3D Workflow

The adaption of s3D by broadcasters will require adaption’s to the existing production workflow, as well as developing new technologies and skills to meet new challenges. Below, is a typical Live s3D Production workflow diagram:

Displaying 3D:

Anaglyph is the oldest method to displaying s3D. Anaglyph technology filters the images to cyan and red and then combines the two together. This method requires no special display or projectors and is mostly used for printed material.

Linear Polarised technology is where the left image is vertically polarised and the right image is horizontally polarised. Linear polarising glasses split the combined image back to one for each eye. The drawback is that a special display is required, and the audience’s head must be absolutely straight which is not practical for cinema or television.

Polarised 3D glasses create the semblance of three dimensional by prohibiting the light that reaches each eye, an example of stereoscopy. To present a stereoscopic motion picture, 2 pictures are projected superimposed onto the same screen through polarising filters. The audience wears these glasses which also contain polarising filters. As each filter passes only that light which is in a similar way polarised and blocks the orthogonally polarised light, each eye sees only its separately polarised image, manufacturing a 3-dimensional effect.

Shutter glasses are the most commonly used Active 3D glasses, the lenses are actually small LCD screens. When voltage is applied, the lens goes dark, the "shutters" close. This behaviour is synced with the screen displaying the 3D content. As each different image is flashed the eye shutters alternate in time. Each eye sees a slightly different angle of the same image creating the 3D effect.