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Imaging is more – photokina is more: Starting on September 23, 2008, photokina will once again be setting the standard as the global information and communication platform of the imaging sector, with the latest techniques, products, applications and services. It is the wide range of products on show, which cover the entire scope of the complex imaging market that makes photokina unique.

It’s already clear that photokina will live up to its reputation as the global sector highlight once again this year. The trade fair distinguishes itself in the booming global imaging market by its unique competence in imaging – expertise built up over decades. It is highly regarded by consumers and professionals alike. The fair’s popularity among renowned exhibitors is correspondingly high. Around 1,600 suppliers from 50 countries will be presenting at this year’s “World of Imaging,” with more than 60 percent of them coming from outside Germany. There will be over 100 first-time exhibitors.

As in the past years, we will report almost “life” from Photokina and tell you where the 3D treasures are hidden. At least for the first Photokina days, the Stereoscopy.com 3D-News will be updated twice-daily.

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Spatial View Inc., a leading developer of 3D image processing and display technologies, announced the availability of its Wazabee 3D glasses-free Gaming solution through Media Markt, a key European electrical goods retailer.

The Wazabee bundle consists of two key components; a 19-inch multi-user display and a 3D gaming driver. Customers who purchase the bundle can now play and experience their favorite games in 3D without needing glasses. There are currently 20 game and platform titles supported by Wazabee including Need for Speed, Call of Duty, World of Warcraft and Second Life with the bundle retailing for 740 Euros (or US$1,149) before tax. Under the terms of the agreement, Media Markt will initially distribute the Wazabee bundle throughout Belgium and Luxembourg.

“We partnered with Spatial View because they have a unique 3D technology that will take gaming, both standalone or online, to a completely new level of interaction,” says Dik Pijl, Chief Purchasing Officer of Media Markt – Saturn Belgium – Luxemburg. “Our customers are looking for the latest and most innovative technologies and the Wazabee bundle answers the call. The simple turnkey solution lets anyone a 3D experience.”

The new Wazabee bundle will be showcased at the Games Convention in Leipzig, Germany (August 20th through 24th at Hall 4, booth A04). For more information on Spatial View or the Wazabee bundle visit http://www.wazabee.net

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Packed to the brim with an estimated 800 audience members, true 3D gaming was demonstrated for the first time on professional Real D projection equipment using iZ3D LLC stereoscopic drivers at SIGGRAPH 2008 via a joint presentation by Neil Schneider, President & CEO of Meant to be Seen and Mark Rein, VP and Co-Founder of Epic Games.

Similar to the experience movie goers get in 3D theaters, consumer gamers use S-3D technology at home for superior game immersion, visual beauty and game enjoyment. In video games, stereoscopic 3D hardware makes explosions fly out of the screen and adds a depth that makes the screen look like a window rather than a flat projection. Sample hardware includes iZ3D 3D monitors, TDVision head mounted displays, and a growing selection of 3D HDTVs by Samsung, Mitsubishi, and SpectronIQ.

“Stereoscopic gaming is inevitable. It’s not so much a question of added realism or emersion, terms that I find too nebulous to define. Stereoscopic 3D gaming is more fun – that’s why it’s here to stay,” said Lenny Lipton, Chief Technology Officer of Real D, and the inventor of the original CrystalEyes Glasses that laid down the groundwork for many of the modern consumer 3D solutions available today.

Stereoscopic 3D displays are quickly becoming the equipment of choice for avid gamers, and the technology has already demonstrated as much as 3:1 revenue benefits over 2D theaters in the Hollywood cinema space.

“It is a fantastic experience when you see games like ours running with proper stereoscopic equipment,” said Mark Rein, VP and Co-Founder of Epic Games.

After Mark Rein played Unreal Tournament 3 in front of the gaming audience, he accepted the Meant to be Seen Gold-A Certification Award for Unreal Tournament 3 – MTBS’ recognition that it is fully compatible with the popular iZ3D LLC stereoscopic 3D drivers. This rating can be upgraded further when similar compatibility is achieved with additional MTBS recognized driver solutions.

