It's Okay to be Different

[Neil]

Do you agree with Engber's conclusions about stereoscopic 3D comfort? How should the industry handle this information? Is it absolutely necessary for 3D to be in every movie and video game to be successful? Under what conditions would you consider 3D a gimmick, if at all?

Regards,
Neil

[funkee]

I think 3D is a tool. It is not a goal. Just like sound and colour it should be used to augment the experience. Engber is right about one thing: lots of people are sensitive to the vergence/focus conflict and it is therefore a good idea to be moderate in the use of too much depth in front of the display. It is unfortunately also very easy to kill 3D by making statements like Engber's because people are even more sensitive to the message that something is bad for you...

[Tril]

... people are even more sensitive to the message that something is bad for you...

Everyone knows that it's bad for your health to smoke but people still smoke. Some negative comments (founded or unfounded) will not stop S3D from becoming popular. My personal opinion on about anything (movie, hardware, S3D, anything) is that it's best to make an opinion from your own experience than through the experience of someone else.

I saw My Bloody Valentine and I thought the S3D was really well done. Personally, I did not feel nausea from watching the movie and I did not notice any ghosting. If I felt any nausea, it was more about the content of the movie (I don't like slashers movies, I'm more of a sci-fi and action movies fan). The only issue that I noticed was that the projector of the specific RealD theater where I saw it was not quite bright enough for my taste. The movie was bright enough without glasses but it was a bit dark with the glasses on.

I think the main tiring issues for the eyes are when there is ghosting, the resolution is too low, the brightness is too low, there's pop-out (except at IMAX3D where the pop-out can be extreme without problems), there's too much separation or there's flicker. As long as those condition don't happen, the experience can be good with minimal side effects.