In the past decade,3 - 500 movieshave received their share of looker award and critical disdain . Whether you love the center - popping force or yawn at their precipitous ubiquity , one matter is indisputable – 3 - D is get down more and more rough-cut . In 2004 there were only two 3 - D movies in mass liberation . In 2013 there were 45 . As recently as 2006 there were a paltry 250 3 - five hundred - open theaters on the planet . Now , that turn has blown past 50,000 and counting .
There are several types of 3 - D technologies in use at theaters , let in IMAX 3 - D , Dolby 3 - D and RealD. Of those , RealD has almost one-half of the market percentage . RealD is adigital stereoscopic projectionsystem , and it ’s put in at more than 20,000 theaters worldwide .
for bask 3 - D at a RealD - equipped theater , you ’ll don dark , rather goofy - depend glass that relay the multi - dimensional core from the screen to your eyes . When amovie directorand her team of peculiar outcome personnel do skillful work , the visuals in a 3 - D moving-picture show are often breathtaking . Explosions seem to expel shrapnel from the screen . Scenes with lush foliage seem so dense and so real that it find as though you could walk right into those elephantine ferns .
Producing a well - crafted 3 - D film that truly suspends an audience ’s disbelief want deft technical sleight of hand and brilliant expert slaying . When the recorded information is pair with a RealD organisation , viewers get a truly 3 - D experience that might astound them .
The RealD system incorporate a number of tools to make the 3 - five hundred burden that works with the exceptional theater glasses resting on the nosepiece of your olfactory organ . It ’s a advanced , in high spirits - speed technology that helps transform a two - dimensional flick into a 3 - 500 chef-d’oeuvre .
RealD 3-D Fundamentals
If you imaginemovie projectionequipment as a room full of dusty film Scottish reel , you ’d be taken aback by RealD. It ’s a system that ’s digital from the primer up and optimise for movies shoot in digital formats rather of antiquated moving picture .
RealD 3 - 500 setups generally consist of a computer used to litigate the 3 - five hundred data , a digital projector , a proprietary ZScreen polarisation exchange , the projection filmdom and , of course , the3 - D glassesthat you wear . The scheme can be adapted to various digital cinema projector .
Of course , the 3 - D system really all begins with the moving-picture show set . You have two eyes that have you see the world in stereo . Because your eyes are about two inches apart , their perspective are just a little different . That ’s why directors use dual - mounted television camera to shoot 3 - five hundred scenes . One camera captures images ultimately intended for your left eye ; the other , for your right .
After the movie is sent to your local field of operations , projectionists adulterate the data into a host . This computer sends the data in two parallel streams to the projector , which displays them , quickly alternating between image meant for your leftover and right eyes . Those images then strike the motion-picture show projection screen and bounce back to your trash .
The ice you wear are polarized filter , and the lens for each eye is calibrate to let in promiscuous waves that strike the crystalline lens at a specific angle . All others bounce away or are absorbed . That means theatre director can on purpose contrive 3 - D effects for every scene of their movies and project them in a way that seduce sense to your eye .
Linear Polarization, a Losing Proposition
The 3 - D system of rules from years ago did n’t work very well . To realize exactly why , you have to know howlightworks .
luminosity is a case of wave , and those waves move up and down and side to side and essentially all over the place . Light is a fleck chaotic . A polarizing filter blocks many lightheaded waves but allow those move in a direction parallel to the filter to pass through . In other words , a polarizing filter cuts down on visual stochasticity .
This is readily patent if you take a pair ofpolarizedsunglasses and circumvolve them while looking at a burnished surface with a lot of bright , reflected light . At the right angle , the glasses will halt much of the glower and make the scene easier on your eye .
engine driver can make eyeglasses with lens of the eye polarized differently for each eye . That is , one lens blocks certain light waves and the other blocks a dissimilar set of light waves . That ’s in the end how 3 - five hundred field of operations technology works . And we ’ve come a long way since the early days .
Old - school day 3 - D ejection technology was a headache , literally , for both house owners and for many viewing audience . For starters , these antiquated systems need not one , but two projector , which cast two differentlinearly polarizedimages onto the screenland from 45 degrees left and right of pith .
spectator wore linearly polarize glass , which had to pillow at a precise slant ( in other words , straight on and stationary with deference to the screen door ) for show crisp images . Thanks to the glassful , your right centre picture only images from the ripe projector . Your odd middle insure images only from the leftover projector .
It sounds feasible in theory , but if you tilted your head , you ’d see color shed blood into each other and stomach - churning , distorted image that give way many movie - goersheadaches . Other problem stand up if the slant of the projectors was off even slenderly , the images were n’t perfectly synchronized or if they were n’t exactly the same luminance . It was an whole thwarting experience for projectionists and audience .
Fortunately , system featuring linear polarization are no more .
Circular Polarization
Linear polarization has gone by the wayside . If you ’ve been to a 3 - D movie in the retiring few years and slipped on those fashion - challenged glasses , you ’ve worn lens system featuringcircular polarisation . Just as with glasses that use linear polarization , those with circular polarisation are made to filter out specific wavelengths of light .
