HARDWARE
HARDWARE
Described in this section is the list of hardware that we either used, bought, or experimented with. Based on our research and experience we have listed the pro and con for each piece of equipment. The equipment was all OTS (off the shelf) and can be bought in any electronics stores.
TELEVISION:
Samsung 55” 1080p / 240Hz / 3D LED-LCD HDTV
Cost: $2,500.00
Pro: Excellent display, crisp resolution, wide enough for a large amount of viewers. Easy to use, very thin and light, and lot’s of input options.
Con: The TV can receive an input signal of only 60 Hz and splits that signal into two so that it can output at 120 Hz which is required for Shutter Technology to work. Due to this, the TV causes ghosting and can be difficult in using if working with detailed objects. The TV emitter for the 3D signal is on the bottom left corner and it relays the signal at a 60 degree angle so if you fall out side that range, your glasses will not activate.
GLASSES:
Samsung SSG-2100AB - 3D glasses
Cost: $150.00 per pair
Pro: Easy to use, comfortable to wear over glasses, shuts of automatically when they do not receive the signal thereby conserving battery, very light, cannot hear or feel the shutter so they are very quiet.
Con: Very expensive, they range from $150 - $200 for each pair, which makes them very expensive to buy in bulk.
3D MONITORS:
ASUS VG236H - LCD display - 3D Ready - TFT - 23"
Cost: $558.99
Pro: Easy to set up, looks great and excellent resolution. Capable of native 120 Hz refresh rate so they can handle very clear display for Stereo 3D with no ghosting.
Con: We used a generic DVI when we were setting the computer up and forgot to use the one which came with the display. The monitor refused to work in Stereo 3D with the generic DVI. It’s probably that the generic DVI did not support stereo 3D. Its very important to use the cables that come with the hardware as they are not the same.
3D GRAPHICS CARD:
Cost: $384.99
Pro: Excellent card, works great for displaying stereo 3D, supports 120 Hz refresh rate, not very expensive.
Con: None seen so far.
3D DISPLAY KIT:
NVIDIA 3D Vision Glasses Kit Pro
Cost: $199.00
Pro: Comes with emitter and a pair of glasses, fairly in-expensive, and easy to set up. The glasses do not use any batteries so they have to be charged by plugging into the emitter, so this was fairly good for long use as well. The glasses were active shutter glasses, were pretty comfortable and could be worn over your eye-glasses as well. They are little heavier than the Samsung glasses.
Con: The charging cord could be longer so you could charge and use them at the same time easily. The emitter interfered with the Samsung TV so when the emitter was in close range to the Samsung TV the Samsung glasses did not activate.
LOOP POINTER
HillCrest Lab Freespace HL2202
http://www.hillcrestlabs-store.com/servlet/the-1/Loop-Pointer/Detail
Pro: Very easy and convenient to use. Does not require a surface to use, quick response and accurate. We did not end up using this in our project as we needed the keyboard. Buttons are easy to use and conveniently located.
Con: Takes some getting used to, up and down wrist movement feels weird.
TESTING
POLARIZED TESTING:
DLP Projectors
For our testing we wanted to test with the polarized technology so we used 2 DLP projectors at the ETC, and put them side by side in the lounge and displayed the movie we shot with the flip camera.
For the polarized 3D to work, we needed 2 polarized projectors and a polarized screen. Since we did not have a polarized projector we made use of the Sharp DLP projector we have at ETC and then put two polarized glasses in front of the projector at an angle to get this rig working. We used the lounge because it has a polarized screen so we were able to project the 2 projectors on the screen and get the 3D effect to work that way using polarized technique.
ANAGLYPH TESTING:
Flip Rig
We wanted to shoot a 3D anaglyph movie to start testing. We built a flip rig using 2 Ultra HD Flip cameras. We made a small wooden rig in shape of a box and mounted the 2 flip cameras over it. We mounted the wooden rig on top of a tripod to keep it stable.
For 3D to work, the 2 lenses needed to be at a distance of 65 mm which is roughly the distance between the human eye. We carefully placed the 2 flips on the rig so that the distance between the lenses was 65 mm. This was measured from the center of one lens to the other. We then put a transparent tape on the LCD screen of the flip and marked the center points on the tape for both the flips. This helped us to center the subject in both the cameras. The tricky thing was to start both the flips at the same time without moving them.
After we had a recording from both of the cameras, and we peformed some post processing. We needed to add cyan and red color filters to both the clips so that we could see them in 3D using the anaglyph glasses. We took the movies into Adobe Premiere and added the color filter on both the clips, one being red and other being cyan. We then decreased the opacity of the movie on top to 50% so it would show the bottom movie as well. This way we were able to make our 3D anaglyph movie using our flip rig.
