3D @ COVD (1)

This report comes first hand from the recent annual meeting of the  College of Optometrists in Vision Development (COVD), held in Orlando.

COVD is the certifying body for doctors in Behavioral/ Developmental/ Rehabilitative Optometry. This group is interested in all things 3D, because these experts envision a role for 3D in Sx (symptoms), Dx (diagnosis), and Tx (treatment) of vision disorders. At the COVD Annual Meeting, I participated as a featured speaker in a full-day educational program entitled “Simulated 3D Vision: Research, Education and In Your Office,” with over 600 medical and educational professionals in attendance.

Dr. Dominick M. Maino (OD, MEd, FAAO, FCOVD) led off the full-day session. Dr. Maino is a Professor of Pediatrics/Binocular Vision at the Illinois College of Optometry/Illinois Eye Institute, a Distinguished Practitioner, with the National Academies of Practice, and a Leonardo da Vinci Award of Excellence in Medicine recipient.  Dr. Maino highlighted the cultural importance of 3D in contemporary society, since sometimes medical experts and researchers are not fully attentive to current cultural memes.  Maino warned that “simulated 3D is not dead,” as some would think, “but that use of simulated 3D will continue in all its forms… but you still need binocular vision to fully immerse yourself into the experience.”  He identified the struggles many adults have with viewing 3D as the “3D Vision Syndrome” and made the case for medical and educational professionals to tap into the power and influence of the 3D meme to promote vision health and better public policy decisions.

We will learn more about 3D @ COVD in next week's post. Stay tuned...

Editor's Choice

At the start of every new year, I thoughtfully highlight a single post from the previous year here at Future-Talk 3D. I want to feature a post that didn't quite make it into our 2013 top ten, but offers an important educationally focused 3D message, nevertheless;. a post that carries the kind of message that I would hope readers would want to take time to carefully re-read and mull over. The post I recommend for Editor’s Choice this year is 3D in Tech Ed.

What is 3D Good For?

Display Central has certainly become the “go-to” website for information about the emerging 3D world. One of their chief contributors, the esteemed Arthur Berman, recently wrote an article that is so important, I was compelled to provide a link to it here on Future-Talk 3D. This article summarizes a recent and large-scale meta-analysis, conducted by the U.S. Air Force, on what works well in 3D versus 2D. Enjoy the read!

“What is 3D Good For?

A zView from zSpace

I recently caught “a zView from zSpace,” an auspicious glimpse of a bright future for 3D in education. ZSpace is a Silicon Valley company offering what I call “a near-holographic hardware platform,” one which really draws the crowds. I recently attended the zCON East developer’s conference, which was held at the Microsoft NERD Center in Cambridge and attended by scientists, entrepreneurs, pharmaceutical interests, higher education, K12 teachers, optometry consultants, medical device companies, and venture capitalists alike. This conference offered a distinctive educational flavor, with most presentations strongly focusing on educational applications of the zSpace platform. And there was one uniquely pleasant discovery.

In the NERD Center demo hall, I saw one of the most remarkable ideas I have seen in a long time. You see, the zSpace platform is chiefly a platform for an individual or maybe small group of 2-3 to work with holographic-like interactive 3D visualization.  In that regard, it’s untouchable.

But now draw your attention back to the real world: the fact is, many university and K-12 classrooms require full-class viewing. And that’s what zSpace provided with zView—and in quite a creative way. While an individual or small team can don stereo glasses and work in true stereo on the zSpace display, the entire scene—including the individual using the zSpace stereo display—is immediately rendered in augmented reality on a large screen television or projector. For the full class to see. I have never seen anything quite like it, fluid and real time. Here is a video I captured of zView in action at the zCon event, showing what the audience can see in augmented reality, while the instructor or student presenter manipulates their presentation in stereo 3D.

The cohesive marriage between stereoscopic 3D and augmented reality, as evidenced by zView, is one of the most remarkable ideas I have seen in a long, long time. If you get a chance to visit a zSpace booth at the TCEA conference this week, ask to see this product. It has real potential to reach the broader education market. It’s nothing less than a zView from zSpace.