TechMedia

I have always enjoyed 3-D movies, so I read the latest Wired article, James Cameron’s New 3-D Epic Could Change Film Forever with great interest.

Cameron wanted to create the perfect 3D camera for Avatar.

Working with Sony, he developed a “lightweight, dual-lens, hi-def camera capable of shooting precisely calibrated 3-D images that won’t give viewers a headache,” according to the December issue of Wired.

Was it worth the 10 years and $250 million-$500 million (reports vary on the cost) it cost to make?”

I can’t say as I haven’t seen it yet.

But I can pass along this comment made recently by a co-worker, who flew from Yellowknife to Edmonton for the Imax 3-D opening: “Avatar: like one reviewer put it: ‘the 3D is so good it’s like your eyeballs are having sex.’”

And there is more good news on the horizon for 3-D movie lovers – the Globe and Mail ran a story today, 3-D’s next frontier: your living room that stated, “The televisions will be in Canadian stores within six months but will consumers put on their glasses and watch?”

Within six months, experts say, 3-D televisions will be in Canadian electronics stores, selling from $3,000 to $8,000. Sony expects that by 2012, 30 to 50 per cent of its TV sales will be 3-D. And in Britain, Sky Network is months away from launching the first 3-D channel.

Will you be lining up for the latest in video technology? As for myself, I look forward to the coming of interactive hologram stories, as depicted in Star Trek.

Engage!

Flash Catalyst, now in Beta at Adobe Labs, is described as:

A new professional interaction design tool for rapidly creating expressive interfaces and interactive content without writing code. Create interactive portfolios, product guides, microsites, site navigation, interfaces for RIAs and more.

You can download Flash Catalyst beta 2 at the Lab’s microsite. The beta 2 release adds support for video, sound effects, motion easing, AIR and more.

Adobe Flash is a fantastic product for video and interactive design, but coding in Action Script can be daunting to the novice user. Catalyst aims to give non-coders the chance to work on some interactive design and prototyping.

This product will be used to create projects for the student design competition at the Reynolds Journalism Institute.

One of the things we’re trying to help them figure out is how to more cost-effectively make more immersive, more interactive content that people will want to pay for or sponsor.

It will be interesting to see what the final projects when they’re presented at Adobe in May.