After James Cameron dropped the Avatar bomb 3D became the love it or hate it of the film industry. Initially, copy cats used some editing techniques to turn originally 2D movies into lame 3D versions to boost up ticket prices (I'm scornfully looking at you Alice in Wonderland). Now almost every action movie is throwing on the "In 3D" tag to their movies when essentially it's no better then the old red and blue glasses people used to wear to watch giant ants and spiders take over cities. This is a good enough reason to frown upon the would be fad, but anyone who has seen Avatar in 3D knows that thanks to the cinematic God that is James Cameron 3D will be no fad, but in fact the future of anything that's on a screen.
Blasphemy you say? Well, whats happening now in theaters is only the beginning, a terrible beginning, but a start nonetheless. James Cameron essentially invented the technology that made Avatar's 3D so spectacular and nobody else has been able to recreate on screen what Avatar did so well, hence all the terrible 3D-esque movies out now. A side note for those dying for more 3D epicness from Cameron: he produced (which basically means used his all-knowing knowledge of 3D movie technology) the upcoming movie Sactum, and the 3D trailer played before The Green Hornet looked amazing and reminiscent of Avatar's 3D.
The non-Cameron good that has come from this craze is that it has spawned popularity. This means there is money to make, and when there is money to make people get creative. The Nintendo 3DS has been hyped up in the gaming community for awhile now, sporting a 3D screen that doesn't require glasses. I know I'm not the only one who said "Wha?". After some digging I found this really cool video that explains in depth the way 3D technology has progressed, and how it will work on the 3DS.
Ignore the weird intro- it really is a cool video. Unfortunately I can't embed the video but follow the link it's worth it:
http://kombo.com/features/How_the_3DS_Works/
Essentially, the 3DS uses two images from the left and right perspectives and combines them into one, and when your sitting in the right spot it appears 3D. Kind of like those pictures you had to cross your eyes to see (It's a sailboat!), but the 3DS does the eye crossing for you if your sitting the right distance away.
What does this mean? Well the technology doesn't transfer as well to larger screens (yet), but you can bet that the iPhone of the future will be popping up from your hand. In fact it kind of already is...
3D in most movies nowadays is just atrocious, but it's pretty cool to see that perhaps someday people won't have to wear glasses. And perhaps more importantly, was that Pikmin I saw at 3:41 of that first video?
ReplyDeleteYes, it was Pikmin, I'm glad I'm not the only one who knows what that is. They are remaking a ton of old n64 and gamecube games for the 3DS which is pretty sweet.
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