ISee3D Unveils Single-Lens 3D Solution

By Greg Tarr -- TWICE, 10/20/2010

Toronto - ISee3D, the developer of new optical switching technology enabling single-lens 3D capture devices, said Wednesday that its system is now available to consumer electronics manufacturers to implement in next-generation 3D cameras and camcorders.

The technology is said to bring significant advantages to 3D capture over dual-lens approaches by eliminating many of the problems inherent in current 3D shooting standards.

"For the consumer market, it presents the first viable option to put natural, high-quality 3D into existing devices with a camera," the company said. "Cellphones, digital cameras and camcorders can all utilize the ISee3D optical process to allow users to shoot and produce 3D with the ease and speed that they currently associate with 2D," the company said.

The system is said to skirt two-lens technology problems, including cumbersome equipment, and high-cost and complicated calibration and post-production work.

"Most 3D approaches have focused on improving existing post-production techniques -- now ISee3D is bringing the advancement to the camera, not the computer. Our single-lens process streamlines the entire process and provides the most effective way to bring real-time 3D to the present," stated Dwight Romanica, ISee3D CEO. "By using our technology to drive a new 3D era, based on a single lens, we can enable universal adoption across numerous markets opening 3D up to health care, consumer electronics, science and manufacturing."

The company's optical process includes:

• An Optical Switch:  The original patents describe a method of capturing stereoscopic images by occluding the left and right half of a lens in sequence, which in essence moves the "center" of the lens.  This shifting center allows the capture of different perspectives through a single lens.  These separate perspectives can then be fused together to create a single stereoscopic (3D) image.

• Perfectly Matched Image Pairs:  Because both images are coming through one lens, the image pairs are always perfectly matched.  Vertical, horizontal or rotational misalignment are non-issues with ISee3D enabled technology, and unlike other 3D capture methods, focus / zoom are as easy and natural in 3D as they are in 2D.

• Scalability: Because ISee3D's technology scales across device sizes, it can be applied to many different industries from consumer electronics to car manufacturers, from health care to security. In each case, the optical switch can work within any device from endoscopes and cellphones, to the Hubble Space Telescope -- making it possible for scientists, doctors, independent filmmakers and average consumers to capture in 3D.

ISee3D's single-lens 3D technology is said to be scalable in size from 1mm in diameter to more than 250mm, and can be applied across many devices.