The Game Creators also earned an MTBS Native Certification award for their popular Dark Basic Professional game engine. It natively supports iZ3D monitors and anaglyph solutions with further options on the way.

“3D was meant to be seen in 3D, and it’s great to see an organization like MTBS plant a flag firmly in the ground and state with determination that they want the real thing, and you know what? I think they will get it too! The Game Creators are very pleased to have been awarded an MTBS certification for the implementation of S-3D technology in the latest update to Dark Basic Professional. We look forward to extending our native support for S-3D to our other brands, including DarkGDK and FPS Creator in the near future,” said Lee Bamber, President & CEO of The Game Creators.

Meant to be Seen is the foremost authority group on consumer stereoscopic 3D technology. It has quickly become the largest S-3D community in existence by working jointly with its members and partners to grow the stereoscopic 3D gaming industry through advocacy and business relationships. Their site features industry interviews, S-3D game reviews, active forums, game certification, and a member driven massively multiplayer online game (MMOG) called MTBS Nations at War.

“The audience was thrilled with Unreal Tournament 3 in S-3D and we had the honor of concluding the second half of the show with the opening sequence of Bioshock by 2K Games in stereoscopic 3D. I was repeatedly told that it was such an enveloping experience, the audience was left wanting to see more when the show was finished,” said Neil Schneider, President & CEO of Meant to be Seen.

“To make this happen, we used the popular iZ3D S-3D drivers along with Real D technology. Real D is the same technology used in modern movie theaters for successful films like Beowulf 3D, U23D, and Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D. Special thanks go to Rob Engle of Sony Imageworks, SIGGRAPH, TDVision Corp., iZ3D, and NVIDIA and Real D for supplying the specialized equipment needed to make this possible,” Schneider said.

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Mechdyne Corporation announced that it has completed a multi-room computer simulation and visualization center for Alliant Techsystems Inc., a premier advanced weapon and space systems company. The Simulation Center, installed at ATK’s Mission Systems headquarters in Baltimore, Maryland, features a 40-seat immersive visualization theater with an 8 megapixel (MP) projection system, two team collaboration rooms with stereoscopic display capability and a conference room with high definition (HD)-quality viewing.

ATK is using the simulation center for a range of projects, including real-time review of mission simulations and virtual engineering of manufacturing and production systems for defense technology. The center is linked via secure network connections to other ATK facilities, with efforts underway to also connect to U.S. Government sites, providing the capability for engineering teams from across the country to collaborate on design and engineering programs, and to participate in reviews of actual and simulated missions via shared presentation and videoconferencing.

“Computer simulation combined with large-scale visualization display enables us to view a wide range of data from multiple sources on a single screen, rendered either as a set of images, or integrated into a full-screen single image,” said Ron Holshey, ATK Project Director, Virtual Engineering for Manufacturing, Production and Repair (VEMPR). “In initial work at the Simulation Center, we were able to demonstrate collaboration with engineering resources at one of our California sites in a real-time test of a missile guidance package for a defense client.”

This demonstration was conducted in support of the on-going Navy ACT 1 Advanced Anti-Radiation Guided Missile (AARGM) System Development and Demonstration (SDD) Program. This test validated the collaborative, real-time product design, analysis, simulation and assessment features available to system design and production transition teams through the VEMPR capability. ATK plans to expand this capability through creation of a VEMPR hub at its Manufacturing Center of Excellence located at the Allegany Ballistics Laboratory (ABL) Naval Industrial Reserve Ordnance Plant (NIROP) in Rocket Center, West Virginia. The hub network architecture will facilitate expansion of the system engineering collaboration and analysis capabilities to other ATK and Government locations, and will connect the VEMPR directly to the manufacturing areas at ABL. Enhancements will include integration of Design-for-Manufacture / Design-for-Assembly and Process Optimization software with the simulation and visualization capabilities of the VEMPR, and a direct link to the ATK Product Data Management System to afford 3D assessment of as-planned, as-designed, and as-built configurations.

