Toronto –
, 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.