The expectant difference is that the polarized light Wave do n’t locomote in a true line . rather , they move forrad in a helix . To create that spiral effect , a projection organization like the one in RealD might use two projectors with different polarizing filters : one to create a clockwise spiral ; the other , a counter - clockwise spiral . Each spiral works with only one lense on your crank , so each eye sees just one set of image . But these dual system incline to be too unwieldy or pricey for many house .
Instead , RealD uses a advanced one - projector scheme . The projector mail its range through a polarizing beam splitter , which divides the sparkle into two beam of light . Both beams of clean leaping from amirrortoward anachromatic polarization rotator , which rotates these radio beam of luminousness to specific angles for each lens on your3 - 500 glasses .
Images then pass through the ZScreen , which is a liquid - crystal cover placed in front of the projector lens system . The ZScreen playact as afast - interchange polarizing filter(also called a button - pull modulator ) . Each sentence it switches , it alternates between simulacrum meant for your left over and right-hand oculus . It syncs precisely with the movie projector thanks to the help of an electronic restrainer .
It does this task at 144 anatomy per second , or 72 per sec for each optic . Or put differently , it means that each of the 24 shape per second of the movie is expose for your centre three time before the next frame appears . That way your eye and brain ca n’t detect sickening flickering .
And because the result light waves move in spiral , they can hit your glasses at dissimilar angles and still make fantastic images . That means you have more leverage to sway and cock your head while you watch .
The system is n’t thoroughgoing . At sure angles , looker may still seeghosting , which is a type of image leakage . In ghosting , one center may see the tiniest glance of images meant for the other eye . When this happens , it can disrupt the play and may make you find a little woozy .
Another challenge for RealD with ZScreen is brightness . As the projected promiscuous move through all of those filter , there ’s rattling light loss , meaning the movie you see look darker than it should . To weaken this phenomenon , some theatre apply silver projection screen .
Silver screen have actual silver dust embedded in them . The silver is so reflective that it reduces light red ink and maintains more brightness than a modern white , matte screen .
silvery screens are in reality a throwback to the olden day of movie theatre . Early projection organization had the same handicap as 2005 - era RealD systems — they were just too bleak and require very reflective screens to exert sufficient light for consultation . Silver silver screen might be a archaic technology , but they are more expensive than basic bloodless screen , and as such , they ’re another drawback for owners look to induct in 3 - D.
From Small to XL
The initial RealD 3 - 500 organization that ’s equipped with first - generation ZScreen technology is also the most far-flung 3 - 500 projection system in the world , available in many thousands of theaters . This version does have some significant restriction , particularly in terms of the size of the screen on which it can fancy , specifically screens that mensurate 45 foot ( 13 meters ) or less .
In 2008 , RealD introduce a 2d - generation system call up 3 - D 40 . dead on target to its byname , it work on extra - large screen up to 80 animal foot ( 24 beat ) widely . The XL is designed to provide more than enough brightness for large screen , making for a bigger and ideally more immersive 3 - D experience . Whether your theater employ the first RealD system or the XL , both work specifically with the company ’s 3 - D chicken feed .
The glasses that you wear during a RealD feature film picture show are n’t your everyday polarise eyewear . If you attempt to slip on your normal sunglasses during one of these moving-picture show you ’d miss out on thespecial effects(and likely upchuck yourpopcorn , too ) . The methamphetamine also have some subtle refinements , such as low - glare build to reduce scattered light that would unhinge you from the movie .
Each prison term you buy a ticket to a RealD movie , you receive a brand - spanking - new pair of 3 - D glasses . The idea behind this is to provide the best possible clarity for your movie experience , but also to reduce the heebie jeebies you might experience about wear glasses that other people have already used .
After each show , most theaters collect the eyeglasses for recycling . Some multitude do keep their glasses for reuse , and others like them just as souvenirs .
Some manufacture insider feel like those glasses should just gather dust for a while as the 3 - D film industry recalibrates itself . Ticket sales for 3 - D movies are sliding downwardly , and many initiate blame poor sales on overexploitation of the effect , in accession to ill produced changeover of 2 - D to 3 - viosterol , which often leave in ugly , almost unwatchable film .
Movies that make full economic consumption of the potential of 3 - calciferol , such as 2009 ’s " Avatar , " were first imagined as multidimensional experiences . " Avatar " was direct and inject with 3 - D in brain , and the ranking results translated into monumental tag sales event .
Whether 3 - D will be around for many eld is up for debate . What ’s sure is that company like RealD will continue to introduce and refine the technology behind 3 - D in the Leslie Townes Hope that it will capture audience imaginations like no other cinema experience in history .
Lots More Information
I seldom go to theaters to see movies , but I was one of the millions and millions of masses who made time to watch " Avatar " on the vainglorious screen . It was worth it . " Avatar " was n’t just a motion-picture show . It was a sensory experience that made me enquire if it would change the agency movies were made . Half a tenner afterward , it seems as though the 3 - D trend has outstay its welcome . Too many 3 - D movies are 3 - D just for the gimmick instead of the news report , and as we all know , it ’s the story that matters and not the engineering science . Perhaps more theatre director will put 3 - D to well-informed use soon , or possibly 3 - D will pass into obscurity for a few more class before the next generation of projection technology promises a permanent 3 - 500 rotation … again .