Mechdyne provided an advanced computer graphics cluster; 3D visualization software; all of the large screen displays, audio/visual and control station systems; fiber optic connectivity; and complete system design and integration for the Simulation Center. This included the challenging installation of the theater’s single-piece 20 ft x 8 ft flat glass screen, which was lifted by crane to the 11th floor location.

Mechdyne’s Conduit software is used to enable multi-channel stereoscopic viewing and Virtual Reality interaction capabilities, such as six degree-of-freedom navigation and viewer motion tracking, in several applications used in the Simulation Center, including PTC’s ProEngineer and AGI’s Satellite Toolkit (STK). This ability to work with virtual prototypes as if they were real, allows faster, more intuitive analysis of 3D models compared to mouse and keyboard navigation.

Display components provided by Mechdyne include the stereoscopic theater system, which utilizes two Sony SXRD projectors and two lower resolution projectors for simultaneous videoconferencing and non-stereo computer image projection, Mechdyne SX Beacon projectors for stereo viewing in the team rooms, and a 56-in. LCD display in the conference room. The visualization systems are driven by an HP-based graphics computer cluster running 64-bit Windows XP on quad-core processors. Mechdyne also provided the A/V control system in the conference room and a RGB Spectrum MediaWall controller in the theater. The theater layout includes tables with fully connected (power, network and A/V feeds into the visualization systems) seating for 18 individuals and additional viewing seats for 22.

“With its multiple elements of the system design, hardware and software engineering, and finally logistics challenges, the ATK Simulation Center was one of the most exciting projects we have tackled for any client,” said Chris Clover, President and Chief Executive Officer of Mechyne. “We are very pleased with its success and look forward to further collaboration to support ATK projects and programs.”

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XPAND, an international leader in 3D Digital experiences and technology platforms, announced they’ve entered a five year exclusive deal with Eurasia Cinemas, 88 % shareholder of AFM Cinemas, Turkey’s only publicly held entertainment company and cinema mogul, owning and operating approximately 176 screens in ten cities. Spanning two continents across Europe and Asian side of the Bosporus, the prestigious group is widely known for their innovative and progressive cinemas expansion.

The agreement, which calls for more than 15 screens initially, is in association with Eurasia Cinemas B.V., part of an alliance with A1 Group (subsidiary of Alfa Group Consortium), one of Russia’s largest privately owned financial firms, which include all 13 Kronverk locations with 80 screens across the region. Combining the prosperity of Russia and Turkey, this powerful cinema circuit has plans for further development across several territories and their approach to cinema enterprise is just the beginning of several phases to strengthen and maintain their leading position in the industry.

XPAND has taken a commanding lead throughout Europe in the 3D technology race by delivering superior stereoscopic active technology, which envelopes a highly sophisticated infrared 3D system, and is the core of many developing 3D platforms under the brand of XPAND products. Delivering reliable Active Glasses technology, images on the screen achieve 3D intensity with flicker free realism. As the most adaptive and utilitarian system on the market, the Eurasia Cinema B.V. partnership further confirms the commitment to the guest experience.

“This is our most exciting new partnership and has validated our brand-worthy reputation with such an esteemed and cutting-edge circuit,” says Maria Costeira, CEO of XPAND. “It’s an extreme honor to be working with AFM, Eurasia and Kronverk Cinemas and we look forward to our long-term relationship in the 3D global movement. Our respective companies share the same philosophy as visionaries and accurately depicts our common goals.”

