3D content taking over the real world and cyberspace
9 June 2011 Last updated at 23:01 GMT
By Katia Moskvitch
Science and technology reporter, BBC News
A 3D bird from the film Rio comes to life thanks to augmented reality and a cereal box
Still not very used to having a full-size car jump out at you from a billboard?
Or seeing a building you pass on your way to work suddenly crumble to pieces - only to be rebuilt seconds later?
Such realistic 3D content, once constrained to four cinema walls and seen via clunky glasses, is starting to pour from pretty much anything with a screen.
More and more businesses are embracing the technology, using 3D for adverts on giant screens and cereal boxes, or by helping you pick furniture through an immersive online 3D experience.
It is also appearing on mobile devices - the first 3D advert has recently been launched for the iPad.
Despite being around for decades, companies around the globe are constantly experimenting with different ways to relate to consumers using 3D - via 3D TVs and cinemas, or billboards in airports and bus stops - what is known as digital signage.
But some firms have more innovative solutions to engage the viewer.
Feeding the bird
Nestle, the Swiss food and nutrition company, used the help of a French firm Dassault Systemes to engage people with… a cereal box.
Equipped with a box of Chocapic or Nesquick Nestle cereal, you simply have to cut out 3D glasses and a tag from the back of the box, place the tag on top of the glasses, type in the internet address provided and turn on your webcam.
Ford Focus used 40 cameras to create a Matrix-like still-frame 3D video effect
You are then directed to a page featuring characters from an animated 3D film Arthur and the Revenge of Maltazard.
As you tilt the box, the technology detects your movements in real time - and you can play a racing game on the screen.
"This campaign, which involved more than four million boxes in France, had a significant impact on sales," says Mehdi Tayoubi, Dassault Systemes' interactive strategy director.
Another similar Nestle project currently taking place in 53 countries with 26 million cereal boxes features a bird from a recently released animated 3D film Rio.
Using a similar tag, you can make the 3D bird come to life - and even feed it by tipping the tag to "fill" a bowl on the screen.
"The Rio campaign has made a lot of buzz internationally and especially in Latin America and the US," says Mr Tayoubi.
Social 3D
A similar idea of combining the web and 3D occurred to another well-known firm - the car manufacturer, Ford.
During the UEFA Champions' League tournament in London in May, it - it together with the integrated communications agency, Imagination, decided to create 3D videos, inspired by a slow-motion scene in the action film the Matrix, where the main character Neo successfully dodges bullets.
For that, the firm used 40 cameras to take photos in a sequence, creating a freeze-frame video that looked like if the camera was moving around a still 3D image.
People were then able to upload the films with a Ford Focus logo right there and then on YouTube, and share them using social networks such as Facebook and Twitter.
"We wanted to create something fun to do, something people would want to share, and what was inspired by camera technology in the car," says Mark Jones, European sponsorship manager of Ford, referring to the cameras installed in the new version of the Ford Focus model.
"Our objective was to have around 25,000 views of the films that were created.
"At the moment we're up to 64,000, so we've more than exceeded that."
In cyberspace, depth and perspective can also be achieved in a different manner.
Mydeco is an interior design firm, letting consumers visualise their home in 3D when buying new furniture - and see just how that new red sofa would actually look.
Having uploaded a floor plan, you can then move the walls and drag and drop furniture from different shops - in real time, almost instantly updating the screen as you put your computer-generated table into your online dining room.
Mydeco helps you visualise your home online in 3D while buying furniture
The site works with businesses, too - for instance, one of the biggest US furniture retailers, Design Within Reach, uses Mydeco's online tool on their website, featuring furniture from their store.
"We try to be the 'google maps' of interiors online," says Mydeco CEO Nicole Vanderbilt.
"Our tool is very much real-time 3D. You're designing in 3D, dragging and dropping real world products that we've had modelled in 3D into your room."
3D billboards
One of the most common business uses of 3D is digital signage.
And when it comes to choosing a 3D display, firms have more than one option to pick from.
First, there is stereoscopy.
This technique uses two cameras, one for each eye, to create to separate 2D images that are then combined in the brain to give the illusion of depth.
For the image to be in focus you have to wear special glasses - just like during a 3D film.
When CBS Outdoor installed a huge high-definition 3D screen at Grand Central Station in New York, it had to distribute some 70,000 3D glasses to passers-by in order for them to see the effect.
To add more style to often dull-looking and uncomfortable 3D glasses, certain brands have even created sunglasses that can be worn outside or used to see 3D content on a home TV screen or in stores.
But can you really expect many shoppers to walk into a shopping centre and don their glasses, however trendy they might be?
Some businesses that do not think so decided to go glass-free - and adapt auto-stereoscopy, with the most common approaches being parallax barrier and lenticular technologies.
Vienna Tourism Board used a building as a screen for a 3D projection to get tourists to come to Vienna
The first method involves placing an actual barrier on top of an LCD panel; pixels for left and right eyes are then filtered, with no overlap.
There is a catch, though - you can only see the effect from a certain spot, and if somebody is standing next to you, they will not see it, which is not very useful if you want to show the image to a crowd strolling past your shop.
The perception of depth in displays with lenticular technology comes when a series of strips are interlaced at different angles, and there are more of those "spots" from which you can view the effect.
South African jewellery company De Beers used the second method to advertise their diamond rings.
"Producing a 3D advert is more expensive than producing a 2D ad because it is more complex to film and edit, plus the display technology also costs a premium," says communications director Jennie Farmer.
"However, the impact the activity has had internationally has made it worthwhile."
Holographic adverts
Finally, there are holograms.
And if giants like Sony and Samsung are pushing their way through with stereoscopic and auto-stereoscopic solutions, holographic 3D has so far mostly been supplied by smaller firms.
One, for instance, is HoloFX, a small Canadian company based in Toronto.
In holographic 3D, the depth is behind the object - a totally different effect from stereoscopic 3D where objects are "flying" towards you.
"We project onto a transparent holographic screen, and that transparency allows us to create depth in the eye of the viewer," explains the company's head Jeffrey Moscoe.
"You don't need glasses, you can stand anywhere and see it - and our effect doesn't make you feel nauseous."
One of the latest features of 3D displays is the touch interactive - when the image spins before your eyes and you can rotate it or flip it upside down.
With all the different 3D concepts around, the market seems ready for innovative 3D content - so in the years to come, what seemed sci-fi just a decade ago could finally become a reality.
Glasses-free 3D adverts of a jewellery firm De Beers attracted many passers-by
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