What is a Phantaglyph®?

Ziggy Kormandel, CEO of Go3DX explains this new form of anaglyph technology that makes objects look like they are appearing above the image. Get some red/cyan glasses and prepare to be amazed!

Guest article*

The definition of a Phantaglyph® is fairly straightforward, but since Hollywood loves origin stories, I’m going to start a little farther back and build the suspense.  It was December of 2009 and I was walking out of a movie theater trying to wrap my head around what I had just seen.  The movie was “Avatar,” and I was so inspired by the technology that I was determined to find a way to bring that same “wow factor” into other media.  More specifically, I wanted to combine my Internet marketing background with the 3D world to create a new tool for spreading a message via the Internet, personal computers, and mobile devices. 

I went home and dove into researching the best methods for my new vision, and I was less than pleased with my findings.  As far as I could tell, the only way to achieve my goal on a mass level was by using the standard anaglyph technology.  That level of 3D entertainment was not up to the standards I had self-imposed, and I thought about abandoning my just-hatched vision. 

Then I met a man named Owen Western, who is now my business partner and CTO of 3DX (www.go3dx.com).  Owen had invented a patented process called a Phantaglyph® that was unlike anything I’d ever seen before.  Are you ready for the definition I promised?  Unlike traditional anaglyphs where one holds an image in front of him, this requires the user to lay the image flat on a table.  Owen asked me to do this and then to look down at the image at a 30-degree angle.  I put on the glasses and nearly fell out of my chair with amazement.  In front of me was a life-size human head that appeared to be breaking out from the table and rising almost a whole foot above the surface.  That’s what a Phantaglyph® is, and it blew my mind.  We spent the next two hours looking through image after image, and before long people were lining up and asking if they could borrow our glasses to see what all of the buzz was about.  We knew we were onto something big.

Owen told me the story of how he created the Phantaglyph® technology.  He had always been captivated by the magic of 3D, but even creating award-winning 3D motion pictures did not satisfy his intellectual curiosity.  He wanted to reproduce real objects and make them appear to be sitting on the table in front of the viewer.  He continued to refine the process, added reflections above and below the horizontal plane, incorporated auto-animations of the subjects, and eventually was able to reproduce life-size models in vivid color that leapt off the page.  I loved it and knew that this technology was something truly different that would stand out in the saturated world of marketing and grab the consumer’s attention. 

Our first Phantaglyph®-specific client was Honda, who was set to advertise in a 3D issue of Maxim Magazine with Anna Kournikova on the cover.  The former tennis star’s pictures were all converted to standard anaglyphs, and Honda wanted their ad to really stand out.  They got their wish; when readers had the magazine flat on a table, suddenly a car appeared to be sitting right there on top of the magazine in front of them.  The response was enormous, and it confirmed our belief that there was a strong place for this technology in the marketing world.  We were further convinced after showing the Phantaglyphs® to the marketing executives at the major Hollywood studios.  The only way to describe their reactions is to say that they “totally flipped out.”  For the first time, they realized that all of their big-budget 3D movies could also be marketed in 3D to increase awareness without lowering their standards.

However, I think the next frontier is the most exciting one.  Studios and big brands everywhere are not advertising solely in print.  Picture a life-size can of soda sitting on top of your iPad.  Imagine purchasing a Lady Gaga concert online and watching her in full motion as she stands on top of your iPad and plays songs that feel like they’re just for you.  Would you like to play a game of “Angry Birds” in which the birds are flying six inches above your screen?  We are currently working with some of Hollywood’s top visual effects and 3D video companies to perfect Phantaglyphs® in full motion, and the result will be a game-changer.

 PHANTAGLYPH EXAMPLES 

Please note, Phantaglyphs are to be viewed on your mobile phone or tablet laying flat on a table in front of you viewed down on a 30 degree angle. You wont get the full effect if it is viewed straight on, on a monitor. Regular red/cyan glasses required.

For more information visit http://go3dx.com

*Guest articles are written by individuals or companies exclusively for 3dfocus.co.uk. In exchange for high quality editorial content, the writers are at liberty to include information about their own company’s products and services on the proviso that it does not affect the integrity of the content or discuss a competing company in a negative way. Such inclusions are kept to a minimum. Guest articles are NOT paid advertisements and are designed to offer genuine value to the reader.

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