AFM Cinemas has consistently been at the forefront of the cinema business in Turkey for over 40 years. “Eurasia Cinemas will continue its cutting-edge presence with exclusive partners like IMAX and THX to deliver only the best to our audiences, so we’re honored to be associated with XPAND to develop our screens in digital 3D, which we’ve determined is the correct approach in providing high quality solutions,” says Fatos Kiziltas, COO of Eurasia Cinemas. “We want to reinforce our leadership position in the region from Turkey to Russia with our selected partners and we’re very pleased to start adding XPAND 3D auditoriums commencing with two of our cinemas in Moscow and St. Petersburg, believing this will drive incremental economic returns at these locations. We look forward to offering moviegoers in our cinemas across Turkey, Russia and all other countries the excellence of XPAND’s 3D digital experience and are very excited about the beginning of a long-term cooperation with XPAND.”

Eurasia Cinemas B.V. and XPAND will present the most optimal 3D experience to their audiences, supported by a host of newly produced Hollywood and independent studios content, becoming the latest trend in 3D movie-going entertainment. Further enhancing the XPAND experience, the company will introduce this Fall/Winter, their newly designed glasses that are both sleek and contemporary and will house additional technology devices that will provide every exhibitor a long-life and cost-effective 3D product.

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Lightspeed Design, Inc., a worldwide leader in stereo 3D technology and services, and InFocus® Corporation, the industry pioneer in digital projection, announced the world’s first portable XGA and WXGA stereoscopic 3D projectors that deliver amazing HD stereoscopic 3D at a truly unprecedented level of price/performance.

DepthQ® HD 3D projectors offer rock-solid, 120Hz stereo 3D at 1280×720 or 1024×768 resolution. These bright, professional-level 3D projectors can easily display 12 ft (3.7m) diagonal 3D high-definition images using the latest Texas Instruments DLP® and BrilliantColor™ technologies for stunning colors and a 2000:1 contrast ratio.

Building on the “first to market” success of the original standard-definition DepthQ 3D projector introduced in 2005, Lightspeed again worked with industry innovator InFocus Corporation to realize our vision of HD resolution in a portable 3D format. The new DepthQ HD 3D projectors incorporate Lightspeed’s patent-pending technologies with InFocus’ proven reliability, providing our most discerning clientele with high resolution stereo 3D at an affordable price.

Steve Stark, InFocus Vice President of Engineering said, “Coordinating the engineering teams from InFocus, Lightspeed and Texas Instruments was exciting. This effort brought together talented engineers from three industry innovators who really came together to make this new level of 3D projector possible.”

Fortune 500 companies, governments, major universities from Beijing to Munich, Hollywood’s top filmmakers, and R&D labs across the globe have all embraced DepthQ’s unique combination of premium 3D visualization and affordable price.

“Our clients represent a wide variety of industries, all of whom place a huge importance on stereo 3D visualization. Without exception they’ve been amazed at the value the DepthQ 3D projector has offered for the price. The new HD 3D projector raises the bar even higher,” said Chris Ward, Lightspeed’s President.

• Affordable – Less than $6,000 – A fraction of the cost of other single-lens 3D projectors
  
• Quality – Flicker-free, 120 Hz HD 3D with DLP BrilliantColor technology
  
• Portable – At 6.9 pounds it fits under your arm and takes less than 5 minutes to set up
  
• Versatile – Work live in 3D-enabled applications; quality control 3D film or video game development; bring 3D movies and games into your home

It is expected that shipping will begin mid-September. Lightspeed Design is the exclusive worldwide distributor of DepthQ HD 3D projectors, with over 200 qualified 3D resellers.

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iZ3D, LLC, designer, developer, and marketer of advanced 3D visualization systems, announced that it will be offering a hands -on test drive of it’s 22-inch widescreen 3D monitors for gamers and graphics professionals alike in Booth #510 during NVISION 08. The show is located at the San Jose Convention Center in San Jose, CA on August 25-27, 2008.

“iZ3D will have several 3D stations available during the show so attendees can experience the compelling qualities of 3D game play firsthand. Due to our industry-leading 170-degree3D viewing angle, even attendees that are not directly in front of the computer can fully enjoy the 3D experience through our polarized 3D glasses,” remarked Thomas Striegler, CEO of iZ3D, LLC.

