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Starbreeze deal gives you more freedom to move in VR
If Starbreeze is going to get you wearing VR headsets in IMAX theaters and pods, it'll have to create a wow-inducing experience... and it might have taken one step closer toward that goal. The company has bought Nozon, a visual effects house whose recent breakthrough is an interactive parallax effect that gives you more freedom when watching computer-generated or 3D-scanned VR video. You ideally get quality closer to pre-rendered 3D, but the freedom to tilt your head and otherwise look around more naturally. You should feel more like you're present in a given scene, instead of staring at a giant video wall.
Iconic PC shooter Descent 2 sets sights on Steam
Little over a week after its predecessor came to Steam, Descent 2 is now available on Valve's digital distribution platform. You can grab Descent 2 on Windows PC for $10 right now. Descent 2 takes place directly after the events of the first 3D first-person shooter. At the outset of Descent 2, players are outfitted with an experimental warp core and blackmailed into exploring mines beyond our solar system. The sequel was initially planned as an expansion, but due to the popularity of the first game, Descent 2 was fleshed out to be a full-fledged follow-up. [Image: Interplay]
Classic PC shooter Descent plots a course for Steam
Iconic 3D first-person shooter Descent has finally arrived on Steam. Normally priced at $7, Descent is on sale for $3.49 until February 18 as part of a special launch promotion and compatible with Windows PC only. The plot of Descent revolves around an alien computer virus that has managed to infect off-world mining robots. Players assume the role of a mercenary, hired to investigate the disturbance for the company and eliminate the alien threat. And, as Rock, Paper, Shotgun points out, the original Descent will turn 19 tomorrow. While we'd like to make a big deal about it, Descent isn't old enough to enjoy a crisp Appletini on an Autumn's day like a real adult so therefore we can't be expected to take this milestone seriously. Hit us up when you're 21 years old, Descent. [Image: Interplay]
How to craft the perfect parallax wallpaper for your iPhone and iPad
Sick of stretched, blurry or otherwise lame wallpapers on your iPhone or iPad? Apple's decision to make your background come alive with the parallax effect in iOS 7 means that using your standard wallpapers ends up giving you some not-so-sharp effects. But fear not: You can create a wallpaper of your own using any high-resolution photos you can find online. Below, you'll find the perfect resolutions for both static and parallax wallpapers as well as some tips on how to create the perfect background image for your device. iPhone 4s Static: 960 x 640 Parallax: 1,196 x 740 iPhone 5/5s/5c Static: 1,136 x 640 Parallax: 1,392 x 744 iPad 2/iPad mini Static: 1,024 x 1,024 Parallax: 1,262 x 1,262 iPad 3/4/Air/mini 2 Static: 2,048 x 2,048 Parallax: 2,524 x 2,524 Once you've found an image that fits your needs, it's time to cut it to the perfect size. There are plenty of free tools available to help you tweak it: Preview -- The Preview application on OS X lets you crop and resize images without a hassle, and there's even a handy formatting tool to resize images based on several iPhone and iPad resolutions. Unfortunately, it doesn't take the parallax effect into account. Paint -- If you don't have a Mac handy, you can always use this free Windows tool to slice up your images. Gimp -- For a little more control over your image editing, Gimp is a great solution. It's free, powerful and works on OS X, Windows and Linux. Snapseed or Skitch -- On iOS, either of these will allow you to crop, straighten or add effects to an image. A few things to keep in mind: iOS 7 will do its best to add contrast to the lock screen text and status bar, but it's not perfect. Make sure your wallpaper doesn't leave your clock or battery bar unreadable. If you use a static, screen-sized image with the parallax effect, it will automatically apply a bit of zoom to it, leaving it blurry. iPad wallpapers need to be square to account for the tablet's screen orientation. If you choose a non-square image, you'll likely be left with a stretched image once you turn your screen.
