{"id":7909,"date":"2011-07-01T23:00:35","date_gmt":"2011-07-02T03:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nearbycafe.com\/artandphoto\/photocritic\/?p=7909"},"modified":"2011-07-01T23:00:35","modified_gmt":"2011-07-02T03:00:35","slug":"ive-seen-the-future-and-its-in-3d-a","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nearbycafe.com\/artandphoto\/photocritic\/2011\/07\/01\/ive-seen-the-future-and-its-in-3d-a\/","title":{"rendered":"I’ve Seen the Future, and It’s In 3D (a)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"CEA<\/a>My slow but seemingly inexorable march toward full-tilt-boogie geekdom has led me, perhaps inevitably, to attendance at assorted tech expos where the latest innovations get rolled out. I don’t go out of my way for these, as no one yet has sent me to any on assignment, with expenses covered. I simply register as press for what’s at hand. Most recently I attended CE Week \u2014 Consumer Electronics Week, organized by the\u00a0Consumer Electronics Association (CEA)<\/a> \u2014 in Manhattan, during the week of June 21. Here’s what I learned, and what I anticipate based thereon.<\/p>\n

First, we’re moving rapidly toward a 3D digital environment \u2014 “stereo for your eyes,” to quote Mitsubishi’s slogan. What seemed like a sidebar just a few years ago has begun to push its way toward a front and center position in the industry, which clearly hopes that consumers will take the bait. Several formats and numerous manufacturers now compete with product lines of screens, glasses, even a no-glasses alternative: Mitsubishi<\/a>, Vizio<\/a>, Spectral<\/a>, Azuna<\/a>, realD<\/a>, many more. Multiple presentations and panel discussions during CE Week pondered the looming 3D wave, and, even in a troubled economy, they saw this future as rosy.<\/p>\n

I recall trying out a virtual reality environment back in the mid-’90s. It didn’t impress me, perhaps because its developers had applied it to a shoot-’em-up video game that simply didn’t interest me. Most of the 3D systems spotlighted at CE Week used onscreen games or sports events to display their features. I have to separate my lack of interest in that content from the potential of the form itself, making a distinction between what people are doing with 3D now and what others might do with it down the road.<\/p>\n

\"Polaroid<\/a>

Polaroid 3D glasses<\/p><\/div>\n

Oddly enough, what struck me most forcefully as 3D harbingers weren’t the impressive (and affordable) screens with accompanying glasses, but the stand-alone eyewear offered by two manufacturers, the famous Polaroid and the newcomer Marchon3D\u2122<\/a>. Though their product lines differ significantly, both companies assume that 3D \u2014 in multiplexes, on home video screens, on computer monitors, in shops and other public spaces \u2014 will become so ubiquitous so quickly that citizens will want and\/or need 3D-capable glasses of their own to carry around with them, in order to engage with a 3D-everywhere world. They take it for granted that people will want access to a range of fashionable 3D eyewear accessories, rather than making do with cheapo disposable glasses or loaners that have to be returned and whose cleanliness can’t be guaranteed.<\/p>\n

Polaroid describes its 3D line<\/a> as “high quality lightweight frames designed for extended wear.” They add, “Lenses provide full UV protection and so can be safely worn outdoors. Nevertheless we do not recommend these 3D glasses for extended outdoor usage.” (They also note that “Prescription lens wearers are not forgotten, with a range of premium 3D cover styles that fit comfortably over any optical frame” \u2014 3D clip-ons, in other words.)<\/p>\n

\"Marchon3D<\/a>

Marchon3D - 3 Colored Frames<\/p><\/div>\n

Marchon3D goes them one better, not only offering a wider variety of styles but treating them as streetwear, including a sunglasses version and promising a prescription-lens option in the near future \u2014 that is, you’d walk around in 3D-viable glasses all the time.<\/p>\n

These particular expos preview what’s ahead in the next three to six months \u2014 meaning that what they show in June will start shipping between July and September, in order to be in stock and on the shelves for Xmas. Both these companies may prove overly optimistic in their bet on the speed of the advent of the 3D environment, but it’s also possible that they’re just savvily pitching their tents at the starting line of visual culture’s next Oklahoma land rush.<\/p>\n

