Seeing pictures and video in 3-D without having to wear those goofy plastic glasses? Believe it, as a team from Sheridan College has created a 3-D game that needs nothing more than your own eyes to see it in three dimensions.
Imagine blasting aliens or watching a sequel to Avatar in beautiful 3-D free of glasses and you can start to get an idea of the potential of what the Sheridan team has achieved.
The game, called IC3-D, was debuted at the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games and was commissioned by the province of Ontario to showcase 20 of the province’s landmark attractions. In the game, players use a BlackBerry to control puzzle pieces of Ontario landmarks in 3-D and are rewarded with a short video clip of the landmark they’ve put together.
The game works by using a 3-D screen created by Ontario company Spatial View, which includes an overlay that tricks the naked human eye into seeing images in 3-D.
Similar overlay screens could easily be adapted to fit over an iPhone or other video gadgets to make similar glasses-less 3-D viewing possible with the help of a simple software update, said Sheridan web developer Ian Howatson, who worked on the game.
3-D artist Damian Domagala helped create the 3-D look in the game hopes the team’s work will lead other developers to consider using the technology for other practical purposes.
“This is a great proof of concept. We can see this being used in advertising, tourist attractions and lots of other applications,” Domagala said.
Students, staff and faculty worked together to complete the game in just 12 weeks leading up to its release at the Olympics, and Sheridan College Dean Darren Lawless is proud, not only of the end result, but in how well everything came together.
“We’re demonstrating to the world that this can be done and that Canadians in general can play on the world stage. It’s a real-life example where we blended our core faculty, students and the industry to achieve something great,” Lawless said.