Wallgram: Convert Instagram shots into iOS 7 parallax wallpaper
Are you at a loss for wallpapers to decorate your lock and home screens? Wallgram (US$1.99) is a new app that resolves that problem by letting you convert any Instagram photo -- your own included -- into attractive and functional iOS 7 parallax wallpaper. The app, from developer Capable Bits, is rather simple, but does a really good job of preparing those photos for life as wallpaper. After launching Wallgram, you're greeted with a simple UI and asked to let Wallgram have access to your Instagram account. Once that's done, a "Home" button displays the timeline of Instagram photos from those people you follow; a "My Photos" button does the same for your Instagram images; and you can also tap an "Explore" button to view a feed of popular Instagrams. Regardless of how you discover the picture you want to turn into wallpaper, you just tap a large green button emblazoned with a white plus sign and the image is "awesomized" and added to your camera roll. What does "awesomization" entail? Basically, it takes the outer fringes of the photo and blurs them while keeping the center of the image quite sharp. At this point, you can just go to your cameral roll, tap on the image, tap the share button and select Use as Wallpaper. Just move the image so that it looks the best to you -- in most cases, this will be with the sharp portion of the image in the center of your iPhone screen and the top and bottom blurred -- and tap the Set button to save the image as your home screen, your lock screen or both. If there's one complaint I have about the "awesomization" process, it's that I wish that the blur was adjustable. The transition between blurred and non-blurred photo seems a bit abrupt, and I'd like to see the ability to adjust that transition as well as what parts of the image are blurred or not. But for the most part, Wallgram does exactly what it's supposed to do -- let you convert Instagram photos to iOS 7 parallax-view iPhone wallpaper in as few steps as possible. When you consider that you have an almost endless supply of wallpaper images to choose from each day from Instagram, that $1.99 price tag seems like a heck of a deal. Those wallpapers can theoretically be shared via Twitter, Facebook and email -- I say "theoretically" because the sharing features were not working in the version I downloaded for review. Wallgram requires iOS 7, and is optimized for iPhone 5.
Seene for iPhone produces simple, shareable 3D photos
It's (relatively) easy to see 3D images on an iPhone, at least with the right equipment; producing those images is another matter. Seene's new iOS app makes that capture process downright trivial, however. The software creates parallax-based 3D photos with the help of the phone's accelerometer, guiding users until they've photographed multiple angles of a given subject. While the resulting images are occasionally flawed, as you'll see from our test shot after the break, it's simple to share them through social networks and web links. Creative iPhone users can check out Seene at the source link. Those on other platforms are currently out of luck, although Seene tells us that it plans wider support as the company grows.
Make beautiful parallax iPhone wallpapers
The parallax effect is the new "motion" wallpaper laying behind the app icons on iOS 7. The subtle effect is meant to give some depth to the flat design of iOS 7, though some have said it gives them motion sickness. However, if you like parallax and want to make your own wallpapers that work well with the effect, you may want to check out a great article by CNET's Jason Cipriani that describes the process. Cipriani notes that photos with depth and texture work best. If you pick a photo that has virtually no texture and is only a single color, don't expect to get much motion from your background. Also, make photos at least 400 pixels wider and taller than your iOS device's screen resolution. This is because the wallpaper needs to shift in the background to give the appearance of motion. If your wallpaper is just limited to the iOS device's screen resolution it will need to be zoomed in on, which can create a less-than-desirable look. For iPhones and iPod touches with four-inch screens, use an image that's 1,536 x 1,040 pixels. For Retina display iPads you'll want 2,448 x 1,936. For more tips and screen resolutions, be sure to check out Cipriani's article.
Lytro camera getting parallax effect and 3D display support, lands in Hong Kong (video)
Lytro isn't done extending the usefulness of its light field camera just because we have manual controls. Another update due by the end of the year will take advantage of that focus-independent sensor to allow a parallax-based 3D effect in photos: invoke a 'full' focus in reviewing shots and you can start poking around the scene in a limited way without having ever touched a dual-sensor camera. Appropriately, we're also getting support for examining photos on 3D monitors and TVs that emphasize the added depth. The promised features come hand-in-hand with Lytro's immediate availability in Hong Kong, where 8GB blue and gray cameras are selling for $3,888 HKD ($502 US) and the 16GB red model goes for $4,688 HKD ($605). Check out our Chinese crew's eyes-on look at the parallax effect in a video after the break.
Nintendo 3DS XL sports less reflective screen than its predecessor, improved parallax effect
Supersized screens may be the centerpiece of Nintendo's 3DS XL, but a new Iwata Asks interview reveals that its top display packs some new anti-glare tech too. Takashi Murakami, from the company's Mechanical Design Group, notes that each of the LCD's three glare-prone layers were specially treated to reduce reflectivity from the original 3DS' 12 percent, down to three. According to head honcho Iwata, anti-reflection coatings have been on the Big N's radar since the GameBoy Advance era, but were typically abandoned because they were too pricey. The Q&A session also confirmed something we noticed when we put the handheld through the review gauntlet -- the larger display increases the parallax effect, which translates to a deeper looking 3D experience. If your current handheld's screen bounces too much light for your liking, the XL can take its place starting August 19th in North America.
