Make a Big Splash with 3D Video Streaming
March 6, 2008
Make a Big Splash with 3D Video Streaming!
(Excerpted from New Dimensions, The Dimension Data Magazine, March '08)
Talk about striking! With the 3-D effect provided by Spatial View's stereoscopic screens, the images literally pour out of the screen or sink to unexpected depths. Dimension Data was hooked right away and now offers you this 3D world within the framework of the Cisco Digital Media System.
At Dimension Data, video solutions rest essentially on three
pillars: videoconferencing (primarily with Tandberg), video streaming (with Cisco's 'Digital Media System' solution - DMS) and video surveillance. "Courtesy of our collaboration with Spatial View, we'll be able to introduce the third dimension in solutions based on Cisco's DMS that we set up at our clients' premises," announces Bart Vandenberghe, Video Solutions Leader at Dimension Data.
What is the Digital Media System?
Put simply, DMS enables content to be created and captured, managed on a server, and made available to users through a network of video screens or via digital signage. Its numerous applications include such fields as hotel & catering, transport, advertising, major events, exhibitions, etc.
"We've had requests for DMS from major companies, ministries, hospitals, and European institutions," Bart Vandenberghe continues. "To take the example of a practical application in a ministry, screens are installed more or less throughout the building's corridors, and visitors are issued with a small key at reception containing personalised information, which they simply need to offer up to one of the readers located on all the screens in order to view a map of the route to the location of their meeting."
Wifi and Internet technologies play their part of course: the information appearing on the screen can be managed remotely, updated, and modulated according to the position of the terminals. This allows a company to remotely control the information being displayed on an international network of screens within its subsidiaries, outlets, etc., in all four corners of the world.
3D images as you've never seen them before
And now the performance of DMS is being enhanced by the third dimension. Logos, images, films, animations, and DICOM (Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine) can all now be seen in 3D, by the naked eye, without special glasses or any other optical device. What's more, it's a world away from the 3D of yesteryear, as, this time around, the 3D sensation is strikingly real. The image leaps out from the screen or sinks into its depths, for guaranteed impact!
"It's an extraordinary effect with which to stand out from the crowd and attract attention, and I would especially recommend it in the field of communication and advertising, media, sales and demonstration tools, across all sectors," explains David Vanhove. "It's also very useful in the health field (microscopes, imaging, modelling of molecules and medical applications), where the third dimension can greatly facilitate the task of doctors, and most notably optimise the accuracy of diagnoses."
It's a field that is naturally opening the way to other forms of collaboration between Spatial View and the integrator, who is highly active in the medical sector. The third most important field of activity for this revolutionary technology is engineering – including,
eventually, all professionals working and creating in 'space' -: architects, engineers, constructors, along with graphic artists, designers, cartographers, etc.
At its core: two cameras exactly like a pair of eyes!
So what's the secret of these autostereoscopic screens? It all comes down to the way in which we perceive 3D. Set approximately 6.5 cm apart, our eyes each generate an image of the same scene from different angles, which the brain combines to create the 3D effect. Spatial View's autostereoscopic (LCD) screens imitate this process, by simultaneously aligning the visual images, right and left, filmed by two cameras (or remastered and imported into 3D). Each of our eyes captures one of these views and our brain, as always, interprets them to create the 3D. This process is combined with exceptional resolution and image quality.
Apart from their autostereoscopic screens, Spatial View offers a series of user-friendly hardware and software plug-ins for creating 3D images or transforming 2D content into 3D (DICOM, AutoCAD®, Autodesk® 3dsMax, Maxon Cinema4D, Autodesk®Maya®, Adobe Macromedia Flash®, graphics, videos and Flash animations, etc.).
A world first
As these screens can be viewed from any distance or height and from any viewing angle, they are proving highly popular in meeting rooms and as presentation tools in general. A bold diversion from the usual applications of the Digital Media System, this integration by Dimension Data of the Spatial View technology with Cisco's DMS solutions is totally new, with the first trials having taken place at a recent joint Cisco/Dimension Data event;
the results proved extremely compelling and the solution's presentation is continuing apace. Coming soon, for example, is the presentation of screens, 3D images and 'SVI Live Video' (Dimension Data Converged Communications Seminar, on 6 March), followed by the demonstration of a DMS solution involving Spatial View on 13 and 14 March (Conference of the Association of Belgian Hospitals) and on 22 April Cisco Expo).
3D about to boom
"Currently," Bart Vandenberghe explains, "this type of solution still concerns video on demand but from this June, we'll be moving towards video in real time". And David Vanhove concludes: "3D is going to explode, within companies as well as among private individuals, because the hardware is becoming more powerful and current graphics cards support it."
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To contact Dimension Data
Bart Vandenberghe
(Video Solutions Leader, Dimension Data)
E-mail: bart.vandenberghe@dimensiondata.be
Tel +32 (0)2 745 04 45
About Dimension Data
Founded in 1983 and headquartered in South Africa, Dimension Data is a specialist IT services and solution provider that helps clients plan, build and support their IT infrastructures. Dimension Data applies its expertise
in networking, security, operating environments, storage and contact centre technologies and its unique skills in consulting, integration and managed services to create customized client solutions. Our rich history in networking has placed us at the forefront in helping clients simplify and consolidate their IT infrastructures through Internet
Protocol (IP) convergence.
Seventy four percent of the Global Fortune 100 and fifty four percent of the Global Fortune 500 are Dimension Data clients.
Dimension Data is also the leading Global Cisco Gold Partner in 22 countries and is a Microsoft Gold Partner on 5 continents, thus emphasizing the value we place on strong collaborative relationships with the world leaders in our industry. www.dimensiondata.com
About Spatial View Inc
Spatial View is a pioneer in 3D image processing and auto-stereoscopic display. Headquartered in Canada, with R&D and engineering coordinated by Spatial View GmbH, Germany, our international team develops products that transcend the boundaries of 2D imaging, opening new dimensions and interactive solutions in medicine, engineering, geo-informational systems, advertising and entertainment. Our name informs our vision: making 3D
accessible, affordable, versatile, and inspiring. With the SVI family of software and a variety of high quality auto-stereo displays, Spatial View offers a wealth of adaptable solutions enabling the presentation of 3D rich content of all types, in full dimensionality, for specialty as well as the consumer mass market. www.spatialview.com
For further information contact:
Andre Fuochi,
Media Relations
Spatial View Inc.
Tel: 408-914-0760
Email: publicrelations@spatialview.com
Spatial View Inc. Headquarters
144 Front Street West, Suite 560
Toronto, Ontario M5J 2L7
Tel: 416-591-7177
Fax: 416-591-7199
www.spatialview.com