The Way Forward (3)

In his insightful book, Think in 3D, DeSouza points the way to the future for 3D. DeSouza emphasizes three main ideas, in his efforts to provide  a way forward for 3D. Here is the third.

Selective Focus. DeSouza describes a film-making technique he calls the “circle of isolation," which is also called selective focus. “The trick,” he says, “is to completely blur out any background imagery in the scene beyond recognition and so help audiences slowly evolve their senses to reject parts of the scene that are not in focus.”  The main rationale behind “selective focus” is to make 3D viewing easy on the eyes, easy on the viewer’s comfort.

What DeSouza is describing here is sorely needed in educational content, not just in films. The key learning of any visual experience should come clearly into focus, while other visual aspects must take a back seat. These other aspects often become mere ‘noise,’ confusing and misdirecting young learners. Effective educational 3D is not only about eliminating discomfort—it is also about elevating the learning target at hand, while simultaneously reducing cognitive ‘noise.’ You see, educational 3D cannot and should not be all about stimulating the senses and visual overload.

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 “Thinking in 3D” is more a journey than a destination. It’s an ongoing process, a way of thinking about a new and promising medium. We should take DeSouza’s profound words and ideas to heart in education, whether students are designing 3D or learning with the help of 3D. And if you get a chance, pick up a copy of Think in 3D and join the closing ranks of the dimensionally attuned. 

The Way Forward (2)

In his insightful book, Think in 3D, DeSouza points the way to the future for 3D. DeSouza emphasizes three main ideas to provide  a way forward for 3D. Here is the second.

Interactivity. DeSouza submits that it’s time for more interactivity in 3D. “Real-time, stop-and-look-around interactivity is the way forward for a truly immersive experience,” he says. “This emotes in the audience feelings of belonging and identifying with the world being presented.” He issues a clarion call for the creation of more “3D engines for realistic stereoscopic 3D virtual worlds.”

Of course, DeSouza is on right on target again. Although interactivity already serves as the bread and butter in the video game industry, that is not so in 3D in education. In 3D learning, content must change. Interactivity must be reified—it must become the thing. Current educational 3D content manufacturers produce interactive simulations as an afterthought. There aren’t very many. That needs to change. DeSouza predicts that this may occur within the context of 3D VR. It's something to think about.

Rueing the Day

Here are some arguments against 3D conversions in education:

Why 2D-to-3D conversions of educational content will make all of us rue the day

• There’s too much junk. I have been a large purchaser of traditional 2D digital content for many years. After our school district deployed a richly endowed digital content management system, we began the laborious process of acquiring digital content licenses en masse for our teachers. One thing I learned in the process was echoed by thousands of teachers: in a typical digital content collection, only 5% of the content is worth using. The rest is filler. It just makes the provider's collection look bigger. We were forced to cherry pick the best titles. “Why pay for the junk,” we thought? Some companies wouldn’t play ball on that iTunes-like playing field. So we skipped them. For that reason alone, 2D-3D conversions will ruin the promise and potential of 3D in the educational marketplace.
• It’s too expensive. 2D educational content, converted to stereo 3D, will also require DeSouza’s “visual grammar change” and many publishing companies will simply not pay for z-depth enhancements, slowing, savoring, or other visual improvements. Yet DeSouza has other ideas about this limitation. "Another thing to keep in mind," he adds, "is that much educational content is produced in CG. (DirectX, OpenGl) etc. If this is true, by default they have a Z-buffer channel that can produce stereoscopic 3D. The nvidia stereo drivers operate this way for example." This could greatly lower costs. Still, I hold my ground for one big reason: most digital content companies in the education space license their products from smaller producers, as is. Any incentive to improve the product is mitigated, simply because it is decentralized.

I know the emotions and the players involved in the 3D conversion debate.  Let the debate now extend to education.

Saving the Day

Here are some arguments for 3D conversions in education:

Why 2D-to-3D conversions of educational content will save the day

• It’s about critical mass. Once the big publishers enter the educational 3D market, it shouts that 3D has finally arrived. It’s like the Pope’s blessing, isn’t it?
• Some conversions work. Although DeSouza worried that “straight over conversions will not work,” great conversions are adjusted—tweaked—so they can therefore be considered something more than a "straight over conversion.” I can therefore assume that some well-known and well-loved educational content can indeed be tweaked. Slowed down. Paused, allowing full savoring. Negative parallax added, so that depth can be advantaged at the right moments. It seems reasonable to me.

3D Conversions in Education

 “Will 3D conversions of legacy educational content be a godsend?”

Fact One. Three of the largest educational content publishers in the world have educational 3D content ready to go—or should I say—ready to convert from 2D to 3D. Only if needed. Only if the market comes calling. For now, these publishing behemoths are content to sit tight, waiting on the sidelines. If, and when, the market picks up, they are certainly ready to flood the market with 3D conversion titles.

Fact Two. No matter whom I speak with in the educational content business or 3D hardware manufacturing business, mostly everyone thinks that 2D-3D conversions of educational content will somehow save the day. Nearly everyone.  

As for me, I’m not so sure. Maybe. Aw, probably not. I have good reasons for my troubled fudging.  Stay tuned for next week's post!

Lackluster 3D

In a previous post , I took time to translate many of the powerful creative thoughts of Clyde DeSouza into the context of the educational stereo 3D (eS3D). In this post, I am going to take a look at DeSouza's theories from his book, Think in 3D, and attempt to answer the question: “Why is some eS3D content so darn lackluster?”

Why some 3D content is lackluster

It’s too flat. In  DeSouza proposes that [when viewing 3D] “the screen really is a stage for all purposes. It is no longer a flat wall.” DeSouza accurately understands that, whenever 3D educational content is so close in appearance to flat movies, it loses its appeal. Think about what he is saying. Why would schools pay for the extra costs of 3D if they are only a little bit better than a 2D classroom video? It’s so obvious! So, too, in classroom 3D. In education, depth ‘rules’ and flat ‘drools’. (Please excuse my use of middle school vernacular).

It’s too subtle. DeSouza believes that is a mistake to assume that "subtle 3D is good 3D." He warns that “subtle 3D at all times  creates safe – [and] boring 3D." I agree. Anyone who knows educations is well aware that ‘boring’ ushers in an“irreversible kiss of death."

It moves too fast. DeSouza postulates a new “golden rule for 3D”: cause no harm to audiences. One of the main ways 3D can upset younger children is fast or swirling action. According to DeSouza, “the familiar montage like style , made up of rapid cuts, frequently changing camera angles, or fast camera motion that is normally used to convey anticipation, excitement, or other emotions into 2D movies” just doesn’t work in 3D film. I can say the same for the classroom. Perhaps that’s part of the reason I am so worried about vanilla conversions of existing 2D educational content into 3D content. How are they going to deal with these issues? The classroom is different than the movie theater or entertainment ride.

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3D content development still has a long way to go. Some companies—like zSpace, CubeWiz3D, and Sensavis—are leading the way. Hardware and software companies alike would be wise to pick up DeSouza's book, connect with his ideas, and start to really think in 3D.