Acclaimed filmmaker James Cameron wants to bring real 3d movies to the masses with Avatar, his 2009 summer blockbuster. Say what you will about Titantic, the man has revolutionized the film industry and practically pioneered computer generated special effects. He recently spoke at Microsoft’s Advance 08 on how he feels about the state of stereoscopic entertainment:

“Stereo production is the next big thing,” he said. “We are born seeing in three dimensions. Most animals have two eyes and not one. There is a reason I think.”

The man has a point. Imagine if you lost one of your eyes in some freak accident. Now how much would it suck to have to walk around living with only one eye? I guess you could manage, but its not desirable. So why settle for flat movies and games in only 2D? People always want to claim 3d will never work. I ask you this: what has been the last revolutionary step in filmmaking? *3D* computer graphics. What was the last big jump in video-gaming? From 2D games to *3D* games. Tell me that doesn’t say something?

Cameron goes on to mention the Avatar video game, developed by Ubisoft, and how they already have an early build running on an Xbox360 in full stereo 3d!

“You are in the game,” he said. “This is the ultimate immersive media.”

I’ve been gaming in stereo 3d for years, its an incredible experience. I was playing Crysis the other night on my new rig and got that baby up in stereo3d. All I can say is wow! Simply incredible. That first jungle level had me feeling like I was in friggin’ Vietnam! I was getting goose-bumps it was seriously that intense. I’d say its an even bigger jump then from standard definition to HD. Its like you’re there. Even old games really take on a whole new light when gaming in 3d. If they can find a way to make this work and cheap enough to bring to the mass market, things are looking very good for stereo 3d gaming in 2009.

I’ve also heard that Vuzix, makers of the VR920, are working on a model for the Xbox360, called the VR920-X, which is currently at the prototype level. No word yet on release dates or prices, but it appears Cameron’s not the only one looking to get some real 3d running on the Xbox360.

link: James Cameron: 3D heading beyond movies // via: Kotaku

Tags: Stereo 3D, Video Games by cybereality
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Although nowhere near as cool as seeing the Gorrilaz in full holographic glory, Bill Gates has made a quite an appearance at the World Congress on Information Technology 2008… as a 4.6 meter hologram! Not that I really care, but it sure does make a funny picture. I kid, I kid. Me and Bill go way back…

To be fair, I just upgraded to Vista and its really not that bad. At least not as bad as people make it out to be. I still kept my old XP machine (which I’m on right now) just to be safe. But so far mostly everything I’ve tried has worked with Vista. I think all the haters probably have some old-ass Compaq with on-board video and 256MB of RAM and are pissed cause their parallel-port printer isn’t supported.

Everything on Vista is pretty fast for me, especially after I overclocked my chip to 3.6GHz! I click on a folder, it opens like instantly. Pretty much every game runs maxed out in HD resolutions, aside from Crysis (still running in very high but at 800×600). Plus, the Aero interface really does look that much cooler. But I guess Vista is just one of those things people love to hate.

Tags: Ramblings by cybereality
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I actually finished building my rig last week, but I got caught up with RL stuff so I hadn’t posted it up yet. So far its running great. I’ve been playing Crysis on very high! Oh yeah! I’ll be honest, I had to drop the resolution to 800×600 to get playable framerates on very high settings, but it still looks great. Thinking about getting another video card, maybe running SLI so I could get to higher resolutions. Aside from that, all the other games and demos run great. Playing Unreal Tournament 3 getting above 100fps at 720P on a 32″ LCD. Its pretty sweet. Not only that but boy does it look sexy with all that metal and blue LEDs. Check the video after the break.

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Tags: Hardware, Ramblings by cybereality
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John Nilsson has come up with a really great tool for immersion in PC gaming. He’s dubbed his creation the J-Dome and already has a patent on the design. Basically its a 180 degree hemisphere with back projection. I imagine it would be possible to combine this device with a 3d-ready DLP projector and get some active-stereo 3d action like IMAX 3D. A pretty simple concept thats been done, yet something that hasn’t been brought to market yet. There’s a similar product called the Z-Dome, which was shown at the GDC 08, but those guys want like $15k for it!

