Interactive examples

The 3D Evolution: Part I, Introduction

This post is also available in: Spanish

I asked II multimedia education contributor Lynn Marentette to research the emergence of 3D technologies and how it might impact the educational sector. I’ve been really intrigued by this concept and how we might be able to develop interactive 3D applications for a TV console and from my conversations with Lynn, it sounds like this is a promising field that we need to closely watch. We will be cross blogging this biweekly series on here and Lynn’s blog “Interactive Multimedia Technology.” Below is her introduction to the series, which she initially published over at IMT. As always, please let us know if there is a particular issue, question, and/or concept that you would like us to tackle in this series.

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I will be featuring topics related to 3D technologies in a series of future posts on the Innovative Interactivity blog. Look forward to discussions on topics related to the history of 3D in films, virtual reality, and games. I’ll also touch on the history of 3D, including films, the evolution of 3D technologies, and the role of the virtual reality and gaming fields in this development. I will also discuss how 3D technologies might impact the future of interactive multimedia, in education, in the home, and the web.

3D movies have been around for a very long time, but until the movie Avatar was released a few months ago, there was little to suggest that 3D would be a hot topic of discussion. Part of the reason is that we now have a variety of newer technologies that support the creation and viewing of 3D content. The most important change is that 3D displays are on the market for use in the home, opening up a new vista for multi-media advertisers and content developers, including educational programming.

Samsung and Panasonic recently unveiled 3D displays for home viewing of films such as Avatar. Sony, Samsung, and Panasonic now offer Blu-ray disc players. Very soon, there will be broadcasts of sports events in 3D. 3D projectors and glasses are making some headway into K-12 classrooms.

Before I dive into this topic, I want to share that I am one of the small percentage of people who do not tolerate immersive 3D experiences very well. In the past, all of my attempts at viewing anything in 3D has resulted in headaches and nausea. Fortunately, there are some solutions to this problem that I am willing to try. I will share them in a future post.

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If you’d like to investigate your topic before we roll out our next post in the series on June 17th, feel free to peruse the rich collection of links to related blogs, papers and other resources over at IMT.

About the author: Lynn Marentette has over 20 years of professional experience as a school psychologist, and has used interactive multimedia applications and games with students who have disabilities since the early 1990’s. She is passionate about emerging collaborative technologies, natural user interactions and interfaces, and how the power of interactive multimedia can be harnessed in education. In addition to her work as a psychologist, she blogs about accessible off-the-desktop natural-user interfaces at “Interactive Multimedia Technology.”

Other posts that might interest you:

• 3D TV: Are we there yet?
• Evolution of 3D: Stereoscopic 3D Gaming
• Interactive FIFA World Cup 2010 calendar makes tracking teams easy

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