A 10 % discount will be offered on the popular iZ3D 22-inch widescreen 3D monitors for NVISION attendees who obtain their discount code at the booth to order online.

The company invests significant resources into the development of new hardware and software for a variety of stereoscopic 3D applications. A 26-inch widescreen 3D monitor prototype will be showcased in the iZ3D booth during NVISION 08.

iZ3D monitors feature significant advantages over other 2D and 3D display systems. Graphic artists have embraced the monitor as an essential tool for 3D design. It is difficult for artists to create images in 3D while viewing the design in 2D. The company developed this unique technology to create an adjustable 3D display environment without causing eyestrain, spatial disorientation, or headaches. In 3D mode, viewers can see clear, bright, sharp 3D images and videos simply by wearing any of a variety of iZ3D passive polarized glasses.

Featuring new drivers with 64-Bit compatibility, iZ3D has also included CrossFireX and Open GL Quad Buffer support. Armed with red and cyan anaglyph glasses, users can also “Test Drive” 3D effects on a 2D monitor. The S-3D drivers are compatible with popular dual output cards and are optimized to take advantage of Intel’s® latest Core™ 2 Duo and Intel® Core™ 2 Quad processor technologies.

Any current PC equipped with a dual-output video card can easily power the unit. Specifications include: 1680 x 1050 resolution; up to 170-degree 3D viewing angle; 5ms response time; 700:1 contrast ratio; and 16.7-million colors.

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Barco, a technology leader in Virtual Reality, has recently installed a three-sided, eight-channel 3D stereo display wall at Miele’s Gütersloh headquarters. German household appliance premium manufacturer Miele wanted to have a visualization system that could fulfill roles as a collaboration center, a presentation display and an immersive virtual reality environment. Towards this end, Barco worked together with integrator Erben to develop a unique 3D stereo system with multi-windowing and tracking capabilities.

Miele is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of household equipment. Founded in 1899 and still a family enterprise, Miele is represented in over 42 countries and has some 16,000 employees. Among others, it won among many others an award in 2007 as the most successful company in Germany, and as the best domestic appliance brand in the United Kingdom.

“To boost design processes and optimize collaboration, Miele knew it wanted to have the best visualization available,” explains Guido Erben, general manager of integrator Erben, “We took them to an existing Barco display wall, and they were very much impressed with the system’s image quality and functionalities.”

To accommodate to Miele’s specific needs, Barco developed a three-sided MegaCADWall solution. Containing a total of eight three-chip DLP 3D stereo projectors and the award-winning XDS-1000 display management system, the MegaCADWall is capable of rendering both 2D and 3D sources simultaneously in multiple windows. Its familiar Windows interface and easy mouse and keyboard operation allow direct access to and control of all local and networked sources.

In immersive mode, Barco’s three-sided MegaCADWall can be used to convincingly simulate a kitchen environment to test the look and feel of a complete kitchen design at Miele’s Design Center. Alternatively, the main screen can be used for detailed, 1:1 or enlarged product rendering while the side screens contain other vital information such as spreadsheets, diagrams and remote sources.

Excellent image quality is guaranteed through several optimizations in Barco’s projectors that drive the system. These include a combination of optical and electronic edge blending, to create one seamless image, and DynaColor and linked constant light output that match color and brightness levels across the entire display. This results in a flawless image free of disturbances. For the 3D stereo part, Barco’s projectors use active Infitec. Active Infitec is a cost-effective stereoscopic technology that requires no investment in expensive glasses, and is unique to Barco’s three-chip DLP projectors.

“Barco’s MegaCADWall caused a major paradigm shift in the way we look at design and can imagine what a future appliance will look like,” states Andreas Enslin, head of the Miele Design Center, “The system has not only met but exceeded our expectations. The speed that we have gained will result in a significant increase of our accomplishments and working range. Basically, we hold true to the standard that the Miele design has to express the premium character of our products. Our good reputation is essentially determined by our design. This has always been the case, and will always remain this way.”

