[ Keynote | People | 3D Cameras Everywhere | Equipment | Prizes | 3D Theatre | Lunch Time Discussion | Short Course | Merritt Occasional Address ]

The photographs on this page illustrate various events and happenings at the 2008 Stereoscopic Displays and Applications conference.

Keynote

This year's keynote presentation was by Dr. Larry J. Hornbeck from Texas Instruments. Dr. Hornbeck invented the DMD (Digital Micromirror Device) used in all DLP front projectors and DLP rear-projection displays and his presentation was titled "Stereoscopic and volumetric 3D displays based on DLP technology". More information about his presentation is available in the conference proceedings introduction.

[1,2] Pictured above are Larry Hornbeck during his presentation.

[3] Pictured above is a panorama of the SD&A conference room taken during the keynote presentation .

[4,5] Lenny Lipton and Larry Hornbeck exchanged a pair of signed SD&A conference 3D glasses.

[6,7] Above left: SD& 3D glasses signed by Lenny Lipton for Larry Hornbeck. Above right: Larry Hornbeck and Andrew Woods.

People

[8,9] Above left: Takashi Shibata (Waseda University, Japan), Takashi Kawai (Waseda University), Jack Yamamoto (Sharp, and 3D Consortium, Japan). Above right: Samuel Zhou (IMAX Corporation, Canada), Neil Dodgson (University of Cambridge, UK), Bernard Mendiburu (Images En Relief, USA), Massimo Sabbatini (European Space Agency, The Netherlands).

[10,11] Above left: Stereo Sue (Susan R. Barry) illustrating one of the vision exercises she used. Above right: Christopher Tyler (Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute, USA), Luis Perez-Bayas (University of Geneva, Switzerland), Susan Barry (Mount Holyoke College, USA).

[12,13] Above left: ???, Tom Peterka (University of Illinois at Chicago, USA), Nick Holliman (University of Durham, UK), Bernice Rogowitz (IBM, USA). Above right: Srijn De Waele (Philips Electronics, Netherlands), Robert-Paul Berretty (Philips Electronics, Netherlands), Bart Barenbrug (Philips 3D Solutions, Netherlands), ??? (Philips Electronics, Netherlands)

[14,15] Above left: Stephan Keith (SRK Graphics Research, USA), Suzanne Grinnan (IS&T, USA). Above right: John Rupkalvis (Stereoscope International, USA), Lenny Lipton (REAL D, USA), Christopher Tyler (Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute, USA).

[16,17] Above left: Alex Olwal (Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden), ????, Jack Yamamoto (Sharp, and 3D Consortium, Japan), Atsushi MIYAZAWA (NAMCO BANDAI Games Inc., Japan), Motonaga Isii (NAMCO BANDAI Games Inc., Japan) watching stereoscopic games being played on the Playstation 3 console. Above right: John Merritt (The Merritt Group, USA), Eric Deren (rear) (Dzignlight Studios, USA), Mike Weissman (TrueVision, USA), Bob Mueller (rear) (Lightspeed Design, USA), Marty Banks (University of Berkeley, USA), Keith Elliott (Texas Instruments, USA).

3D Cameras Everywhere

There were many 3D cameras seen at the SD&A conference this year. Here's just a few that were caught in action.

[18,19] Above left: Michael Brauss with his Pentax Optio S pair triggered by an infrared remote. Above right: Steven Kupiec with a similar rig.

[20,21] Above left: Hiroyuki Hagura with a Nikon digital SLR fitted with an image-splitter attachment (aka: beam-splitter). Bernard Mendiburu with a pair of Sony digital still cameras synchronised by what is probably a LANC Shephard.

[22,23] Above left: Max Collon with the DSCC2000 digital stereoscopic camcorder. Above right: OK, this isn't a stereoscopic camera, but who could resist not using this funny photo of Enrique Criado.

Equipment

The presentation of high-quality large-screen stereoscopic images and video at the conference is an extremely important part of the conference.

[24] This year we again had two sterepscopic rojection systems, as shown above, on the left using a single Christie projector with active polarisation modulator and on the right using two JVC projectors with passive polarisation. Many thanks to all the contributors (JVC, Christie Digital, DepthQ Stereoscopic, and Kerner Optical) who made this possible.

[25,26] The single projector system, shown above, consisted of a Christie active polarisation modulator coupled to a Christie Mirage S+4K projector which rear projected a 4:3 aspect ratio image. The Christie Mirage S+4K 3-chip DLP projector used has a native resolution of 1400×1050 pixels and is capable of frame-sequential stereo at up to 120Hz. The Christie polarization modulator was fitted to the front of the Christie projector to allow the high quality stereoscopic images from the Christie projector to be viewed passively using circularly polarized 3D glasses.

