Grant: Strategic Projects - Group

Stereoscopic 3D (S3D) has become a major focus for industries such as film, television and event signage. Even before the release ofAvatar in S3D, major animation studios (e.g. Disney) have committed to releasing all of their animated films in S3D. While there is a long history of basic research into human stereopsis this work has focused on the limits ofperfonnance, and not what aspects are preferable or optimal. Thus the creators of S3D content often rely on intuitions, or past practice used for 2D content. When guidelines are proposed, for instance regarding the range of depths to use, they tend to ignore the fact that S3D media often moves through depth and so the preferred depth budget (the range of depths which appear in a shot or sequence of shots) may be quite different than for 2D or static S3D. Filmmaker A. Kazimi will work with vision scientist Dr. L. Wilcox to create an independent S3D film installation based on a dance choreography, in which the film content will be presented in a large-scale S3D projection fonnat and on multiple S3D displays. In the final production, the audience will move through a gallery space, choosing to view the large-scale screen or one of the alternative displays that will contain different motion in depth sequences (the variation of an object in depth over time) and viewing geometries. To develop this installation we will use an iterative procedure whereby we create the S3D footage, conduct scientific assessments of observers' preferences for different combinations of content motion, depth budget and scene pacing, and then refine the S3D content. This process will be based on a sequence of prototypes for the installation, presented in different venues. Our scientific aims are: to evaluate the effect of movement through depth on observer preferences for different ranges of disparity; to detennine if these preferences are contingent on the nature of the movement through depth; and to detennine if the pacing of film content is markedly different for 2D vs. S3D. Depth in Motion will be a first: an immersive installation experience based on rigorous scientific assessment ofhuman responses to moving content in S3D.