2010 has been the year of 3D technology: launch of new films, others not so new, but made with this revolutionary format and transmission of sporting events that offer a new experience to the viewer. In this article we open the door to this glasses visitor who is here to stay.By: Héctor Gómez Pérez
While 3D technology has been part of cinema for many years, releases such as Avatar at the end of the previous year, and Alice in Wonderland at the beginning of this have put us in front with a technology that is here to stay, even more so that it came for users to put on their glasses definitively.
For the realization of this article we have four experts in the field that will help us to elucidate the characteristics of this technology and its impact in an era in which visual content has been transformed in a vertiginous way. This group is made up of brothers Luis Alberto and Andrés Vásquez, from Eleven Producciones; Jean Kennan Jay, Business Manager for Latin America at Barco Ltda, and Amauri Passos, Senior Project Analyst at Absolut Technologies.
In principle, 3D technology was implemented with the 35mm cinema format. For this time in addition to being expensive it did not offer the best quality since it could only be visualized with colored glasses. In this regard, the Vásquez brothers point out that "when digital cinema arrived, the possibilities of addressing technology flourished, experiments with satisfactory results were started again immediately and this motivated producers and directors to resume technology".
For his part, Amauri Passos said that the history of 3D is old in cinema, but that it was in the fields of research and professional where it had the greatest developments. "Design, engineering, medicine and other areas such as gas and oil use three-dimensional technologies as a powerful tool to obtain better results and reduce time and costs," Said Passos.
A new way of looking?
Undoubtedly, 3D technology has become a new visual experience as Passos points out: "3D will fundamentally change the entertainment industry. This is not fashion, it represents more information, immersion and user participation in the content."
A very similar opinion of the matter is that of the representatives of Eleven Producciones when they point out that "it is a more real and impactful experience by being immersive. The rise of 3D in cinema is going to move to many sectors such as home, health, education, sporting and music events, as well as commercial applications."
The commitment today is for 3D technology, as demonstrated in the last Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver that were transmitted with this technology and the World Cup in South Africa in June that will offer an unparalleled experience to lovers of the king sport. It is therefore an opportunity for screen manufacturers to market their products that will soon be common in homes and commercial establishments.
But a question arises: What will happen to the content? Jean Kennan Jay, of Barco Ltda, ventures to give an answer and says that " while it is true that there is a great avalanche of products, we as manufacturers are focused on helping to increase the creatives who will be responsible for producing enough material for these technologies to gain value. If there is not enough and necessary content we will be with very specialized tools without being able to use them."
Clients and transmissions
As Pointed Out by Amauri Passos, the ability of customers to acquire the new cannot be underestimated. According to our guests, users are highly informed people today thanks to the great efforts made by manufacturers and integrators in this regard. This allows them to be in the best capacity to choose the equipment that best suits their particular need.
"Major manufacturers have already launched their 3D line. There are events of great importance, such as the World Cup that are the precise framework to launch novelties in terms of image, "said the Vasquez brothers, but again the representative of Barco pointed out that users are prepared and informed for new releases in this matter, perhaps it is the manufacturers and content developers who are not yet. "I believe that we still have to find ways to optimize and facilitate the creation of content, it is not agile enough to think about a massification beyond 3D digital cinema," said Jean Jay.
Although the initial 3D transmissions have been made in digital cinemas and sporting events, they will gradually be extended to musical events and different television programs in which the contents with greater depth of field will be the ones that will benefit the most from this technology.
Content generation
The generation of 3D content is significantly different from the two-dimensional, it is enough to mention as a fundamental difference the addition of another camera to simulate the depth perception that is had in the real world with the two eyes of human beings.
"The generation of content is more complex and implies always thinking about stereoscopic, the visual angle of the two eyes, their point of convergence, the special effects. In short, in everything that helps transform the projection surface into a window and no longer on a screen, "said the representatives of Eleven Productions.
Currently the main uses of 3D technology are in cinema, simulation (medicine, aviation, maritime or land transport), design (construction of buildings, cities or equipment), education, military field, oil, gas and commercial area.
Successful experiences
When asked by this group of experts about the successful experiences of their companies in the field of 3D technology, Jean Kennan Jay said that "our group is pleased to know that a large number of 3D cinemas in Latin America use our projectors. In Colombia more than 75% of the cinema screens installed are ours and we are on the verge of bringing that number to more than 90% after some short-term negotiations."
Eleven Producciones did its first work in standard definition, but later migrated to 3D HD, doing work for the Company's Pequeñín diaper brand Familia, a corporate video for Avon recorded at the research and development facilities in Suffern, New York; a piece of communication for the Mayor's Office of Bogotá for the launch of the Bogotanos portal abroad, a video for the launch of Sony's 3D televisions, the short film El Truco, which became the first 3D HD short made in Latin America and screened at the Cartagena Film Festival. They are currently working on the filming of a feature film in Venezuela directed by Raúl García, co-produced with Latina Producciones and Media Concept and which they hope to launch in Colombia in the middle of the year.
Absolute Technologies mentioned its positive experiences with such renowned companies as Fiat, Volkswagen Mexico, Petrobras Macaé and Mana Engineering.
As things are going, there will be many movies, sporting events and shows that we will see in 3D during this year. That is why the recommendation is to learn from technology and for no reason take off your glasses.
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