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It's like with 3D movies, now we have 4k LCD TVs that support 3D glasses. But how often does one watch a 3D film at home or at a cinema? Beside Avatar and a few
by frik 11y ago
It's like with 3D movies, now we have 4k LCD TVs that support 3D glasses. But how often does one watch a 3D film at home or at a cinema? Beside Avatar and a few Pixar CGI movies, most weren't that great (often filmed in 2D and rehashed later for 3D).
Virtual reality glasses are ready (and were ready several years ago, but quite heavy with two CRT monitors in the helmet), but many people are sensitive to motion sickness - so this will be less popular than 3D glasses we know from 3D TVs/cinema. Plus it is more expensive. Certain games lend themselves to VR like racing/space games, were you sit and can move your head. But many other traditional games feel strange, at least for new users and sensitive individuals.
Augmented reality (Google Glass, Hololens) is further away and not ready yet. It will take 3-5 more years until we will see the first consumer products. At the moment the graphic quality is low and the POV is far too small - the graphics overlay area is very small. Some games lend to that technique, but many others won't be that great if you always see your own walls as background.
More promising is glasses-less 3D (aka autostereoscopy), known from the Nintendo 3DS: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autostereoscopy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autostereoscopy , https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintendo_3DS#Hardware https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintendo_3DS#Hardware . It's friction free, no additional equipment is required, it can be used by more than one person.
- cookiecaper 11y agoPerhaps autostereoscopic displays can be theoretically used by multiple people simultaneously, but it's not how the 3DS is currently implemented. The original versions of the 3DS required the player to keep the screen at the right angle to get the 3D effect; without doing that, it's just a blurry image, much like taking off the 3D glasses at a movie theater. The New 3DS (yes, it's actually called "New 3DS") has built-in face tracking so the display automatically adjusts to the eyes of the SINGLE person it believes to be playing, which is much more convenient, but still not perfect as it can lose track sometimes and takes a little jiggle to get back into place. On both devices, any time more than one person is looking at the screen, the display has to be set to 2D mode or it will be blurry for at least one person. Nintendo also puts a disclaimer in place that states 3D mode should not be used by individuals under 7 years of age. From what I've read, this is just out of an abundance of caution and there's no real evidence that the 3DS's autostereoscopy can harm developing eyes.
- frik 11y agoI was talking about autosteroscopic displays. The 3DS was just an example, and the only one that general public may have seen. And yes, the new 3DS uses eye tracking and is meant for one person. But there are professional displays that can be used by a group of people (even without any eye-tracking). Similar disclaimer probably are on VR headsets and 3D shutter glasses.Such 3D technology with a fixed focus is probably a bit more problematic and sensitive persons get motion sickness.