For the past 100 years, the technology underlying imaging technology used in both entertainment and professional applications has seen continuous improvement. However, one thing has remained constant: the paradigm of a planar (flat) rectangular viewing window, whether displayed on your video display, mobile device, home theater or even a giant-screen theater. What would happen if you could remove this constraint, and create a viewing experience that was indistinguishable from real life – like the Holodeck from science fiction? This dream is still years away, but surprising advances are already being made in capturing volumetric images, displaying light fields and enabling a truly immersive sound field. This talk will review what technical parameters are required to enable a true “immersive” viewer experience, and where some current technologies (such as HDR, 3D cinema and VR) hit or miss these goals. We’ll survey the latest advancements in immersive sound and light field imaging. Some of these new immersive tools are already being prepared for commercial launch within the next few years, and new efforts have been launched to create interchange and distribution standards for these new immersive technologies.
Pete Ludé, CTO, Mission Rock Digital (San Francisco)
Pete Ludé is prominent engineering leader in advanced imaging and sound. He currently serves at CTO of Mission Rock Digital, a San Francisco-based engineering firm specializing in next-generation media. Current work includes display technology for next-generation cinema, immersive sound, and interchange pipelines for VR, AR and plenoptic (light field) imaging systems.
Ludé has previously been involved in pioneering broadcast facilities, laser-illuminated projectors and datacasting endeavors. He has served as Chief Innovation Officer at RealD, and before that was Senior Vice President of Sony’s Silicon Valley R&D labs. Ludé is past-president of SMPTE – the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers — and a SMPTE fellow. Pete was founding Chairman of the Laser Illuminated Projector Association, currently serves as co-chair of the ASC Plenoptic Imaging committee and is a frequent speaker on the future of cinema, volumetric imaging systems and advanced display technology.
