News Blog

One of the benefits of being a consultant is that you sometimes get to see really cool stuff before it hits the market.

I recently visited Kerner Optical--the stealthy special-effects unit that split off from Industrial Light & Magic a couple of years ago.

Retro 3D glasses

Among other things, Kerner is now focused on developing disruptive technology for a broad range of 3D applications. Without getting into specifics (because I can't) or technical gobbledygook--which you can get by checking out the company's research website--this stuff goes way beyond the current state of 3D movies, video games, virtual reality, and TV. ... Read more

Dean Takahashi sent me an e-mail pointing to a piece he wrote on VentureBeat describing statements Wednesday by Intel's Chief Technical Officer Justin Rattner targeted at NVIDIA. CNET's own Brooke Crothers covered the same story and provides additional background here.

Intel Chief Technology Officer Justin R. Rattner

(Credit: Intel)

The technology at issue relates to 3D graphics for PCs. All current PC graphics chips use what's called polygon-order rendering. All of the polygons that make up the objects to be displayed are processed one at a time. The graphics chip figures out where each polygon should appear on the screen and how much of it will be visible or obstructed by other polygons.

Ray tracing achieves similar results by working through each pixel on the screen, firing off a "ray" (like a backward ray of light) that bounces off the polygons until it reaches a light source in the scene. Ray tracing produces natural lighting effects but takes a lot more work.

(That's the short version, anyway. For more details, you could dig up a copy of my 1997 book Beyond Conventional 3D. Alas, the book is long since out of print.)

Ray tracing is easily implemented in software on a general-purpose CPU, and indeed, most of the computer graphics you see in movies and TV commercials are generated this way, using rooms full of PCs or blade-server systems.

Naturally, Intel loves ray tracing, and there are people at Intel working to ... Read more

As has been widely reported (for example, by EDN Magazine and both Brooke Crothers and Dan Ackerman here at CNET), Intel has delayed the first customer shipments (FCS) of its "Montevina" chipsets, part of the new Centrino 2 platform.

The delays are pretty short, however... a matter of just a few weeks.

Intel attributes the delays to two independent problems: one with FCC certification of the 802.11n WiFi feature in the chips (just "paperwork," Intel says), and one with the integrated graphics engines in some models.

Intel's probably right about the WiFi certification problem. I've been through the FCC certification process (for electromagnetic interference (EMI), at least); there sure is a lot of paperwork involved.

For the graphics problem, I see a couple of possible explanations.

Intel could have discovered a design flaw in the first production units severe enough to prevent them from being shipped, which would have caused a substantial delay while a new run of production units was completed. (See my earlier blog post, "Design flaws, defects, and faults", for an explanation of how design flaws are related to product defects and faults.) This delay would have been largely hidden by the usual rounds of testing, but perhaps it just used up a little more time than the slack that was available in the schedule.

Or perhaps there was a design or manufacturing flaw that didn't require trashing the first production run, but which did require some additional testing and qualification to reject specific problematic parts. This could be caused by slower or hotter operation than expected, for example. Such a problem would cause a shorter delay-- just the extra testing time. A statement from Intel in the Crothers post referring to "re-screening" suggests this is the situation here, although potentially that statement could also describe testing a second production run to ensure the problem has been solved.

I find it interesting that this problem is related to Intel's new graphics engine, which is certainly the most important element of the new chipset. Intel's previous integrated graphics products have been criticized for not really being up to the challenges of running Windows Vista, including by Microsoft itself, but due to pressure from Intel, Microsoft certified these chips as "Vista Capable." That's technically true-- I've used integrated-graphics platforms under Vista myself-- but the resulting shortfalls in performance and features probably discouraged many new Vista users.

Graphics engines are very complicated, and getting more complicated every year. Intel started out well enough in the graphics business when it worked with Real3D (now defunct) to develop the Intel740, a discrete graphics chip, but 18 months later it found itself already 18 months behind ATI and NVIDIA, and fell back to selling only integrated-graphics chipsets, where the graphics component is worth only a few dollars in incremental revenue.

Intel plans to get back into the market for discrete graphics chips in 2009 or (more likely) 2010 with "Larrabee", a multi-core CPU in which some cores are optimized for graphics processing. I think Larrabee will turn out to be a technical disaster, but Intel has leveraged its market domination to turn previous technical disasters into financial windfalls. Think of the Pentium 4's "Hyper-Pipelined" design, for example, which was too hot and too inefficient, ultimately forcing Intel to bring its predecessor, the P6 design, back from the grave several years later. Intel's current graphics engines, however, are barely worth selling today, and they won't be worth reviving after Larrabee has run its course.

Regal Entertainment Group, the nation's largest movie theater chain, said Tuesday it has reached an agreement with Real D to upgrade 1,500 screens with 3D technology.

