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Another dimension

Posted on 6 Dec 2002 at 10:24

A slightly less awe-inspiring early adopter could be the financial services sector, in which traders typically have several screens in front of them displaying enormous amounts of information. 3D screens could be used to minimise the number of monitors required to hold information by allowing traders to bring certain stocks to the foreground while pushing less vital apps to the background when required.
This concept shows how 3D screens could find a place on the desktop in the mass market. If the technology was cheap enough, it's feasible that it could be brought into everyday use. Accountants juggling spreadsheets could use the technology to place active worksheets closer to the eye, while a click on the partially hidden sheet in the background brings it into full view. Artists working on graphics would be able to place toolbars closer to them. Microsoft's animated helpers in the guise of the paperclip could find a place in front of whichever application a user is troubled by, although perhaps this example is more likely to deter users from using 3D displays.
But the Holy Grail of 3D technology remains the TV - the ability to feel like the image on screen is actually in front of you. Companies have experimented with filming 3D images by using more than one camera to record the different perspectives. Unfortunately, experts believe this day is some way off, as technological advances aren't the only consideration. The government is having enough trouble turning off the analog signal without the added problem of 3D, meaning that 3D TV is likely to remain the realm of Tomorrow's World for a few years yet.

Four eyes are better than two
More simplistic implementations of 3D have been deployed for years, although idealists in the 3D monitor development community deem these more worthy of yesterday's world than tomorrow's.
Many people will be aware of the stereoscopic glasses that companies like Stereographics have been selling to 3D gaming fans, while leisure attractions like Disney World and Universal Studios put the concept into use in auditoriums to wow viewers. The techniques capitalise on the way in which the brain fuses the images viewed by the left and right eyes respectively. Set roughly two and a half inches apart, the human eyes see two slightly different views of the same image, with each eye picking up information the other doesn't. These two images are combined by the brain to create a single view.
In the PC environment, the 3D effect is usually achieved through the use of shutter glasses. The monitor displays alternating images designed for either the left or right eye, and the shutter glasses run in sync with the changes of the image on screen, ensuring the left eye only picks up the image intended for it and vice versa.
Large auditoriums often use a different approach, although the practice of directing different images to each eye remains the same. This method uses two projectors and polarised glasses. Each projector polarises the light in such a way that it will only pass through the lens on the viewer's glasses which is similarly polarised. For example, the light intended for the left eye is polarised horizontally, as is the lens in front of the left eye. The image and lens for the right eye are polarised vertically. If you perpendicularly polarise the light forming the two images, you ensure each eye sees a different image.
However, critics rightly argue that working in groups is hindered by the fact that each user is hidden away in a virtual world in which interaction with others is considerably reduced. Experts also claim that by fooling the brain, this method causes eye strain and can lead to headaches. This isn't a problem confined to the glasses approach, but to any method that directs a different image to a different eye. These, combined with the crude red and blue spectacles, form the cheap option in a development world that's dominated by venture capitalist start-ups and millions of pounds of investment.