[27,28] The dual projector system, shown above, consisted of two JVC projectors with passive polarisers rear projecting a 16:9 Full-HD image. JVC generously provided a high-definition 1080P stereoscopic projection system based on a pair of JVC DLA-RS1 LCoS projectors (which output left-handed and right-handed circular polarization from each projector) and an 8'×4.5' rear-projection screen.

Other equipment used as part of the SD&A conference's 3D AV setup included: two DepthQ stereoscopic media servers (provided by DepthQ Stereoscopic - aka Lightspeed Design Group), 3D demultiplexer, 3D Scan Doubler, and DVD player (provided by Brad Nelson from Kerner Optical); 8×6- foot stereoscopic rear-projection screen (provided by Kerner Optical); and a suite of Mackie sound mixers and general AV equipment (provided by Spectrum Audio Visual).

The setup of the two stereoscopic projection systems for the SD&A conference is a highly coordinated and smooth process due to the highly professional nature of all the providers involved. Below is a small insight into the setup process. Particular thanks go to: Wayne Bickley and Doug Boyer from Christie Digital, Rod Sterling and Rob Buddle from JVC; Chris Ward, Bob Mueller, and Dan Lawrence from DepthQ Stereoscopic, and Brad Nelson and David Mark from Kerner Optical.

[29,30] Above left: Brad Nelson from Kerner Optical assembles some of the equipment. Above right: Brad Nelson, Chris Ward and Rod Sterling configuring the DepthQ server for correct operation with the JVC stereoscopic projection system.

[31,32] Above left: Chris Ward and Rod Sterling preview 3D content on the JVC stereoscopic projection system. Above right: "Everyone's a Critic"... Doug Boyer, Wayne Bickley, Chris Ward preview 3D content on the Christie stereoscopic projection system.

Prizes

Several prizes are offered at the conference to encourage and reward exemplary use of stereoscopy at the conference.

[33,34] Above left: Rob Engle from Sony Pictures Imageworks (USA) received a prize for the best use of stereoscopic projection tools during his technical presentation "Beowulf 3D: a case study." Despite the quizzical look, Rob did say he was very pleased to receive the prize and it was the first prize he has ever won! Above right: Eric Deren, Dzignlight Studios (USA) received the 3D Theatre Best of Show (Live Action) prize for his 3D short movie "3D Skydiving".

Two other prizes were awarded: to Enrique Criado from Enxebre Entertainment (Spain) received a prize for the best use of stereoscopic projection tools during his technical presentation "Original and creative stereoscopic film making," and to Digital Magic Entertainment (South Korea) received the 3D Theatre Best of Show (Computer Graphics) prize for their 3D short movie "Super Sonogong".

3D Theatre

There was standing room only for this year's 3D Theatre - a 2 hour exploration of 3D videos and movies from around the world. A full listing of the 3D content shown is here.

[35] This shot of the 3D Theatre audience was taken just before the session started - the room got even fuller once the lights went down.

Lunch Time Discussion

On the Tuesday, Bernard Mendiburu from Images En Relief hosted an informal lunch time discussion on "Stereoscopic tools for 3-D movie making: A look into the future."

[36,37,38] Some of those visible in the photos include: Rob Engle, Istvan Toth, Bernard Mendiburu, Luis Perez-Bayas, John Rupkalvis, Toshio Honda, Keith Elliott, Vivian Walworth, David Mark.

Short Course

The full-day short course "Stereoscopic Display Application Issues" is held the day before the SD&A conference. The course is conducted by John Merritt and Andrew Woods and is a very good way for individuals to quickly learn about what is important in this field. Further information on the short course is available here.

[39,40] Above left: John Merritt gives Takashi Kawai a demonstration of how increased image brightness reduces the effects of focus/fixation conflict. Above right: Andrew Woods and John Merritt in 3D [cross-view stereo-pair].

[41] Panorama of John Merritt in mid-sentence during the short course.

John Merritt Occasional Address

John Merritt was invited to give the occasional address at the 2008 Human Vision and Electronic Imaging (HVEI) conference banquet. HVEI is co-located and held in parallel with SD&A. Here are a couple of shots from John's presentation "The Rising Tide of Realism in Virtual Environments".

[42,43] Above left: John Merritt giving his talk. Above right: Christopher Tyler, Bernice Rogowitz, Thrasos Pappas, John Merritt.

All photographs © 2008 Andrew Woods or Hiroyuki Hagura as noted on the photographs.