P3D Re: Minolta 3d(?) 1500

[aifxtony@xxxxxxx (Tony Alderson)]

Rod Sage quoted and commented:
>(...)"With an eye toward bringing 3-d images to the Web, Minolta's 3D 1500
>merges a digital camera with a 3-D image capture devise. The embedded
>MetaFlash technology lets you take a series of pictures that get weaved
>into a single 3-D image that can be manipulated and viewed from any angle.
>The price is expected to be less than $5,000. www.minoltausa.com" <

>At first it sounded as if they were describing lenticular images, but how
>could those be viewed on a computer screen? I am guessing it will produce
>2-D images of an object which can be rotated to view from different
>angles? Haven't they been doing that for years and years? The price seems
>steep whatever it is. IMHO.<

I only got a brief look at this at SIGGRAPH, but it is better to think of
this as a 3D scanner than a stereo camera. A series of 2D pictures (the
1500 is a modular electronic camera system) are stitched and mapped on a
mesh created with "MetaFlash." Once the 3D object has been built, it can be
viewed in any way the software and display are configured. Compared to
other 3D scanners, this device is moderatly priced. Hopefully someone on
P3D that spent more time at the booth can elaborate.

By the way, I saw more than one autostereoscopic (not necessarily
lenticular!) computer screen at SIGGRAPH.

Tony Alderson



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