SMPTE Announces 3D Summer Conference

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y.: The Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers today announced the International Conference on Stereoscopic 3D for Media and Entertainment. The event will take place in New York City on July 13-14, 2010 at the Marriott Marquis, Times Square. Online registration opens April 9, 2010 at www.smpte.org.

“Just as we did with HD, SMPTE is gathering leading experts to explore the scientific depths of 3D--and to set the stage for even more groundbreaking applications across the media and entertainment industry,” said Ken Fuller, SMPTE president.

SMPTE has issued a call for papers for the conference. Topics include human perception and stereopsis; advances in stereoscopic camera architectures; multiview video coding; light-field camera applications for 3D image acquisition; real-time 2D-to-3D conversion algorithms; 3D tracking software; advances in autostereoscopic displays; and emerging technologies.

SMPTE embarked upon creating a stereoscopic 3D Home Master standard last year. It’s intended as the “cornerstone of the entire 3D content chain,” according to SMPTE.

“This standard will provide high-level image formatting requirements for the source materials authored and delivered by content developers,” the organization said. “It will also provide requirements for the delivery of those materials to all distribution channels, from physical media to terrestrial, satellite, cable, and other streaming service providers.”

SMPTE expects to finalize the core specs of the standard by the end of this year. -- Deborah D. McAdams