The Regal deal is the largest commitment to 3D by any theater chain, the companies said, raising the number of screens running Real D's 3D technology to more than 3,500.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The launch will allow most U.S. markets to have 3D capability and will commence upon the completion of the Digital Cinema Implementation Partners (DCIP) initiative, the companies said.

"We look forward to the finalization of the DCIP deals, which will allow Regal to commence the expanded 3D roll-out," Regal CEO Mike Campbell said in a statement.

Filmmaker James Cameron told attendees Tuesday at Microsoft's Advance 08 advertising conference that he sees great promise in 3D movies.

"When you are viewing in stereo, which is what we do, more neurons are firing," he said. "More blood is pumping through the brain."

Cameron, who has been a big proponent of making movies in 3D, said that the digital projectors going into movie theaters are capable of showing more than just movies.

"That digital image can be live," Cameron said. "That digital image can be 3D."

More than 1,000 theaters in the U.S. already have stereoscopic--3D-capable--projectors. Cameron hopes that there will be 5,000 such facilities by the time his 3D movie Avatar debuts next year.

However, retrofitting theaters is expensive and difficult, and many have voiced concerns that there won't be enough 3D-capable screens to accommodate the large slate of 3D movies expected in the coming years.

"I feel as though things have dragged along, and it's been pretty disappointing," DreamWorks Animation SKG Chief Executive Jeffrey Katzenberg said last month, according to Reuters.

Katzenberg said in a statement that he believes the Regal and Real D partnership "marks a defining moment for the greatest transformation in movie-going in 70 years."

Google confirmed today it's gathering 3D data along with the photographs it takes for its online Street View service, a potential boon for those of us who fantasize about flying like Superman through urban landscapes, at least virtually.

"The imaging technology includes lasers that collect 3D geometry data," the company said Thursday in a statement. However, for now at least, the 3D information is just experimental, Google said.

Microsoft's Virtual Earth gives a 3D view of thee world.

(Credit: Microsoft)

Savvy observers, looking at Flickr pictures of Google Street View cars gathering images in Milan, had identified the 3D laser scanners in April. At the time, Google didn't comment at the time, but now has confirmed the scanners as well as the expansion of Google Street View to Europe.

Laser scanners can be used to produce detailed 3D models of buildings or other features, and overlaying photographic imagery can give those models a more lifelike appearance.

Microsoft has been working to add more sophisticated 3D models to its Virtual Earth site, also using automated technology. Microsoft's software lets people cruise above Las Vegas and a few other cities with detailed 3D maps.

The move probably makes sense, given that it's more economical to gather the most information possible while driving around various cities. And of course Google has a lot of room to store 3D data and servers to process it into something useful that combines the 3D scan data with the photographed view.

It's not clear if there are privacy implications from the move. It's certainly possible that giving people the ability to fly through an extremely realistic reconstruction of the world could set off those who got the willies from Street View's debut or, for that matter, the satellite imagery that now seems relatively mundane.

But I'd think twice before trying to sneak that new addition onto the side of your house without getting a building permit.

Thanks to a new software driver Nvidia is cooking up, any PC game can be played in 3D, with no extra work on the part of game developers.

Beginning this summer, any PC with an Nvidia graphics processor will have the ability to run a game in normal mode, or in 3D, with the aid of 3D glasses.

Nvidia's Drew Henry models the working prototype of 3D glasses.

(Credit: Erica Ogg/CNET News.com)

The software driver will enable the ability to have two views--left eye and right eye--which, at the push of a button, appear blurry and pixelated to the naked eye. When viewed through 3D lenses though, the game pops into three-dimensional mode.

The important part is that game developers won't have to do anything differently. They just continue to make their games the way they want, and Nvidia will take care of the rest. It's just an option for gamers though--it doesn't mean all games have to be three-dimensional.

The challenge for Nvidia is making the glasses widely available at retail, as well as turning the silly-looking lenses into something actually cool and "not as geeky-looking," said Drew Henry, general manager of the company's Media Communications Processor (MCP) group.

And yes, they promise the final product will be much cooler than the glasses pictured above.

Here comes a new way for advertisers to capture attention: software that turns 2D images into 3D simulations when consumers play with them in front of a Webcam.

Total Immersion's D'Fusion system is composed of a kiosk, Web cameras, and software capable of recognizing, tracking, and rendering images.

It works like this. Customers view themselves on a screen through a Webcam and hold up a 2D picture. Suddenly the 2D picture pops up and consumers see themselves holding a 3D simulation of the product in the brochure on the kiosk's video feed. Sometimes it doesn't work: the 3D image will disappear if you hold the picture at a wrong angle. Still, it's an eye-grabber for a kiosk application.

Video: CNET News.com's Hanna Sistek demonstrates Total Immersion's software. Click the image above to view.

