Correct terminology for 3D systems
I'm relatively new to 3D, and in my technical discussions I've noticed confusion because there are many terms being used for the various 3D systems.
Would some kind member please let me know the correct terms for these systems, and any others that should be known.

I'll start with my first attempts to describe, and hope you can give me the preferred technical terms, and variants we might see:

1) the old style plastic lenses.
2) the electronic shutter lenses.
3) the 2D rendering of 3D objects and textures.


All these get called 3D but only the first two are stereoscopic, so it leads to misunderstanding.
I'm relatively new to 3D, and in my technical discussions I've noticed confusion because there are many terms being used for the various 3D systems.

Would some kind member please let me know the correct terms for these systems, and any others that should be known.



I'll start with my first attempts to describe, and hope you can give me the preferred technical terms, and variants we might see:



1) the old style plastic lenses.

2) the electronic shutter lenses.

3) the 2D rendering of 3D objects and textures.





All these get called 3D but only the first two are stereoscopic, so it leads to misunderstanding.

#1
Posted 05/25/2011 04:00 AM   
It's true that 3D movies and games are NOT 3D at all but stereoscopic, that is, two flat images from which some partial distance information can be infered. Our two eyes forwared looking vision system takes advantage of this feature to compound an image with depth information.

But 3D is so short and easy to pronounce that it seems that none will ever use expressions like setereoscopic graphics or stereoscopic films outside scientific papers or the like.

Game graphics are real 3D, but must be projected to 2D to be shown in a display. We would need some kind of not yet imagined holographic technology to directly represent that 3D information visually.
It's true that 3D movies and games are NOT 3D at all but stereoscopic, that is, two flat images from which some partial distance information can be infered. Our two eyes forwared looking vision system takes advantage of this feature to compound an image with depth information.



But 3D is so short and easy to pronounce that it seems that none will ever use expressions like setereoscopic graphics or stereoscopic films outside scientific papers or the like.



Game graphics are real 3D, but must be projected to 2D to be shown in a display. We would need some kind of not yet imagined holographic technology to directly represent that 3D information visually.

#2
Posted 05/25/2011 07:52 AM   
Nobody? How about that new "3DS" handheld? What do you think the S stands for? Now just stick the S on the front instead of the end and you've got it. Games that project a 3D world onto a flat, 2D screen are 3D. Games where you can really see the depth are S3D.

Once the technology gets popular, we can start calling the old 3D "P3D" for projected 3D and use 3D to mean the real 3D.

(And, when we can plug our optical nerves into computers, we can call that W3D for wetware 3D. /wink.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=';)' />)
Nobody? How about that new "3DS" handheld? What do you think the S stands for? Now just stick the S on the front instead of the end and you've got it. Games that project a 3D world onto a flat, 2D screen are 3D. Games where you can really see the depth are S3D.



Once the technology gets popular, we can start calling the old 3D "P3D" for projected 3D and use 3D to mean the real 3D.



(And, when we can plug our optical nerves into computers, we can call that W3D for wetware 3D. /wink.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=';)' />)

#3
Posted 05/26/2011 01:53 AM   
What about that 'S' when it was just "DS"?
What about that 'S' when it was just "DS"?

#4
Posted 05/26/2011 06:44 AM   
[quote name='crim3' date='26 May 2011 - 07:44 AM' timestamp='1306392282' post='1242464']
What about that 'S' when it was just "DS"?
[/quote]

Whoa! before we digress into an entirely different theme of DS meanings, let's take a moment to get back to the goal here!

Zloth has given some technical terms to start with: projected and S.
I'd note that we still don't know what S stands for, but given the context of the little game consoles that sit at a particular distance from your eyes, and use slits to separate left and right eyes and simulate paralax. Maybe for the moment, I'll guess and say SDS stands for Surface Display System.

But, that just creates a new higher level category.
Within the projected category, we've got plastic (red/cyan) and then electronic (nvidia's).
Within the surface category, we've got the game console.
And then, of course we've got reality, otherwise referred to as real 3d.
And finally, we've got the virtual object oriented 3D at the software layer, being displayed in a single 2D image.
And we've got the new category of holograms, again both surface (as in software certificate labels), and projected (as in Starwars).


So, could a real technician jump in here and give the technical names for these? And if it's scientific that's good. If it's a trade name, that's good too! Again, I'm beginning, and need to know how to unambiguously represent these different technologies.
[quote name='crim3' date='26 May 2011 - 07:44 AM' timestamp='1306392282' post='1242464']

What about that 'S' when it was just "DS"?





Whoa! before we digress into an entirely different theme of DS meanings, let's take a moment to get back to the goal here!