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Tags: Hardware, Video Games, Virtual Reality by cybereality
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I’m almost done putting this rig together, though the process turned out a little more rocky than expected. After much ado, I have finally mounted the motherboard onto the chassis tray. The Coolermaster Aquagate water-cooler was left running for 3 straight days, not a leak in sight. Since the cpu water-block needs to be mounted from the back of the board it was necessary to do the thing in one shot. It took some elbow grease but I managed without damaging anything (I hope). I even used an anti-static wrist-strap just for that extra peace of mind. Pretty much all the parts are in there now, the main stuff at least. A 3GHz Intel Core 2 Duo (E8400), the GeForce 8800GTS 512MB, EVGA nForce 780i mainboard, and 4GB of some Crucial Ballistix DDR2-800 RAM. Continue reading for some shots of the progress…

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Tags: Hardware, Ramblings by cybereality
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After some initial confusion, things are going a lot smoother building my new rig. This is the first computer I’ve built from the ground up in probably like 5 years. I’ve just been upgrading my trusty Pentium all this time, but its starting to show its age. So I really want to take my time and do this right. I’ve been reading all the manuals from cover to cover and planning out how everything is going to connect. Now that I know what I’m working with I just need to snap it all together. Read on for some more photos…

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Tags: Hardware, Ramblings by cybereality
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Some folks at the New York based Eyebeam have created an open-source multi-touch platform to rival Microsoft’s $10,000+ Surface. The project, called Cubit, includes plans (or kits) to build the cube-like device and a software platform to develop applications for it. You must add your own web-cam and projector, which the creators say can run about $500-$1000 for all necessary parts. The software uses the webcams to detect infrared light reflected when a user touches their finger to the “screen”. This is the the same technique MS used for Surface, their own proprietary multi-touch technology. However Eyebeam’s open-source solution clocks in at about 1/10th of the price.

Although Apple seems to gather a lot of praise for their multi-touch “innovation” on the iPhone, this technology has been around for a while. One such product that I’ve owned was the iGesture Pad which was released back in 2003. It looked like an over-sized touchpad and supported all types of gestures. Wave your hand to close a program, pinch a file and drag it to copy and paste, use both hands to resize windows, etc. It worked pretty well, and had more advanced programmable multi-touch options 5 years ago than the iPhone/iTouch have today. Yet it floundered on the market and now its discontinued and the company’s gone. The lesson for today: its not how good your idea is. Its all how you market it.

link: Open-Source, Multitouch Display [TechnologyReview] // via: KurzweilAI

Tags: Hardware, Human Interface, Open-Source by cybereality
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I’ve finally got all the parts I need to start building my brand new gaming rig. This thing is going to be a beast when its complete. Its got a 3GHz Core 2 Duo processor, from the new 45nm Wolfdale line, the WD RaptorX 10,000RPM HDD, an 8800GTS 512MB factory-overclocked GPU, 4GB of RAM, 1,000W PSU, water cooling, the works. All housed in a Coolermaster Stacker 830 Special Edition case. I’ve tried not to get too excited, because I know how shit likes to go wrong, so I prepared for the worst. And of course, Murphy’s Law kicks in on cue…

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Tags: Hardware, Ramblings by cybereality
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Arcstream, makers of totally extravagant and innovative display solutions, recently demoed their “Living Image” installation. The setup, consisting of a 6,500 lumens projector pointed at the ground and an array of infrared sensors, allows multiple users to walk on top of and interact with the imagery displayed below. Similar setups have been shown at many conventions, this isn’t the first use of the concept, but its very well executed never-the-less. Video included after the break…

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Tags: Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality by cybereality
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An associate professor at the University of Houston has recently released a study showing the therapeutic applications of virtual reality for treating addictions. Participants included about 40 self-professed alcoholics who were not currently in treatment. Each person was hooked up to a custom VR rig consisting of a standard HMD (presumably with head-tracking and in stereo 3d) in addition to a vibrating chair and some sort of “smell-o-vision” device. This device can spray scents into the air, such as the smell of cigarette smoke or certain alcoholic beverages. What the professor, Patrick Bordnick, found was that patients addictions could be triggered by the virtual environment in such a way that the addicts could practice controlling their urges.

“What we found was that the VR environments were real enough that their cravings were intensified. So, now we can develop coping skills, practice them in those very realistic environments until those skills are working tools for them to use in real life,” Bordnick said.

An interesting angle on this research would to see how this effect could be used on the opposite side of the spectrum. For example, what if beer companies could advertise in say a Second Life bar? “Click here to get a six pack delivered in 30 minutes”! I believe Pizza-Hut did a similar promotion in WoW, so its definitely a possibility. Could big alcohol and tobacco companies use this to get people to stay hooked, or better yet, have they been doing this the whole time? I don’t know about you, but every time I’m watching a movie and an actor sparks up a cigarette, I almost always get the urge to light one up in tandem. Not to mention how this could affect government-sponsored “rehabilitation” if used in the wrong ways ala A Clockwork Orange.

link: Virtual World Therapeautic For Addicts [ScienceDaily]

Tags: Virtual Reality by cybereality
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