way, especially for 3D, especially for epic films and films that are trying to immerse the viewer in the experience of a story.”
Jackson’s epic, which Warners will release Dec. 14, will be the first major motion picture to be made in 48 fps – a different aesthetic look that Jackson believes can result in smoother, more lifelike pictures.
While many at the crowded showroom at Caesars Palace applauded the depth and detail in the large-scale battle sequences, some found more intimate daylight sequences too crisp and bright, complaining that they looked more like HD video and that the new process sacrificed a traditional “cinematic” feeling.
A number of bloggers, whose opinions quickly ricocheted across the web, found fault with the 48 fps footage. ...
Jackson acknowledged that the short, ten-minute clip package -- ranging from action sequences to quieter moments between Martin Freeman’s Bilbo Baggins and Andy Serkis‘ Gollum – may have been too brief for viewers to acclimate to the new process.
“It does take you a while to get used to,” he said. ...
Because of that, he isn’t planning to release a 48 fps trailer for the movie. ...
"You get used to it reasonably quickly,” he said, commenting that now when he views traditional 24 frames footage, “I’m very aware of the strobing, the flicker and the artifacts."...
Because production is not scheduled to wrap until July, the customary postproduction that affects the overall look of a film has not yet been done, so the clips were unfinished. They were not yet color corrected, nor had the visual effects been completed. (In various scenes the actors were shown performing in front of a greenscreen.)
Jackson explained that his original The Lord of the Rings used various postproduction techniques to create a certain look for the movies, including “extensive” digital color grading, “added texture, and we took out highlights."
“We’ll do the same with The Hobbit, to make it consistent and give it the feeling of otherworldliness – to get the mood, the tone, the feel of the different scenes,” he said. “We are certainly going to experiment with different finishing techniques to give the 48 frames a look that is more organic. But that work isn’t due to start until we wrap photography in July (both Hobbit films are being shot simultaneously)."
Jackson is also lensing the movie – which is being shot in 3D, a first for the franchise – using Red Epic cameras with 3Ality Technica 3D rigs.
The Red Epic, Jackson explained, allowed him to shoot in 5K resolution. (5K refers to the number of horizontal pixels that compose a frame.) Today, movies are generally lensed and projected at 2K, though the industry is moving in the direction of 4K.
“It is very clean. On a 5K camera you are seeing very crisp pictures,” he said. ...
In contrast to the first wave of skeptical tweets, a sampling of reaction from exhibitors, studio executives and producers at Cinemacon found many saying that 48 fps represents the wave of the future.
At one panel, Regal CEO Amy Miles said her circuit is committed to 48 frame rates, and that technological advances are key to a thriving in the exhibition business. ...
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Ang Lee’s ‘Life of Pi’ Stuns CinemaCon Audience With 3D Visual Poetry
"Life of Pi," director Ang Lee's 3D adaptation of the best-selling novel, left the audience of movie exhibitors at the CinemaCon convention breathless on Thursday with its stunning, visually poetic shots of an Indian boy stranded on the open sea with a Bengal tiger.
The 3D images of the young protagonist (Suraj Sharma) battling a tiger, a storm and a school of flying fish did more to illustrate the ground-breaking possibilities of the technology than 10 "Amazing Spider-Mans" or "Men in Black."
"The real movie will be more moving, and more spectacular," promised the overly humble Lee from the theater stage, who has said elsewhere at the convention that learning how to shoot in 3D was a struggle.
Lee showed only about 20 minutes of footage of the film which hits theaters at Christmas, but it was enough to dazzle audiences, and hold out the prospect of both box office success and critical acclaim. If "Avatar" was 3D's "Birth of a Nation" than Ang Lee's "Life of Pi" may be its "Citizen Kane." ...
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Sony Rolls Out Digital Media Academy Program For Higher Education
Sony Electronics is teaming up with higher education institutions in a new program called Sony Digital Media Academy – a collaboration between Sony and academic institutions to foster and fuel innovative approaches and facilitate new expressive applications of digital media technologies.
Nine institutions have signed up to participate in the kick-off of the program, including:
- American University, School of Communication -- Washington, D.C.
- Drexel University, Antoinette Westphal College of Media Arts & Design –Philadelphia, PA
- New York University, Tisch School of the Arts -- New York
- School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC), Chicago, IL
- The Florida State University, College of Motion Picture Arts –Tallahassee, FL
- UCLA, School of Theater, Film and Television – Los Angeles
- UC San Diego, Division of Arts and Humanities – San Diego, Calif.
- University of Central Florida, College of Arts & Humanities -- Orlando, FL
- University of Southern California, School of Cinematic Arts – Los Angeles
Sony is supporting successful proposals with a range of technologies, including 3D Handycam® camcorders, VAIO® computers, Alpha DSLR cameras and Sony Tablets.
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TCL Multimedia Recorded Growth in Turnover and Gross Profit Margin in the First Quarter of 2012 (China 3D TV sales stats)
...the Group actively capitalized on the opportunity as being an exclusive partner of the PRC CCTV's first 3D TV channel, and was dedicated to developing the booming 3D TV market. In the first quarterof this year, sales volume of 3D TVs amounted to 0.22 million sets. Sales volume of 3D TVs as apercentage of LCD TV sales volume in the PRC Market increased to 13.2%. Sales volume of smart & internet TVs amounted to 0.55 million sets, accounting for 32.3% of LCD TV sales volume in the PRC Market. ...
The Group's sales volume of TVs and AV products by regions are shown below:
First quarter First quarter Change
of 2012 of 2011
('000 sets) ('000 sets)
LCD TVs 3,219 1,928 +67.0%
of which: LED backlight LCD TVs 2,022 599 +237.6%
Smart & internet TVs 551 84 +556.0%
3D TVs 250 0.5 +49,900.0%
- PRC 1,706 1,331 +28.2%
- Overseas 1,513 597 +153.4%
CRT TVs 765 1,163 (34.2%)
- PRC 86 377 (77.2%)
- Overseas 679 786 (13.6%)
Total TV sales volume 3,984 3,091 +28.9%
Total AV products sales volume 3,368 4,403 (23.5%)
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GfK: 3DTV Demand is Staggering 122%, 30% of All TVs to be 3D in 2013?
During the IFA Global Press Conference 2012 event that recently took place in Dubrovnik, Croatia, executives from retail sales analyst firm GfK gave out quite surprising sales trends in the EMEA region. According to Jurgen Boyny, Global Director for GfK Retail and Technology, growth of demand for 3DTV surprised the industry in the second half of 2011. Furthermore, the growth in 2012 accelerated and GfK now expects to see the growth opportunity of no less than 122% during 2012. This is even higher adoption rate than Smart TV, which is expected to grow by 56%, or LED TV, a nice marketing name for LED-backlit LCD-TVs.
Read the full story here: http://www.brightsideofnews.com/news/2012/4/25/gfk-3dtv-demand-is-staggering-122252c-3025-of-all-tvs-to-be-3d-in-2013.aspx