Zloth has given some technical terms to start with: projected and S.

I'd note that we still don't know what S stands for, but given the context of the little game consoles that sit at a particular distance from your eyes, and use slits to separate left and right eyes and simulate paralax. Maybe for the moment, I'll guess and say SDS stands for Surface Display System.



But, that just creates a new higher level category.

Within the projected category, we've got plastic (red/cyan) and then electronic (nvidia's).

Within the surface category, we've got the game console.

And then, of course we've got reality, otherwise referred to as real 3d.

And finally, we've got the virtual object oriented 3D at the software layer, being displayed in a single 2D image.

And we've got the new category of holograms, again both surface (as in software certificate labels), and projected (as in Starwars).





So, could a real technician jump in here and give the technical names for these? And if it's scientific that's good. If it's a trade name, that's good too! Again, I'm beginning, and need to know how to unambiguously represent these different technologies.

#5
Posted 05/26/2011 08:54 AM   
Nintendo DS stands for Dual-screen
The 3DS is the 3rd hardware revision of the DS (the first model was the DS and DS-light/lite, the second model was the DSi and DSi XL) and they put the 3 before DS because it sounds better and emphasize on the "3D" capability of the machine.

Back to the OP question :
1 & 2 : the types of glasses.

First thing first : they're ALL quite old in the sense they've all been invented many years ago (including shutter glasses). The only recent one is Infitec/Dolby3D.

There are 4 types of 3D glasses
- Anaglyph glasses (coloured lenses) invented in the 1850s : use colours to separate the left and right eye views they can be red/blue or any other combination of primary/secondary colours, each eye sees different colours. Most of them are made as cheap as possible using very simple cardboard frames and plastic colour film but more sophisticated models exist using designer metallic or plastic frames with curved glass filters.
- Polarised glasses (light grey transparent) invented in the 1930s : use a property of light waves to separate the left and right eye views. They can use either linear polarisation (like IMAX) or circular polarisation (like RealD). Most of them are made with plastic frames and cheap lenses so that they can be washed and reused but they also exist as cardboard frames with cheap filters (like most anaglyph glasses) or expensive designer frames with high quality curved lenses.
- Shutter glasses (electronic) invented in the 1930s (mechanical shutter) then disappeared until they came back in the 1990s (LCD shutter) : use time to separate the left and right eye views. Mechanical shutters are no longer used due to their bulkiness, LCD shutter glasses are typically made with plastic frames and a special lens containing liquid crystals they either black of let the light through depending on the presence of an electric current. The early LCD shutter glasses were wired but they're now mostly made wireless with embedded communication electronics and battery.
- Narrow band colour filters (Infitec and Dolby3D) invented in the 2000s : use narrow band colour filters to separate the left and right eye views, each eye sees a different component or Red, green and blue, so the projector needs to be calibrated specifically to balance the colours. Infitec and Dolby 3D use different bands so they are not compatible with one another. The frames are usually made of plastic and the lenses are thick glass due to the number of interference filters that need to be stacked on top of each other to make the narrow band interference filters.
Nintendo DS stands for Dual-screen

The 3DS is the 3rd hardware revision of the DS (the first model was the DS and DS-light/lite, the second model was the DSi and DSi XL) and they put the 3 before DS because it sounds better and emphasize on the "3D" capability of the machine.



Back to the OP question :

1 & 2 : the types of glasses.



First thing first : they're ALL quite old in the sense they've all been invented many years ago (including shutter glasses). The only recent one is Infitec/Dolby3D.



There are 4 types of 3D glasses

- Anaglyph glasses (coloured lenses) invented in the 1850s : use colours to separate the left and right eye views they can be red/blue or any other combination of primary/secondary colours, each eye sees different colours. Most of them are made as cheap as possible using very simple cardboard frames and plastic colour film but more sophisticated models exist using designer metallic or plastic frames with curved glass filters.

- Polarised glasses (light grey transparent) invented in the 1930s : use a property of light waves to separate the left and right eye views. They can use either linear polarisation (like IMAX) or circular polarisation (like RealD). Most of them are made with plastic frames and cheap lenses so that they can be washed and reused but they also exist as cardboard frames with cheap filters (like most anaglyph glasses) or expensive designer frames with high quality curved lenses.

- Shutter glasses (electronic) invented in the 1930s (mechanical shutter) then disappeared until they came back in the 1990s (LCD shutter) : use time to separate the left and right eye views. Mechanical shutters are no longer used due to their bulkiness, LCD shutter glasses are typically made with plastic frames and a special lens containing liquid crystals they either black of let the light through depending on the presence of an electric current. The early LCD shutter glasses were wired but they're now mostly made wireless with embedded communication electronics and battery.

