New York Stereoscopic Society

Wednesday, April 18, 7:00 PM
The Tank
279 Church Street
(between Franklin and White)
NYC

Gerald Marks will give a showing of his 3-D photography, from around 1979, projected from the original Kodachrome film.

He will open with some work by a mystery photographer from the 1940's and 50's whose pictures are extremely beautiful and serve to place his work into context.

This showing is part of The Tank's NEW YORK EXPERIMENTAL series http://www.thetanknyc.org/film/index.html

Gerald Marks is an artist working on the border joining Art and Science. Crossing boundaries between science and art, Marks' creations have made their way into museums and science centers throughout the country and abroad. His work has ranged from 3-D television, including music videos for the Rolling Stones, to large scale installations, to a giant 3-D mural for the New York City "Arts for Transit" program.

CNN's Technology column from April 9, 2007 makes a convincing case that 3D films are one way for movie theaters to compete with the wide range of entertainment options available in today's digital marketplace. They say Jeffrey Katzenberg, the CEO of Dreamworks Animation SKG, believes his company will move to releasing only 3D films as early as 2009.

Read the entire article here.

There are certainly more options battling for our free time: video games, the Internet, cable TV, DVD rentals, digital downloads of music, films and TV shows, (there are even a few people left in America who actually read something called 'books' when they are unplugged from the electronic teat of mass media, but they are an ever-dwindling market segment).

If CNN's piece sounds familiar to those of us in the 3D community it may well be that we remember the last time this rallying cry was heard: in the early 1950s when the threat to movie houses was a technology you might be old enough to remember: broadcast TV.

How will this all play out? I hope better than it did 50 years ago. In any event, there are more 3D film releases scheduled today than at any time since the last heyday of 3D movies. And that can't be all bad.

--Joe Pedoto

On Monday, April 23, 2007 NASA released the first ever stereo pictures of the sun taken by the twin spacecraft named STEREO (for Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory).

A frame from one of the 3D animations available on NASA's site.


The frame shows the STEREO craft with the sun in the background, full movie available on NASA's site.

Here's the link:http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/stereo/main/index.html

--Joe Pedoto

If you were at the Summer Salon last year you saw NYSS member Anthony Matt's stereo portrait of author Samuel Delany. Now you can see the documentary film Anthony shot and produced at the Tribeca Film Festival.

Strange Attractor

Tribeca Film Festival

-Greg Dinkins

Stereoscopic Microscope, a phantogram by Greg Marshall

"The 3D Center of Art and Photography, a non-profit museum/gallery, features the best in antique and contemporary 3D imagery. The Center houses everything from antique stereocards to View Master, contemporary 3D photography, lenticulars, anaglyphs, and computer generated 3D art."

"Each month different featured artists provide a glimpse into the contemporary world of 3D. Original contemporary art may be viewed and purchased. Daily 3D slideshows allow the visitor to slip into the amazing world of depth." -–from their website

3D Center of Art and Photography
1928 NW Lovejoy Street
Portland, Oregon 97209
www.3dcenter.us

"In the next 10 years it'll be as ubiquitous as colour or sound."

An excellent piece by Australian Cam Shea from IGN.com on Real D technology, the 3D system that directors like James Cameron, Peter Jackson, George Lucas, Bob Zemeckis and John Lasseter of Pixar are considering for upcoming films. Go here for the complete article.

"Rush University Medical Center is the first in Chicago to offer robotic surgery with 3D in HD (high-definition)."

"The da Vinci S Surgical System integrates 3D HD laparoscopy and state-of-the-art robotic technology to virtually extend the surgeon's eyes and hands into the surgical field. The system is designed to enable new, minimally invasive options for complex surgical procedures." –from Medical News Today

Go here for the complete article.

"Digital cameras and camera-phones could capture 3D information using just an in-built flash and some clever software, say Japanese researchers," writes Tom Simonite on the NewScientistTech website.

Go here for the complete article.

dBusinessNews out of Los Angeles is reporting that Meant to be Seen, the world’s first and only stereoscopic 3D advocacy group is going to be the media sponsor for Dimension-3 Expo Europe's newest stereoscopic conference, being held on June 5th through 7th at Espace des Arts, Chalon-sur-Saone, France.

"Stereo 3D is HUGE in Europe. Dimension-3 Expo will be having special presentations and discussions about S-3D in video games, film, theme parks – we have a lot to cover," said Stephan Faudeux, General Manager of Dimension-3 Expo.

For complete information, follow the links below.

Dimension-3 Expo
Meant to be Seen
dBusinessNews

The new 3D VuCAM™ features 2 seamlessly integrated 3.1 Megapixel resolution cameras.

If you're into 3D digital capture you simply have to read about this new product from StereoVision Imaging, Inc. I think this one will be on a lot of wish lists for NYSS members.

"It's finally here - a true stereo imaging system seamlessly integrated with a high-performance binocular! Now for the first time ever, users can easily capture high resolution and magnified stereoscopic images."

"The 3D VuCAM™ is a true stereo imaging system seamlessly integrated with a high-performance binocular. Users can easily capture high resolution and magnified stereoscopic images. The 3D VuCAM™ combines the features of a high-performance binocular that allows distant 8x magnified viewing with patented digital stereo imaging technology to deliver a 'what you see is what you get' experience. By simply pushing one button - end-users can now enjoy eye-popping 3D images that can be viewed on a glasses-free 3D monitors or traditional 3D display systems." - from their website.

An anaglyph produced by the 3D VuCAM™ High Performance 3D Binocular from StereoVision Imaging, Inc.

Click here for the complete details.

"When you upload an image to Fotowoosh, their software tears it apart and distinguishes the sky, ground and vertical elements within the photo, then cuts and folds it into a 3D model:"

Our system automatically constructs simple “pop-up” 3D models, like those one would find in a children’s book, out of a single outdoor image. The system labels each region of an outdoor image as ground, vertical, or sky. Line segments fitted to the ground-vertical boundary in the image and an estime of the horizon’s position provide the necessary information to determine where to “cut” and “fold” in the image. The model is then popped up, and the image is texture mapped onto the model.

"This is the creation of Derek Hoiem, a PhD candidate in Robotics at Carnegie Mellon University." - from the TechCrunch website

For the complete article, go here.
For the Fotowoosh site, go here.