Real-time CG & professional imaging

Real-time computer graphics is process to represent three-dimensional data and allowing to render every image of an animation as it is being displayed. By destination, it is interactive and delivers an immersive experience to the viewer.

Most real-time rendering engines can adapt to autostereoscopy. Since three-dimensional data can be seen successively under different angles, it is usually possible to render eight compliant images simultaneously, in order to display them on a Alioscopy 3D display. Remote rendering, known as "cloud computing", is an alternative to local rendering when local hardware is lacking power.

3D is not only interesting in terms of impact or emotion, it also conveys more information and it can therefore be used as an invaluable decision-making tool. Real-time computer graphics combined with Alioscopy 3D displays may apply to several professional imaging applications:

• medical imaging
• scientific modelling
• design, prototyping and 3D modelling
• oil, geology and mining
• architecture and virtual tours
• simulation
• serious gaming
• advergaming (advertising video games)
• military applications

   

Implementation

Two distinct technical approaches can be considered to interface a real-time CG application with Alioscopy 3D displays:

• Embedding Alioscopy camera model and shader

  Alioscopy's proprietary camera model powers all AlioscopyCamera scripts and complies with very specific geometry rules. It can also be extended to real-time CG applications, providing it is suitably implemented in their source code. Eight images are rendered and mixed on the fly using Alioscopy's shader. This development requires signing a license agreement.

• Using the depth map natively output by the application

  A depth map, aka Z-buffer, is an image combining different shades of grey and providing information related to the depth of objects in a scene. It can be extracted from any real-time CG application, running both in OpenGL and DirectX. A specific hardware device called Z-Box then enables extrapolating 8 views using this depth information and mixing them on the fly to suit the requirements of Alioscopy 3D displays.