James Cameron speaking at Advance 08 advertising conference (Credit: Microsoft)
Filmmaker James Cameron sees the world in stereo. So does everyone else, though, and that's exactly his point.
"When you are viewing in stereo, which is what we do," Cameron said, "more neurons are firing. More blood is pumping through the brain."
Cameron has been a big proponent of making movies in 3D, but he said that the digital projectors going into movie theatres are capable of showing more than just movies. Cameron's talk came as part of Microsoft's Advance 08 advertising conference, which was held this week in Redmond, Washington.
"That digital image can be live," Cameron said. "That digital image can be 3D."
He suggested such locations can show live sports and events, alongside impressive travelogues and other content.
"We're not quite there but we are on the cusp of that and people need to have a strategy for it," he said.
More than 1,000 theatres in the U.S. already have stereoscopic (3D-capable) projectors, while Cameron hopes that there will be 5,000 such facilities by the time his 3D movie Avatar debuts next year.
3D movies have often generated much more revenue than 2D versions of the same film, a potential boon to the entertainment industry. Retrofitting theatres with 3D technology is expensive and difficult, though, and some 3D advocates are unhappy with the pace of adoption.
"I feel as though things have dragged along, and it's been pretty disappointing," DreamWorks Animation SKG Chief Executive Jeffrey Katzenberg said in April, according to Reuters.
3D isn't just for theatres. The real revolution, Cameron said, comes as games and televisions also start appearing in three dimensions.
"Stereo production is the next big thing," he said. "We are born seeing in three dimensions. Most animals have two eyes and not one. There is a reason I think."
He noted that games, in particular, stand to benefit. First-person shooters become true first-person experiences, he said.
"You are in the game," he said. "This is the ultimate immersive media."
He noted that Ubisoft, which is making the game version of Avatar, already has a stereoscopic game up and running using a standard Xbox 360 and 3D glasses.
Cameron said that displays for laptops, phones and music players can be made stereoscopic even without needing special glasses.
The Windows operating system, Cameron said, should be viewable in 3D.
"They should be talking to their various partners," Cameron said.
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Cameron
22/05/2008 10:45 AM
When you can provide a steroscopic image wihtout any extra cost of silly glasses, then it may catch on, may... And stereo 3D on the desktop? Not with this generation of UIs. Designers would need to go back to the drawing board and make that extra dimension actually mean something whilst maintaining usability. No, I don't think stereo 3D is the next big thing for human-computer-interaction, it's much much more likely that multi-direct input devices (multi-touch) will foster in new metaphors and UI paradigms long before stereo 3D has any real impact.
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Shroomer
28/05/2008 07:37 PM
Hi Cameron... there are auto stereoscopic monitors available that cost about $900 but samsung and mitsubishi make dlp tvs that can display stereoscopic content. Also Nvidia makes video cards that can take any DirectX or openGL program and convert it into 3D. There also also a few converter boxes for sale (on ebay) that can convert anything into 3D. Now with news like James Cameron, Disney, Pixar, Dreamworks and others (making statements of future movies in 3D only) Mitsubishi (laservue), Samsung and possibly Sony with an 3D enabled PS3...It's on it's way to becoming the next big thing and making a very huge impact on the way we play video games and watch movies.
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