Hearing from the RealD folks

To get a projector (only some are able to work with the z-screen) and a z-box would be lots of money

again that's z-screen, and projector. And probably 500 free passive eye-wear. 'There's a lot of technology that goes into the z-screen.'

better quality product

--option 2, for more within our budget --

10 pair active eye-wear (crystal eyes 5) and DLP tv 60inch very color accurate

crystal eyes 3 older, cheaper, 15 pair

3d capable depth q the cheapest projector capable of working with this.

Coming soon from various vendors, more of $2,000 or $1,500 for projector.

Also look into pymol chemisty program molecular modeling software, shows chemistry stuff in 3d already

News article lists shutter glasses as 'inexpensive' but they didn't mention the price....

Article on DLP from indepdant website, look more into.

Another dead end..

This site had a projector that says it is single projector, passive glasses 3d. But they don't seem to sell it anymore.

Heard back about the DepthQ

Thank you for your letter. The DepthQ HD 3D projector is $(a little more than our budget) USD. Shipping and accessories (shutter glasses, emitter) are additional. The DepthQ/RealD Pro Bundle is $(a bit even more than our budget) (includes DepthQ HD 3D Projector, 4 pair CE3 shutter glasses, 1 EXXR emitter). All projectors ship from the United States.

We offer a 10% educational discount off all retail prices.

(ouch spendy)

Looking a bit at nVidia 3d ready stuff

nVidia 3d ready site has some extra details.

it looks like 3d ready refers to being able to refresh at 120 hz, for the triple flash effect. Glasses for nVidia are active...

Or they have the blue-red kind, as a 'trial' thingy.

Our current projector

INfocus lp530

Spec sheet mentions 135 hz digital or 160hz analog, as well as vertical and horizontal sync thingys.

Gonna try to pull up specs for RealD approved projectors.

Flyer

Accepted Projectors: NEC NC800, Christie Mirage HD, and Lightspeed Design HD DepthQ

The Christie is mentioned as being avaliable for about $4,000. Neither of the others seem to be for sale on the internet, I guess they are not for public purchase yet.

Grr.

Still no real specs on what 3d ready means.

My guess at this point is it has to do with speed of image writing. Vertical and horizontal speed, in Hz.

But no good solutions yet.

Met with Greg

I met with Greg today.
The goal is to find a way to use single-projector for 3d.

• Initially we'd like to use it to show 3d stuff we have already.

• Down the line we'd like to involve the CS dept stuff in 3d some how- maybe programming, maybe visiualization.
• We have 2 dlp projectors, type infocus LP530.
• We think we have a nVidia Quadro FX graphics card to work it.
• Projectors need to be '3d ready', which may refer to the 120 hz image projection speed, or maybe something else we're not sure.
• nVidia 3d vision is another system to check into.
• Greg has a language called Darkbasic for working with this 3d stuff; check into it.
• Check if our projector would work with the RealD widget,
  
• Check more if anyone else has passive glasses system for 1 projector system.
  

Look to maybe buy it

Looking around RealD website;

They call the widget infront the "RealD LP"

Here's a starting point to ordering...

Here's a flyer with some good details among the advertising stuff.

Mentions "Content must be on PC with 'Sterio ready graphics card' such as nVidia Quadro FX"

I've drafted an email asking for a price quote and sent it to Greg to proof before mailing the RealD folks

Some results

The wikipedia site being much more helpful the TI's advertising page (in some ways).

DLP refers to how the projector puts out the image. This works for both 2d and 3d images.

The Wiki mentions that DLP is used for the RealD cinema tech, which is the single projector stuff we want. (Wiki article on RealD)

From the RealD wiki article: "RealD uses circularly polarized light to produce stereoscopic images. Hence the performance is better than with linearly polarizing systems which suffer from visible double imaging if the head is tilted to the side.^[1]

The projector alternately projects the right-eye frame and left-eye frame 144 times per second, and circularly polarizes these frames, clockwise for the right eye and counterclockwise for the left eye. A push-pull electro-optical modulator called a ZScreen is placed immediately in front of the projector lens to switch polarization. The audience wears recyclable circularlypolarized glasses to make sure each eye sees only "its own" picture, even if the head is tilted. In RealD Cinema, each frame is projected three times to reduce flicker, a system called triple flash. The source video is usually only (2x)24 frames per second (which can result in a subtle ghosting and stuttering on horizontal camera movements). A silver screen is used to keep the light polarized and to reflect back as much light as possible to counter polarization losses. The result is a 3D picture that seems to extend behind and in front of the screen itself.^[2]"

^{(bold added for emphasis)}

So instead of active glasses they have the widget infront of the screen. Hope it doesn't cost too much.

This blog is for...

This blog is for my independant study class for CS Grad level.

The project for this term is to find, get, and set up a single-projector 3d polarized projection system.

Greg Pleva found www.dlp.com as an example touting the single-projector setup, but we couldn't easily find details for what other equipment is needed.

I need to figure out:

• What kind of filter glasses (linera, circular, or active shuttering) are needed to go with these projectors.
• What kind of graphics processor is needed to interface with the projector.
• What kind of software is compatable with this projector, how it differs from Greg's current supply of 2-projector software and code language.
• What code language Greg currently has ("black" something...)