Google MapsGL updates 3D buildings, improves virtual tourism
Google's been spending some quality time with its Maps offering of late. Most recently, it overhauled the 3D buildings and landmarks to make them, well, better. This time, its Maps' juiced up sibling MapsGL that's been feeling the paternal love. The WebGL-based 3D renderings have been the same treatment, making your virtual aerial tours all the more realistic. Now, as you glide over the landscape, your view of the buildings is much more like real life. Or you could just take the lazy tourism one step further. Hit the source for examples.
MasterImage touts 4.3-, 7- and 10-inch glasses-free 3D displays, interest from 'first tier' device makers
MasterImage and its parallax barrier 3D technology have been around for a while. Though nothing major -- excepting the Hitachi H001 in Japan -- has ever come of this company's efforts, it's back at Computex this year with a trio of reference display, showing off glasses-free 3D at 4.3-inch, 7-inch and 10-inch form factors. Resolution on both the 7- and 4.3-inch panels is 800 x 480 at the moment, but there's a 1280 x 800 7-incher in the works that could be ready for production by the end of this year. The parallax barrier allowing for the autostereoscopic effect to happen adds only 1mm to the screen's thickness, though it does halve vertical resolution -- meaning an 800 x 480 screen will only show a 400 x 480 image when flipped to 3D mode. MasterImage builds the LCDs and controllers in these 3D imagers and is currently in discussions with what we're told are "first tier" manufacturers of both smartphones and tablets. You can see the 7-inch display on video after the break -- we found it able to match the 3D effect produced by displays requiring glasses, which is a good thing in relative terms, but as you see above, the two frames can and do get split up if you're not perfectly positioned to soak up the third dimension. %Gallery-125331%
3D fog projection display brings purple bunnies to life, just in time to lay chocolate eggs (video)
Fog projectors have been around for ages, but projecting a 2D image onto a wavy field of 3D smoke doesn't exactly result in the most immersive experience ever. This system from a team at Osaka University is different, relying on three pico projectors all focused on a single column of steam that, as far as we can tell, is dropped down through a slew of multicolored drinking straws. Each projector has a slightly different perspective of the violet hare in question and, as you move about, the fog acts like a parallax barrier, only showing one angle at a time. With a few more projectors and a whole lot more fog the could be even greater. The bunnies, they would be majestic.
Nintendo 3DS in-depth preview, slight return (update: more videos!)
Immediately following its big 3DS price and release date unveiling, Nintendo had on hand dozens of new titles playing on what we'd surmise is final hardware (or at least near-final, given its February 27th Japanese launch). Our first hands-on experience was just over six months ago during E3, at which point we were very impressed with what we saw. Did this playthrough garner the same excitement? Have our decidedly older but not much wiser selves become jaded by the novelty of it all? Venture on after the break to find out. %Gallery-114669% %Gallery-114714%
Adafruit Propeller Platform USB entices DIY electronics builders, 'Gadget Gangsters' at large
It's days like today where you realize just how badly you need to scratch that DIY itch, and Adafruit's newest two circuit boards couldn't be landing at a more opportune time. Both of these bad boys are classified as Gadget Gangsters, which makes 'em viable for purchase without any additional investigation. Should you choose to, however, we'll have you know that the Propeller Platform USB is an open-source platform for building your own electronics projects with a new eight-core Parallax Propeller chip; the ProtoPlus model adds video / audio support as well as a "prototyping area." Tutorials are available in the source links for those inexperienced with Spin, and at just $50 / $15 (respectively), we'd say they're well worth the purchase if you're looking to simply get your toes wet. Better known as "become hopelessly addicted to modding" 'round these parts.