If 3D everywhere has in fact arrived for film, video, and animation, it’s surely here also for still photography, conceivably via the same technologies as just mentioned for both presentation and reception of the images. What this will mean in the long run I can’t say, but if true it’s a transformational moment for still imaging, at least as much so as the shift from analog to digital.<\/p>\n

\""Charles<\/a>

"Charles Street Mall, Boston Common," c. 1860, by John P. Soule.<\/p><\/div>\n

Yet it’s not without precedent. Photography in 3D has already had one heyday, the era of the stereo card and stereo viewer. From the 1860s into the early 1930s, these were common items in millions of households worldwide. The cards featured everything from scenic views and directorial stagings of Biblical stories and popular novels to captioned and often extensive reports on current events internationally \u2014 arguably the first emergence of the form we’ve come to know as photojournalism.<\/p>\n

\"View-Master<\/a>

View-Master Model E, c. 1955.<\/p><\/div>\n

Subsequent manifestations of the impulse toward looking at 3D still imagery, such as the View-Master<\/a> with its tiny pairs of color transparencies, found a sizeable market but never had the cultural impact of the earlier form. The View-Master devolved into a kid’s toy, and as such still remains in production. No technology for the production of stereo images ever found more than a short-term niche market at the consumer end, as was the case with the Stereo Realist camera.<\/p>\n

But if we’re about to get swept away on a tidal surge of kinetic stereo imagery, it’s safe to predict that stereo still imaging will accompany it. Digital technology may enable what analog tech could not. Another watershed moment, if so.<\/p>\n

\u2022<\/p>\n

\"iPad<\/a>

iPad 2<\/p><\/div>\n

Also evident during CE Week was the popularity of the tablet. There were tablets everywhere. The journalists attending mostly had tablets. The sales reps for almost everything had tablets for their own use. The computer manufacturers like Hewlett-Packard were mostly showing tablets. And the peripherals companies featured external keyboards designed for use with tablets. Made me crave an iPad, though I’ll certainly wait till iPad 3 comes out.<\/p>\n

Those keyboards notwithstanding, tablets propose a touch-based relationship to the computer\/device screen. Hardly a mouse to be seen anywhere during CE Week; the keyboards had touchpads instead for such functions. I’m inclined to predict that the mouse will vanish from the average user’s toolkit; that the keyboard will become integral to our computing devices, appearing onscreen rather than sitting around externally; that the keyboard may also become virtual, a projection onto external surfaces; and that content input will become increasingly gesture-based and speech-based.<\/p>\n

This ties in, logically, to the nascent 3D revolution. In engaging with a sensorily convincing 3D environment one automatically becomes more a participant, less an observer. Tethering oneself to a physical keyboard involves breaking the 3D illusion and restricts one’s movement. Conversely, gestures, touch activation, speech activation, all amplify that illusion.<\/p>\n

In short, we’re racing toward a much more immersive, tactile, kinesthetic involvement with computing generally, and with digital imaging specifically. I don’t think it spells the end of still photography. But in a world in which 3D still imagery is rampant, and 3D still-imaging systems readily available, what will people make of 2D still imagery and imaging systems \u2014 which, with only a few exceptions, is how the history of photography to date could be described?<\/p>\n

(More to come.<\/a>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We’re racing toward a much more immersive, tactile, kinesthetic involvement with computing generally, and with digital imaging specifically. I don’t think it spells the end of still photography. But in a world in which 3D still imagery is rampant, and 3D still-imaging systems readily available, what will people make of 2D still imagery and imaging systems \u2014 which, with only a few exceptions, is how the history of photography to date could be described? […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7,8],"tags":[24,90,121,243,492,503,538],"class_list":["post-7909","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-digital-technology","category-event-reports","tag-3d","tag-ce-week","tag-consumer-electronics-association-cea","tag-ipad","tag-stereo-realist","tag-tablet","tag-view-master","odd"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nearbycafe.com\/artandphoto\/photocritic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7909","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nearbycafe.com\/artandphoto\/photocritic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nearbycafe.com\/artandphoto\/photocritic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nearbycafe.com\/artandphoto\/photocritic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nearbycafe.com\/artandphoto\/photocritic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7909"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nearbycafe.com\/artandphoto\/photocritic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7909\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nearbycafe.com\/artandphoto\/photocritic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7909"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nearbycafe.com\/artandphoto\/photocritic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7909"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nearbycafe.com\/artandphoto\/photocritic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7909"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}