3D on Display

Real D, the leading innovator in 3D cinema, received a prestigious award at this year’s Society for Information Display’s (SID) International Symposium, Seminar and Exhibition, dubbed Display Week 2008, which was held May 18-23 in Los Angeles. SID is the leading international professional society exclusively devoted to the advancement of electronic-display technology and applications. On May 21, Real D earned the Silver Award for most innovative application, resulting from the commercial success of its stereoscopic 3D cinema technology. (Incidentally, the display application that won the Gold Award was Apple’s iPhone.)

The award was accepted by Lenny Lipton, Real D’s chief technology officer, who for the past 28 years has pioneered the development of commercial and industrial 3D systems. The several hundred engineers attending the luncheon were told that the impact of Real D's next-generation technology, deployed across the world's largest 3D platform in 24 countries, has been compared to the advent of color film when once there was only black-and-white. Joshua Greer, president and co-founder of Real D said, "We're honored to have the Real D 3D cinema system recognized by SID. We worked hard to create a simple and elegant 3D solution; the Silver Display Application of the Year Award is a great validation of our ongoing efforts to make the best 3D possible."

The awards luncheon was keynoted by Andy Hendrickson, VP of technology for Walt Disney Animation Studios, who explained the evolution of display technology and the various display-related challenges and opportunities specific to the entertainment industry. Hendrickson called on the engineers to develop displays for use in post-production that would accurately represent the wider range of colors used in today’s digital-cinema projectors. After a short overview of current 3D technologies used in the cinemas and the issues involved in various types of glasses, Hendrickson challenged the engineers to consider the possibility of developing a new generation of cinema-sized auto-stereoscopic 3D displays that would completely eliminate the need to wear any special glasses.

A special “3D in Cinema” session was held after the awards luncheon, including two presentations on 3D production. Phil McNally, global stereoscopic supervisor, DreamWorks Animation, talked about stereoscopic content creation, while Rob Engle, senior stereographer and digital effects supervisor, Sony Pictures Imageworks, discussed adapting computer-generated graphic content for 3D presentation. McNally showed a short section from Kung Fu Panda that had been specially processed for 3D, illustrating many of the new techniques being developed by DreamWorks to meet animation chief Jeffrey Katzenberg’s requirement that all DreamWorks animated content be available in 3D from 2009 onwards.

John Modell of 3ality Digital Systems gave an overview of the current 3D cameras and techniques for live-action features. After screening a short section of U2 3D, Modell discussed the potential of 3D for live sports as another form of alternative content and said that he expects to see live streaming of sporting events in 3D to theatres later this year. Norman Rouse of Quantel presented an overview of current post-production tools used for creating and enhancing 3D movies.

On the exhibition side, Jeff McNall of Dolby Laboratories presented an overview of their systems titled “Making 3D an Integral Part of Today's Cinema Experience.” McNall offered a brief technical summary of Dolby’s three-primary deep-notch filter 3D process, and pointed out that the Dolby 3D technique does not require a silver screen.

Rod Archer, VP of engineering at Real D, followed with a presentation titled “3D Exhibition in the Digital Age.” He reviewed the history of Real D and noted that they have 1,225 installed systems with another 750 firmly committed, in addition to the May 2008 announcement that Regal cinemas plans to install 1,500 Real D 3D systems as part of their circuit-wide digital-cinema deployment. After a detailed technical presentation explaining the dual circular polarized technique and the need to triple-flash each eye image, resulting in 144 frames per second being projected, Archer commented on the light loss inherent in all 3D processes and the challenge of showing 3D on larger screens. He then explained how Real D has solved the large-screen problem with the introduction of the new Real D XL Z-filter, a “light doubler” that recovers the light lost in the polarization filter process.

The lively question-and-answer session following the presentations produced a number of interesting comments. Questions were asked about the costs to produce 3D content, the need for higher light levels, upcoming consumer systems and formats, 3D standards and interoperability between systems. Although the audience was largely technically oriented, surprisingly few had experienced 3D content on a large cinema screen and most seemed impressed by the images. Immediately following the afternoon session, a crowd began taking pictures of the single Real D-equipped Barco projector that has been used for the 3D clips.

By Bill Mead, FilmJournal International