- Narrow band colour filters (Infitec and Dolby3D) invented in the 2000s : use narrow band colour filters to separate the left and right eye views, each eye sees a different component or Red, green and blue, so the projector needs to be calibrated specifically to balance the colours. Infitec and Dolby 3D use different bands so they are not compatible with one another. The frames are usually made of plastic and the lenses are thick glass due to the number of interference filters that need to be stacked on top of each other to make the narrow band interference filters.

Passive 3D forever
110" DIY dual-projection system
2x Epson EH-TW3500 (1080p) + Linear Polarizers (SPAR)
XtremScreen Daylight 2.0
VNS Geobox501 signal converter

#6
Posted 05/26/2011 04:45 PM   
Black,
Thanks for still another informative post. :)
Any update as to timeframe for HDMI1.5? (full rez 1080P/60 in 3D games)?
Black,

Thanks for still another informative post. :)

Any update as to timeframe for HDMI1.5? (full rez 1080P/60 in 3D games)?

#7
Posted 05/27/2011 12:36 AM   
Ok, great, we have the technical terms for glasses technology: anaglyph, polarized, shutter, and narrow band colour filter.

And we have the category of projected (requiring glasses) and possibly a category of screen (no glasses).

What would be the right term when people refer to 3D, as in the 3D renderer on the graphics card, which actually flattens to 2D? I mean, how is this category of virtual 3D referred to technically?

roller11, it seems you are referring to a future, emerging 3D format. It would be interesting to know the corresponding range of technical terms for the list of existing and emerging formats, not at the hardware level, but as a communication format or protocol.
Ok, great, we have the technical terms for glasses technology: anaglyph, polarized, shutter, and narrow band colour filter.



And we have the category of projected (requiring glasses) and possibly a category of screen (no glasses).



What would be the right term when people refer to 3D, as in the 3D renderer on the graphics card, which actually flattens to 2D? I mean, how is this category of virtual 3D referred to technically?



roller11, it seems you are referring to a future, emerging 3D format. It would be interesting to know the corresponding range of technical terms for the list of existing and emerging formats, not at the hardware level, but as a communication format or protocol.

#8
Posted 05/27/2011 08:20 AM   
[quote name='jerelo' date='27 May 2011 - 02:20 AM' timestamp='1306484412' post='1242965']
Ok, great, we have the technical terms for glasses technology: anaglyph, polarized, shutter, and narrow band colour filter.

And we have the category of projected (requiring glasses) and possibly a category of screen (no glasses).

What would be the right term when people refer to 3D, as in the 3D renderer on the graphics card, which actually flattens to 2D? I mean, how is this category of virtual 3D referred to technically?

roller11, it seems you are referring to a future, emerging 3D format. It would be interesting to know the corresponding range of technical terms for the list of existing and emerging formats, not at the hardware level, but as a communication format or protocol.
[/quote]
If you are refering to creating a virtual 3D world and flattening it to a 2D display, this is "pipelining" or "the rendering pipeline". Steps are truncating the world view, applying perspective correction, texture mapping, and finally applying a light map. Notice that in the end credits of a CGI movies like Toy Story, there is a major section "pipelining" or "pipeline engineers".

Communcation protocols examples are side by side, checkerboard, frame sequential, over under, framepacking, line interleaved to name a few.
[quote name='jerelo' date='27 May 2011 - 02:20 AM' timestamp='1306484412' post='1242965']

Ok, great, we have the technical terms for glasses technology: anaglyph, polarized, shutter, and narrow band colour filter.



And we have the category of projected (requiring glasses) and possibly a category of screen (no glasses).



What would be the right term when people refer to 3D, as in the 3D renderer on the graphics card, which actually flattens to 2D? I mean, how is this category of virtual 3D referred to technically?



roller11, it seems you are referring to a future, emerging 3D format. It would be interesting to know the corresponding range of technical terms for the list of existing and emerging formats, not at the hardware level, but as a communication format or protocol.



If you are refering to creating a virtual 3D world and flattening it to a 2D display, this is "pipelining" or "the rendering pipeline". Steps are truncating the world view, applying perspective correction, texture mapping, and finally applying a light map. Notice that in the end credits of a CGI movies like Toy Story, there is a major section "pipelining" or "pipeline engineers".



Communcation protocols examples are side by side, checkerboard, frame sequential, over under, framepacking, line interleaved to name a few.

#9
Posted 05/28/2011 05:43 PM   
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