While 3D imaging has had many starts and stops over the years, making 3D applications mainstream has never really been perfected. That may be about to change. An interesting new entry and approach is a new software product from a company called HumanEyes Technologies Ltd. based in Israel, with headquarters in the U.S. as well (New York, N.Y.). HumanEyes recently announced that it is “making 3D mainstream” with a software-based technology offering what the company says, “is the first practical, easy to produce, and affordable 3D digital software application.”
According to HumanEyes, its 3D software solution enables users to use an ordinary digital camera, “to create stereoscopic 3D pictures which can be printed easily with most existing printing methods.”
The samples we eyed were impressive. Evidently, brand and advertising managers at CocaCola, Dove and Captain Morgan are in agreement, as all of these and a number of other large clients are currently utilizing HumanEyes’ software for much of their outdoor and POP signage.
Human Eyes tell us their software was specifically engineered for photographers and designers. The software can produce 3D images of up to 360 degrees using existing digital photography equipment. There are no layers, resulting in 3D images “with continuous depth and a more convincing 3D effect.”
How It Works
Along with improving the final 3D output, the folks at HumanEyes feel they have done a great deal to simplify the process as well. Here’s how it works: a sequence of pictures is shot using any still or video digital camera and then downloaded onto a computer where the software generates the required views. The number of pictures required varies, but for optimum results the company tells us they recommend that a picture be taken for every degree of the scene. Each picture shot contributes to the final picture, therefore, the more pictures taken, the truer the sense of depth achieved in the final, seamless picture.
The company added that the scene, “does not have to be reshot in order to make alterations to the 3D output. The original sequence of pictures can be used any number of times to create images of different sizes and depth.” Prior to printing, all of the views created by Impactio are interlaced together to create a single, seamless picture that is ready for printing.
3D Doors Opened
The technology was actually developed back in 2000 by an innovative team from the Hebrew University School of Computer Science and Engineering, and led by Professor Shmuel Peleg, a world-renowned figure in Computer Vision. Their technological breakthrough and invention provided a solution to the problem of combining 3D stereo and panorama, previously considered by many to be impossible. HumanEyes Technologies Ltd. was spun off from Hebrew University that year. The company actually began marketing the software on a worldwide basis over the last couple of years. No word yet on a consumer-level version of this software, but we’ll keep you posted.
For more information check out www.humaneyes.com.
