Not everyone wants to play on a tiny screen though, and Sony's PlayStation 3 went 3D late last summer. The 3D functionality of the console is enabled by using a 3D TV and 3D Active Glasses. There are now more than 40 stereoscopic 3D PS3 games released or planned for release in coming months. Most of the early 3D titles were patched after release to enable 3D features and are actually better in the original 2D format. Many game reviewers cite Virtua Tennis 4 as the best PS3 3D game so far.
Disney has just announced that it will be launching its first 3D gaming experience, "Cars 2: The Video Game," this summer. The video game will feature full 3D support exclusively for the PS3. The multiplayer functionality of the game will allow for four players to compete against each other in full 3D, utilizing a 4-way split screen.
Cars 2 is of course inspired by the upcoming Disney-Pixar animated film. The game allows players to drive into the Cars 2 universe alongside some of their favorite Cars personalities in exotic locations spanning the globe. Cars 2 expands beyond the movie’s storyline as players morph into one of more than 20 different Cars characters and train to become top notch spies at the international spy training center, Command Headquarters for Recon Operations and Motorized Espionage, also known as C.H.R.O.M.E. Over the course of their training, players take on dangerous missions, compete to become the fastest race car in the world and use their spy skills in non-stop action packed combat racing and battle arenas.
Gaming is just one aspect of 3D entertainment, an evolution of 3D films. There's still growing interest in 3D on the big screen and new glasses technology should make it even more popular. Dolby Laboratories has just made available its next-generation Dolby 3D glasses. Designed with Dolby’s 3D technical know-how, the expertise of a leading eyewear design company and 3M’s new multilayer optical film lenses, the glasses are compatible with Dolby 3D Digital Cinema systems currently installed.
The new glasses strike a good balance between style and performance and are sturdy enough to be used repeatedly, lowering the per-ticket costs of a 3D movie experience. The glasses are lightweight and fit comfortably over 98 percent of prescription glasses. At only $12 each, the glasses are affordable and can be washed and reused in theaters hundreds of times.
You can wear the new glasses to watch "Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace," which is being converted to 3D thanks to a collaboration between Lucasfilm, the movie's original producers, and 3D conversion specialists Prime Focus. If this detailed technological process holds to schedule, Episode I should come into 3D release on February 10, 2012. A successful conversion of this film will probably herald the transformation of many more 2D action films to 3D, to be experienced by a new generation of fans.
Taking 3D out of the virtual world and into reality, 3D is becoming popular in the business community due to new creativity in the use of 3D printing for rapid prototyping. Aston Martin used 3D printing to develop its new AMR-One, (LMP1 class) race car in under six months. The car is being driven by the Aston Martin Racing works team drivers in the 2011 Intercontinental Le Mans Cup (ILMC) — an endurance sports car racing tournament.
Built from the ground up, AMR-One features a new custom carbon fiber chassis, an open cockpit and a significantly down-sized engine, all of which required testing during the building process. A Stratasys Dimension 3D Printer was used primarily to help design and test the engine parts as well as mock up the chassis and driver controls. Stratasys owns the process known as Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM). The process creates functional prototypes and manufactured goods directly from any 3D computer-aided design (CAD) program, using high-performance industrial thermoplastics.
The ability to quickly create actual 3D models of the engine parts, chassis and driver controls ensured ultimate efficiency and that the new design met the 2011 regulations from the Le Mans governing body — the ACO. The AMR-One was developed from start to finish between autumn 2010 and the end of February 2011. Aston Martin Racing is now exploring the idea of using 3D printing to make finished parts for end-use on its race cars.
