Stereoscopic Cinema

TL;DR

Stereoscopic cinema has rapidly advanced with new technology, improving viewer experience and expanding applications, but still faces challenges in creation and adaptation that require ongoing research.

Contribution

This paper reviews the current state-of-the-art in stereoscopic cinema technology and discusses future research directions.

Findings

Recent technological advancements have significantly improved viewer comfort and image quality.

Major Hollywood studios and broadcasters are adopting 3-D technology widely.

Challenges remain in automatic shot adjustment and adaptation for various displays.

Abstract

Stereoscopic cinema has seen a surge of activity in recent years, and for the first time all of the major Hollywood studios released 3-D movies in 2009. This is happening alongside the adoption of 3-D technology for sports broadcasting, and the arrival of 3-D TVs for the home. Two previous attempts to introduce 3-D cinema in the 1950s and the 1980s failed because the contemporary technology was immature and resulted in viewer discomfort. But current technologies -- such as accurately-adjustable 3-D camera rigs with onboard computers to automatically inform a camera operator of inappropriate stereoscopic shots, digital processing for post-shooting rectification of the 3-D imagery, digital projectors for accurate positioning of the two stereo projections on the cinema screen, and polarized silver screens to reduce cross-talk between the viewers left- and right-eyes -- mean that the viewer experience is at a much higher level of quality than in the past. Even so, creation of stereoscopic cinema is an open, active research area, and there are many challenges from acquisition to post-production to automatic adaptation for different-sized display. This chapter describes the current state-of-the-art in stereoscopic cinema, and directions of future work.