CREATORS OF TRUE3D CI: How long has this kind of technology been
in development? SN: Right from the start, SeeFront was founded to
develop this proprietary glasses-free 3D display technology. If you’re referring to the development of the actual monitors used in the TRUE 3D game lines, that started a bit later. We were spotted by an innovation scout from Atronic – that eventually became SPIELO, GTECH and now IGT – in 2010 at CeBIT in Hanover. SeeFront had a small booth to showcase a few early prototypes at what was the largest IT trade show in the world at that time. That is where we got in contact with the gaming industry for the first time. Our visitors were favourably impressed by the prototypes we had to show. We entered into business discussions and eventually, we got into a contractual relationship which included developing a specific monitor for the True3D product line.
CI: How much of the technology in the 3D
product is yours, and how much belongs to IGT? For example, there are cameras in the slot tracking my eye movements – is that part of your package?
SN: Let me describe the basics of the patented
SeeFront 3D technology. The three main elements are first of all, an optical filter that is laminated to the front of the LCD panel. This optical filter makes sure the two images – one for the left eye and one for the right – which are displayed on the LCD panel at the same time are separated so each eye only gets to see one image. That’s what is needed for the brain to create an impression of the spatial dimensions. The second key ingredient is the SeeFront 3D algorithm, a software that processes the content. The content needs to be stereoscopic, meaning it has to have an image each for the left and for the right eye. This content is processed by the 3D algorithm in a specific way so that the two images are shown on the LCD simultaneously. The third ingredient is a tracking camera which
detects where the viewer is. The system needs to determine the position of the viewer so the coordinates are fed into the 3D algorithm and the image can be adjusted according to the viewer’s position in real time. This all means that the viewer can move freely within a predefined space and look at the 3D image in a relaxed manner; there is not a specific sweet spot.
CI: I love that you can ‘dial down’ the 3D aspect
of it, even make it 2D; how does that work? SN: That is a feature that IGT brought to the table. Because there may be some players who want to play the same game in 2D, or who don’t like to watch content with too much depth.. Technically, this can only work with computer-
generated content because in order for your brain to create a 3D spatial image, you need two different images, one for each eye. The distance between the eyes of an adult is about 6.5 cm; that is the natural stereopsis or stereo base. With computer generated
FEBRUARY 2017 31
images, you have two virtual cameras, one capturing the image for the left and one capturing the image for the right eye. Depending on the spacing between these virtual cameras the 3D effect can be tuned up or down. To turn the 3D effect down, you put the two virtual cameras closer together. When the left and right eye are seeing the same image the brain cannot derive spatial depth information, so the result is a 2D image.
CI: Does the technology work if the player is
visually impaired in some way? SN: In the general population there is a small
percentage of people who for various reasons are not able to see the spatial dimension. A person who has lost the sight of one eye will not be able to see stereo images. With people whose eyes are of different strengths or have different visual capabilities, it depends on the extent of the disparity whether they can see spatial depth.
CI: Are you working
exclusively with IGT? SN: For casino gaming we have
an exclusive contract with IGT. This does not prohibit us from doing business in other markets; we also work e.g. with clients in the medical and automotive industries.
www.seefront.com
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82