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Twelve months ago Stereoscopic 3D wasn’t on most people’s radar, now it is one of the hottest topics in the industry, not only at the movies, but also in broadcasting.

3ality Digital and Quantel are two of the key companies driving the Stereo 3D medium forward. 3ality is a pioneer of modern stereoscopic production, with ground-breaking projects to its credit such as the critically-acclaimed digital 3D movie “U2 3D”. Quantel has pioneered practical stereoscopic post production through its award-winning Pablo and iQ systems. Now the two companies have signed a strategic partnership to drive forward stereoscopic production and post production throughout the industry.

Sandy Climan, President and CEO of 3ality Digital, LLC states, “We are thrilled to partner with Quantel, a leader in pioneering technology. In addition to collaborating with Quantel on perfecting production and post-production solutions for 3D filmmaking, this alliance will provide technology which will hasten the introduction of full digital 3D television broadcast to the home.”

Steve Schklair, founder and CEO of 3ality Digital Systems states, “3ality has developed technologies that enable the creation of amazing realistic and completely comfortable images through tools that simplify the process and are production ready. We have long relied on Quantel systems for Post and they are one of the most respected names in the business. By combining the power of the technologies from both companies, we have created something that is greater than the sum of the parts: a dependable, comprehensive toolset and a predictable pipeline that makes sense to both filmmakers and broadcasters.”

Quantel strategic marketing manager Mark Horton explained Quantel’s thinking behind the partnership: “3ality has world-class expertise and technology in Stereo. There is a phenomenal interest in Stereo right now and the market is starting to look for practical answers to move it from a niche application to a mainstream business. This is especially true in Broadcasting. By joining forces, we can help deliver practical stereo workflows across a range of Film, Post and Broadcast requirements. Stereo is a great opportunity for our industry, so it’s important that as an industry we get the adoption phase right. 3ality and Quantel are working together to bring practical solutions to market that will deliver high quality results on time and on budget.”

More details of the partnership will be announced in September at IBC in Amsterdam.

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TDVision Systems, Inc., the leader in design and development of 3D digital infrastructures and visualization systems, announced the unveiling of the new version of AlterSpace 3.0 at SIGGRAPH 2008 in Los Angeles, CA. This true 3D virtual world enabled with TDVision’s DejaView 3D video playback is the world’s only web 3.0 virtual world that combines social networking, stereoscopic gaming and 3D movies in a software package that is fully compatible with TDVision’s high resolution head mounted display, the TDVisor or any other existing 3D display.

“Imagine watching a 3D movie. Now imagine watching it at home on our immersive eyewear that makes you feel like part of the action, that’s unforgettable,” said Ethan Schur, Director of Marketing for TDVision Systems, Inc. “You get a message from your buddy so you pause your 3D movie, step out of the screen, and find yourself in a true stereoscopic virtual environment of your own creation, complete with avatars, chat functionality, mini games, and the ability to upload and purchase amazing 3D content,” he continued.

Schur spoke on Tuesday, August 12th at the SIGGRAPH conference on the future of digital stereoscopic 3D use with the emphasis on bringing true 3D to the home and the mass adoption of 3D technology. The SIGGRAPH conference estimates to bring 30,000 computer graphics and interactive technology professionals for the industry’s most respected technical and creative programs focusing on research, science, art, animation, gaming, interactivity, education, and the web.

“Stereoscopic 3D video and Virtual Reality environments now coexist at home in one single application running on off the shelf computers and with a simple download at http://www.alterspace.us . 3D power has been unleashed to the public and possibilities are now infinite, there’s no limit to imagination,” said Jack Yamamoto of the Japan based 3D Consortium.

Since 2004 TDVision Systems has developed breakthrough stereoscopic 3D technologies to take high quality digital 3D to the home user, military applications and medical training applications. Named as one of the most compelling technologies of the year by the Chicago Tribune and CNET, TDVision is committed to bringing their 3D technology into every home and propel a media revolution.

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