To project Avandia 3D at the convention, two independent DVDs were encoded progressive scan. The DVDs played in two off-the-shelf DVD players controlled by a Dave Jones-designed sync box. Each DVD player was hooked up to a separate Christie Digital Vistagraphics 5000 projector through a component video connection. The Christie DLP projectors each have 5,000 lumens of light and project through properly oriented linear polarizers onto a 10'8" x 6' silver screen. Projected in the 16x9 aspect ratio, Avandia 3D was watched by the audience using paper polarizing glasses.
           "The projected 3-D images were pretty bright," says Goodman. "DVD is important in this system. The disc-based format allows us to easily synchronize the two 480p streams and presents a very high quality image. By sidestepping NTSC interlacing, we are achieving a digital projection format using inexpensive DLP projectors that produce SVGA resolution, which can represent every pixel in our image without scaling. By mating two DLPs to two computer-controlled gen-locked DVD players, we are able to present 480 horizontal lines of data to each eye.
           "Unlike the XL1 3-D which takes a 720x480 frame and cuts it in half for each eye," continues Goodman, "this system gives you four times the resolution because it's a full frame per eye. The brain interpolates the dual 480p signals into a 960-line display because all that data is there, merging the two independent channels. That's the key to the system."
           Modification of the DXC-9000 cameras was not without its challenges. To get the stereo base between the two cameras down to a workable 2 3/8 inches apart, Goodman found he had

to use the Sony VCL-707BXM lenses because of its smaller lens barrel. "This is actually a macro lens, designed to photograph objects no more that 17 inches from the camera," says Goodman. John Merritt, chair of the Stereoscopic Displays and Applications conference and senior consultant with The Merritt Group in Williamsburg, Massachusetts, consulted with Goodman to find a solution.
           Custom optics were created for the lenses by Steve Manos, formerly of Century Precision Optics. "Originally, the lens was a 7.5mm to 52.5mm zoom," says Goodman. "The modifications created a need to lock the focal length and lose the zoom capability. The focal lengths were matched by our optical engineer and locked in place at 7.7mm. Currently, aperture and focus functions are not linked. For the first shoot, we were just very careful to match them as closely as possible."
           Goodman isn't the only one assembling a stereoscopic video rig. Paradise FX in Hollywood has tested two Sony CineAlta 24p HD camcorders mounted at right angles in a housing frame. James Cameron has been using a similar rig for underwater filming of Ghosts of the Abyss, which is destined for the large-format Imax screen. With digital processing of the HD footage, extra definition is added and recorded out to film for projection in the 15/70 format.
           "Imax is the obvious king in this arena," says Goodman, "but without Sony's budget, who could afford to make a film in that format? Eventually, however, our eyes are on HD." For now, 21st Century Media will service the pharmaceutical and medical industries with 960p 3-D movies to showcase at trade shows and conventions.