All posts by 3DM

3D, 3D Tech, Business

3D theaters continue to increase in number

From: 3D is “dead”, but 3D cinema screens rise is steady – Personal View Talks

And while “3D TV” is mostly gone at present, 3D video projectors are very common. Most video projectors support 3D because it is very inexpensive to add 3D to a projection system while it was expensive to put the tech into flat panel TVs.

If you are looking for 3D viewing options at home, 3D projectors are a good option. Another option is 3D computer monitors, which are used in gaming and engineering and other visualization applications.

3D, Virtual Reality 360

16-lens, 3D live streaming VR camera

Delivers 4K stereoscopic live stream or 6k for post editing:

The Live Planet VR system may look like something out of a science fiction movie, but this stereoscopic, 16-lens camera and its associated cloud platform may be one of the best tools out there for live-streaming events in 360 degrees.

Source: Review: Live Planet VR live-streaming system: Digital Photography Review

I find VR “interesting” and enjoy doing occasional VR shooting. But viewing seems cumbersome with use of VR helmets versus wearing 3D glasses. So far, little VR has been shot in stereoscopic 3D – yet VR 3D is far more interesting to view than plain VR.

Cameras, Smart Phones

Worth reading: “The Smartphone vs The Camera Industry”

  • Cameras are large and unwieldy
  • Cameras are generally complex and hard to use, relative to a smart phone’s camera
  • Posting photos taken on a camera is complex relative to posting from a smart phone
  • Post processing camera photos on a computers means a decently powerful computer and learning specialized software
  • Most photos are posted online, and end up viewed at about a 1.2 megapixel resolution. Meanwhile, camera makers are pushing 50 to 100 megapixel cameras … which is a disconnect from how most photos are being used.
  • Smart phones sell in far larger volumes than cameras creating economies of scale, plus R&D budgets much larger than camera R&D budgets.
  • Some camera users are now former camera users and only take photos with their smart phones.

The author’s conclusion is that smart phones will consume most of the market for cameras.

Source: The Smartphone vs The Camera Industry

Uncategorized, Virtual Reality 360

Samsung drops Gear VR support on new devices; Google drops Daydream VR support on Pixel 3A

But with Gear VR not being compatible with Samsung’s newest flagship phone, and with Google announcing in May that the Pixel 3A wouldn’t support Android’s built-in Daydream platform, it’s hard not to think that phone-based VR may be on the decline.

Source: Samsung confirms Galaxy Note 10 won’t work with its Gear VR headset – The Verge

VR was sort of dead at CES 2019, sort of buried at E3 2019, and then Samsung and Google dropped out of the Cardboard-like phone-based viewer market. Paid VR content is said to be dead. IMAX said it is shutting down its VR theater offering.

Over the past six years since the Oculus Rift was introduced, the total number of VR users is estimated at 10 million – most of whom are video gamers.

I have three friends that are professional VR film makers, and one that has built a VR product for the dental industry. I get the dental product business model but do not get 2 of the 3 filmmakers’ business models.

A very few places are projecting VR video on to theater domes – this makes sense versus having everyone wear a large headset. But this is a far smaller market than was 3D.

I shoot VR myself, mostly still photos, that can be easily panned on Flickr or Facebook for 360 viewing without VR headsets.

VR was fading at CES 2019 – and it sort of seems that this might presage a collapse in 2020, similar to the path that was followed by consumer 3D (I shoot both 3D stills and video). VR remains stuck in gaming and is not being adopted by a wider consumer community. Proponents think it just needs better, new tech headsets.