Books Getting 3-D Technology
As 3-D technology becomes increasingly popular and the watchword of the entire TV and film industries, it's only logical that people are looking for more places to apply the 3-D label. According to researchers in South Korea, the next big thing in 3-D is children's books.
Scientists at the Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology demonstrated technology that could make pop-up books a thing of the past. Pictures in two Korean folk tale books were animated in 3-D with the aid of computer-screen goggles.
The goggles were able to recognize cues in the image and display 3-D animations accordingly. Even if the book is tilted or turned the 3-D image appears to move with the book.
"It took us about three years to develop the software for this," Kim Sang-cheol, team leader of the project, told Reuters.
While 3-D technology wouldn't benefit books without pictures, Kim said the technology still had many applications. Kim envisions 3-D images displayed on smartphones or at museum exhibits.
Kim is confident the technology can be made affordable for consumers, though he had no estimates on eventual pricing.