Sharp shows off mobile prototype with 3D screen, 3D camera, and 3D output
We've seen enough home theater 3D already to be well and sick of it, but mobile 3D is still an upcoming sector, one which Sharp seems to be making a bid for. It's showing off a mobile device prototype (it looks like it could be your friendly neighborhood carrier's next Android handset) with a glasses-free 3D parallax screen (akin to the tech used in the Nintendo 3DS), a 3D camera around back, and 3D output over HDMI. The result isn't stellar -- just because a mobile device is shooting grainy, color-bleeding footage in 3D doesn't make the footage stop being grainy and color-bleeding -- but it most certainly works, as we witnessed both on the device's own screen and on a regular glasses-required 3D TV the prototype was outputting to over HDMI. The 3.7-inch LCD rocks a 800 x 480 resolution in 2D mode, which gets halved to 400 x 480 in 3D, and Sharp is also showing of a 10-inch glasses free LCD that didn't come off as so impressive somehow. %Gallery-101119%
Aiptek's 3D photo frame serves up the fruit of your 3D camcorder's labor
When Aiptek introduced its i2 3D Camcorder, it pledged to release a 3D photo frame to match. Well, here it is, the "Portable 3D Photo and Video Display," a 7-inch parallax LCD display that will not require glasses to create the illusion of depth -- but we're curious to see what it'll look like from across the room. It's capable of displaying photos and videos captured by the i2 (or other 3D device) and releases on August 15 for $200, meaning the entire package (shooter and viewer) will set you back $400. That's not a terrible price for taking and displaying photos of the future. %Gallery-96461%
Toshiba Mobile Display touts 21-inch glasses-free 3D HDTV, raises a few eyebrows
While we were fretting about what special tech Nintendo's 3DS would use to generate autostereoscopic imagery on its comparatively puny screen, Toshiba Mobile Display (and others) have been working on bringing that same headgear-free 3D to TV-sized panels. Employing a "multi-parallax" technique, the latest from the Toshiba spinoff firm promises "significant reduction in eye fatigue" as well as approximately a 30 degree horizontal viewing angle. The latter might be peanuts compared to a quality 2D display, but let's not begrudge being offered at least some positional flexibility. Other specs include a 1280 x 800 effective resolution and 480 nits of brightness, which are notable achievements when you consider that the 9-parallax implementation requires the generation of 9 separate images and therefore could be achieved with only an "ultra-high definition LCD module." We've sadly no info about this panel's potential for retail availability, but judging by the bezel-free picture we've been given, that might be a good way off from now.
Hitachi 3.1-inch 3D IPS display is another Nintendo 3DS contender
Step aside Sharp, Hitachi has a parallax barrier 3D display all its own that likewise doesn't require special glasses to view. While not as bright (400nits vs. 500nits) or big as Sharp's 3.4-incher, Hitachi's contribution brings a 3.1-inch IPS panel to mobile 3D devices pushing the same 480 x 854 pixels and 1,000:1 reported contrast. While the image above won't make much sense outside of Japan, here's the gist: a series of vertical slits in the IPS LCD directs light to the right and left eyes to give the 3D effect -- no special glasses required. Remember, both Hitachi and Sharp have a long, and sometimes dubious, relationship with Nintendo so don't be surprised to see either (or both) announced as partners when Ninty unveils its 3DS handheld console at E3 in June.
Sharp's 3D tablet panel doesn't require glasses, RGBY 3D TVs launching this summer do
Don't think Sharp's going to sit by and let Panasonic, Samsung, and Sony have all the 3D TV fun. The Japanese company, and fourth-largest LCD TV maker, plans to begin selling its own 3D TVs in Japan this summer before launching in the US, Chinese, and European markets sometime later in the year. To prove it, Sharp ponied up some sample RGBY ("Y" for yellow) 3D LCD panels it claims to be the "industries brightest" in sizes up to 60-inches. While these biggie panels all require active 3D shutter glasses for the extra-dimensional effect, Sharp was also showing off a 10.1-inch 3D display prototype for netbooks or tablets that -- like its 3.4-inch parallax barrier display announced last week and suspected to be headed to Ninty town -- doesn't require glasses at all and can be produced with or without a touchscreen. No word on when that pup might begin mass production, however. 60-inch panel pictured after the break with a real live woman doing the pointing -- amazing.
Nintendo 3DS to feature 3.4-inch Sharp parallax barrier display?
There aren't many mass production options on the market when it comes to glasses-less 3D displays for Nintendo's forthcoming 3DS handheld gaming console. And according to early leaks from Japan, the special Nintendo 3DS display is supposedly built by Hitachi and Sharp using a parallax barrier system. So guess where this new 3.4-inch, 480 x 854 pixel display is likely headed? While Sharp doesn't say for sure, it's a good bet that this parallax barrier 3D LCD will be fronting the user interface on the 3DS. Unlike the 3D displays you'll find in modern 3D HDTVs requiring the viewer to wear active or passive glasses, Sharp's display uses a parallax barrier system to create a sense of depth by using a series of vertical slits in an ordinary LCD to direct light to the right and left eyes. The panel offers a 500nit brightness, 1,000:1 contrast, and is available with or without a touchscreen. A non-touchscreen version of the display goes into mass production before June but there's no specific mention of the touchscreen timeline (but we imagine it won't be far behind). In other words, we could have a Nintendo 3DS on the market before the holidays. Just saying. Guess we'll find out for sure at E3 in June. Update: Akihabara News went eyes-on with the display and came away impressed with the colors and brightness. "Sharp have succeeded to do what Sony and Panasonic did without the need for 3D Glasses," the publication praised. Well, that sounds hopeful.
