P3D Re: Define Today's Consumer

["Greg Wageman" <gjw@xxxxxxxxxx>]

From: Chris Jones <c.jones@xxxxxxxxx>


>Do you think digital cameras might be able to push stereo photography
into
>the mainstream?


>Would people want to print the images from their computer, or view
through
>glasses? Or perhaps these new stereo LCD screens that are on the way...
if
>they take off of course?

I personally think the biggest barrier is lack of autostereoscopic
displays.  Several manufacturers have recently shown high-quality
autostereoscopic displays for notebook computers.  If/when these ever
become commonly and cheaply available, stereo will become relatively
mainstream.  I say relatively because I don't think it will ever become
universal; some folks will always be satisfied with flat images, just as
some folks still have black and white TVs.


The masses have demonstrated that they don't want to wear bulky glasses
or have to carry and use viewers to see stereo.  Otherwise, products
like Vrex's VR Surfer and such like wouldn't still be niche markets, and
the stereo fad of the 1950's wouldn't have ended.

It can't just be an image quality issue, either.  There's nothing
substandard about the image quality of well-exposed stereo transparency
in a good viewer like a Red Button, but still only a relatively small
number of us bother to produce them.

     -Greg W. (gjw@xxxxxxxxxx)