3D is all the rage, so why wouldn’t Apple be looking into bringing 3D capable cameras to the iPhone?
According to a patent application, Apple’s not only thinking about 3D cameras, but they’re also working on making it a reality. Now, before you run out and start planning an Avatar fan film, you should probably know that this is a long way off. Heck, it might never actually make its way to the iPhone.
The patent actually highlights how Apple’s taking an alternative approach to 3D:
“paradigm shift from the known software-based approaches.” It notes that current software must “guess” at how to perform stereo disparity compensation for 3D images.
Those guesses, Apple said, can result in images with artifacts in a composed 3D image that would result in a poor quality photo. Apple’s method would instead employ a hardware-based approach with a “deterministic calculation for stereo disparity compensation.”
As the Apple Insider article points out, Nintendo just shipped a 3D camera in their Nintendo 3DS. So the fad is making its way into consumer’s hands, but the question isn’t whether or not the technology is available, it’s whether or not people will actually use it.
Would you to take 3D pictures with your iPhone? I wouldn’t, but then again, I couldn’t see those 3D Magic Eye posters as a kid either.
Article Via Apple Insider
