New 3-D video glossary available

Recognizing that the term “3-D” means different things to different people, and so the 3D@Home Consortium and the MPEG Industry Forum (MPEGIF) have jointly released a new glossary of terms for identifying and improving the subjective quality and cost-effective creation of stereoscopic 3-D video.

The glossary identifies and describes more than 230 terms used by 3-D production and post professionals and R&D test facilities. It also serves as a reference tool for training materials, best practices documents, presentations and other communication vehicles. An online, interactive and searchable glossary will be forthcoming in several months.

The terms included in the glossary were identified and defined by a project team of the 3D@Home’s Consortium’s Content Committee (ST1) and MPEGIF’s 3D Working Group, both led by Sean McCarthy of Motorola’s Mobility Division.

“As a vision scientist, I am pleased to have, in one place, a reference guide to this new terminology,” he said. “When all individuals involved in a project are referencing a similar vocabulary, then communication can be clear and unambiguous. That shortens creation, evaluation and development cycles and avoids costly errors.”

Rick Dean, chairman of the 3D@Home Consortium and senior vice president at THX, said that the consortium continues to strive to provide tools that can be used extensively by experts and novices alike as 3-D video creation and analysis techniques develop further. Subsequent revisions and updates to the glossary are anticipated as 3-D production techniques are experimented with and perfected. Dean said his group plans to expand the written definitions with multimedia examples available online.

The glossary, available in PDF format, can be found at http://www.3DatHome.org/ or http://www.mpegif.org/. It can also be requested via email: info@3DatHome-dot-org.

The 3D@Home Consortium is comprised of more than 40 companies representing the entire 3-D development channel from North America, Asia and Europe. The group is working to accelerate the adoption of quality 3-D technology in the home by enabling an entire system of products that will broadcast, play and display 3-D content.

The MPEG Industry Forum is an independent, not-for-profit entity representing more than 35 international companies and organizations that support the widespread adoption and deployment of MPEG and related standards in next-generation digital media services.