Glasses-free 3D Cinema Screens Could Be On Their Way
Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have developed the world’s first glasses-free 3D cinema screen, which could pave the way for another boom in 3D’s popularity.
It’s called Cinema 3D (inventive!) and functions thanks to “multiple parallax barriers” - devices which are placed in front of an image source to create a glasses-free effect.
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Perhaps the most widely-known example of a parallax barrier in use is in Nintendo’s handheld, glasses-free gaming device the Nintendo 3DS.
“Existing approaches to glasses-free 3D require screens whose resolution requirements are so enormous that they are completely impractical,” said MIT professor Wojciech Matusik. “This is the first technical approach that allows for glasses-free 3D on a large scale.”
The tech isn’t yet market-ready, but Hollywood will naturally be very interested. The use of 3D can rub cinema-goers up the wrong way due to the often cheap and uncomfortable glasses required, or having to put those glasses over existing glasses, and this negates that.
If there’s a problem though, it’s price. The tech is currently quite expensive, so many raise 3D cinema prices even more - something Hollywood would like, but which audiences would certainly rebel against.
“It remains to be seen whether the approach is financially feasible enough to scale up to a full-blown theatre,” said Matusik. “But we are optimistic that this is an important next step in developing glasses-free 3D for large spaces like movie theatres and auditoriums.”
You can watch a quick explainer in the video embedded below.
Picture Credit: MIT
