Kodak Company unveils 3D Display System
by Kit

Friday, September 10 2004

Technology will be displayed at iGames Expo.

Eastman Kodak Company today unveiled its next-generation Kodak Stereo 3D Display system, a high-quality autostereoscopic display, at the first iGames Expo in New York City. The new system – which is comparable to having an a large-screen movie theater in a desktop display – will be demonstrated to game center owners, game publishers, and professional game players through the first “Kodak Challenge” 3D Game Tournament, which will feature one-on-one open play featuring the EA Sports NASCAR Thunder 2004 game. The iGames Expo takes place at the Hammerstein Ballroom, in Manhattan Center, located at 311 West 34th Street in New York City from Friday, September 10 through Sunday, September 12.

A special edition of the Kodak Stereo 3D Display will be used for the “Kodak Challenge” 3D Game Tournament, and will be outfitted with the yellow and black racing stripes of the Kodak Dodge #77 race car. Winners will receive the popular Kodak EasyShare digital camera, with docking station, as well as other prizes from Kodak.

The Kodak Stereo 3D Display incorporates technical breakthroughs that provide an ideal display for intensive visualization tasks, such as entertainment and gaming, oil and gas exploration, molecular and chemical modeling, computer-aided design, and many other applications. The enhanced version of the display will be available for customers in October. Kodak will take orders for game center owners and leasing agents at the iGames Expo.

The new version of the Kodak Stereo 3D Display incorporates the Monocentric Optics System, a recent innovation from Kodak that enables concentrated brightness, as well as an ergonomic design, and a more mobile footprint.

Unlike many other stereoscopic display systems, the Kodak Stereo 3D Display does not require a dim lighting environment, and can be used with normal office lighting. The new system, which incorporates an innovative adjustable design in a self-contained mobile unit, can be configured for a variety of public venue settings, and offers an ideal kiosk display for game centers.

“The Kodak 3D Display is the ultimate game display, delivering the kind of ‘in the game’ immersive excitement that game developers want for their users,” said Phil Engstrom, technology manager for Electronic Arts’ World Wide Studios. “We see the future of gaming in 3D display, and Kodak has developed a great leap forward in this arena.”

The Kodak Stereo 3D Display offers customers an easy, comfortable viewing system for complex images, such as molecular models, geospatial imaging, or tomography, in rich stereo 3D with normal office lighting and with greater ease on their eyes than ever before. Kodak’s unique design creates a quick easy method of locking in on a “sweet spot” so that viewers can spend more time viewing critical data without suffering eyestrain or loss of image resolution.

“Electronic gaming represents one of the most demanding applications for stereo imaging. We have created the “Kodak Challenge” to demonstrate that the Kodak Stereo 3D Display is the benchmark by which all other 3D displays should be judged,” said Lawrence Henderson, vice president and director, new business ventures, Eastman Kodak Company. “Kodak’s revolutionary approach to stereoscopic imaging, the Monocentric Optics System, delivers a rich, immersive experience for gaming, and for professional desktop imaging applications.”

The Kodak Stereo 3D Display is currently using the Nvidia Quadro FX 1000 AGP card, with a resolution of 1280 x 1024 pixels, a field of view that measures 45 degrees by 36 degrees, and 40 mm viewing pupils that give the viewer the feeling of floating in a movie theater about 1.5 screen heights away from the screen. The underlying technology can be flexibly configured to suit different resolutions, whether XGA or SXGA, or size requirements. Another key differentiator is the plug-and-play nature of the system, which is compatible with most industry-standard video or still image sources, and operates with PC, MAC, or SGI platforms. The Kodak Stereo 3D Display delivers outstanding output using most off-the-shelf video cards, such as Nvidia or Microsoft DirectX, or OpenGL-compatible cards. The system integrates Kodak’s patented lens technology with mirrors, two LCD panels, and specialized components into a single piece, which results in an SXGA resolution and concentrated brightness that is five times greater than the previous system.

“The sustained growth of the games industry is due, in part, to the surge in technical innovations, such as the Kodak Stereo 3D Display, that enable gamers to literally take their game experiences to new levels of intensity,” said Mark Nielsen, executive director of iGames. “We believe that game center owners and their customers will be suitably impressed with the experience of the Kodak 3D display, and the “Kodak Challenge” is the perfect way to introduce this system to the most demanding audience in the gamer community.”

The Kodak Stereo 3D Display system is an initiative of Kodak’s New Business Ventures Group. For more information, visit the Web site at www.kodak.com/go/3d.

How it Works

The user sits in front of a system that creates a virtual image of two high-resolution LCD displays, one for each eye. The user looks into two “floating balls of light” that provide each eye a view of a magnified image of one of the two displays. The combination of the wide field of view, the virtual image, and the absence of imaging artifacts eliminates many of the sources of eyestrain that are present in other stereoscopic systems.

--- Kit