"It's like watching a magic show; there's this jaw-dropping moment when people can't really believe what they're seeing," said Jeremiah Knight, director of digital strategy at marketing agency Tequila.

Earlier this year, Tequila used Total Immersion's technology when marketing a car at auto shows around the country. "The customers' level of engagement was exceptionally high," Knight said. "We could engage them into conversations substantially deeper than with any other advertising method."

Total Immersion kicked off seven years ago in Europe and set up shop in Los Angeles late last year. Its idea largely plays off the existing CAD/CAM and 3D models companies already have prepared in their design shops. Total Immersion takes pictures of the brochure or box and then extrapolates the 2D image into a 3D simulation. It sells kits of "magic boxes" to companies that want to amaze their customers with a new marketing tool.

The magic boxes, however, cost quite a bit and are out of range for most retailers to buy. It costs approximately $50,000 to equip a typical toy store with them, and the return on investment is hard to measure. Thus, the customers for now are the manufacturers.

Bruno Uzzan, CEO of Total Immersion, envisions many other uses for D'Fusion, assuming the price can come way down.

CEO Bruno Uzzan envisions many uses for D'Fusion.

(Credit: Hanna Sistek/CNET News.com)

"We're targeting the end-consumer market," he said during a meeting at the Ad Tech conference in San Francisco last week, referring to any owner of a PC with a Webcam. "It could for instance be used in publishing. You could see a 3D character speaking to you while you're reading a Disney book," he said.

Another application could be games. "You could have chess characters go live while you're playing," Uzzan suggested.

The D'Fusion real-time visual software also does finger tracking. Point at a product in a brochure, and it starts animating that product.

The company says it also has customers in the theme park and entertainment business, as well as mobile-phone operators. Total Immersion is funded by the venture capital firms Partech International and I Source Gestion, and most recently also by Elaia Partners.

The software can be downloaded for free, together with a test printout. It isn't working very well, but if you have a Webcam it's worth checking out.

A Google Street View look at CNET headquarters

(Credit: Google)

Google Earth and Maps could cover a lot more territory with a lot more detail soon, if some photos from Italy are anything to judge by.

First, evidenced by Google-branded cars traversing Milan, is the possibility that Google is acquiring European imagery for its Street View feature.

Second is the observation, based on scrutiny of those pictures, that Google could be gathering 3D data along with the photos.

"With an automated solution, they could go for blanket 3D coverage," rather than the more limited approach today involving user contributions of basic 3D models, robotics engineering student Mark Cummins observed on his Educating Silicon blog. Cummins also helpfully included links to work by start-up Earthmine and University of California at Berkeley researchers Avideh Zakhor and Christian Früh to show what others are doing with 3D street-view imaging.

Cummins bases his conclusion on the use of Sick laser scanning equipment, which sends a laser beam back and forth to gauge distances to nearby objects. Laser scanners can produce a 3D model detailed map onto which imagery can be overlaid.

Google wouldn't comment either on any European expansion or on 3D scanning, but both ideas are consistent with the company's general plans for Google Maps and Google Earth.

"We continue to add more cities in Street View," spokesman Larry Yu said. "There are of course laws and regulations to consider abroad, so we looking closely at that." Yahoo has run into some privacy concerns with its street-level imagery.

Of the 3D work, Yu also was unspecific. "We want more 3D data in Google Earth. The latest release of Google Earth is where you'll see the results of our effort to automate the addition of 3D data."

In related news, ValleyWag reported that Google is hiring 300 drivers to map Switzerland.

The camera used for the new Second Life interface comes from 3DVsystems.

(Credit: handsfree3d.com)

While the Nintendo Wii has garnered attention from consumers and media alike for its innovative motion-based controls, Linden Lab is experimenting with a new way to interact with its Second Life virtual world with nothing more than a Webcam. Codenamed Segalen, the technology makes use of 3D Webcams, such as the ones from 3DVsystems, to track user's body gestures to let them navigate and edit within the environment.

In a YouTube video (embedded below), Second Life creator Mitch Kapor and Kapor Enterprises Inc. employee Philippe Bossut demonstrate the basics of moving around the 3D virtual world without the use of a keyboard or mouse--the traditional interface for most games. They mention that they took some cues from the way people use the Segway personal transport device to map out people's gestures and posture into a 3D world. The technology can also track facial gestures and match them onscreen in real time.

On Bossut's blog he notes that the project has only been in "real" development for a little more than three weeks. Second Life users looking to get their hands on it will have to wait, however, the 3D cameras in use for the project are still not readily available to consumers.

Similar efforts to use Webcams for gaming include the XBOX 360 and its Live Vision camera as well as the Playstation's EyeToy series, although neither had the 3D hardware capability that will give Kapor's Handsfree 3D its extra dimension of spacial control.