Vision III Imaging, Inc.
Vision III Imaging is a company located in Reston, Virginia that specializes in depth enhancement parallax imaging technologies. It has developed the v3 parallax scanning technology for capturing and recording visual parallax information to high definition (HD), Digital Cinema, 3D graphics, and video games.1
v3
The v3 brand is used by Vision III Imaging, Inc. to identify its parallax scanning technology.2
The v3 optical and software tools were designed to capture and/or format three-dimensional depth information (parallax) in a manner that exploits certain human visual perceptual mechanisms when viewed on standard unaided displays. The tools exploit certain short-term visual memory and depth-mapping psychophysical processes.3
Intellectual Properties
The company has received a total of 20 issued United States patents with three currently pending, three European Patent Office patents with four pending, two Canadian patents with three pending, one Japanese patent with two pending, and one South Korean patent with one pending.4,5
Technology
The company’s v3 technology hardware and software product brands include:
- v3 AX3 HD Zoom Lens Unit
- v3 MOE 35mm Prime Lenses
- v3 DPS Parallax Scanner
- v3 QS3D Pro Stereoscopic Plug-in Software toolset for Adobe Premiere Pro and After Effects
- v3 QS3DX GPU accelerated (Cuda and OpenCL) Stereoscopic Plug-in Software tooolset for Premiere Pro CC
- v3 Parallax Visualization Plug-in FMV and WAMI toolset for AFRL's Pursuer GUI
- v3 Real Shot Digital Advertising
- v3 Parallax Scanning Game Code
AX3 – HD lens parallax scanning unit
The AX3 is designed to be inserted into a standard HD camera lens’ optical path at or near the plane of the iris allowing the capture of parallax views.
AX3 Technical Specifications:
- Compatible Lenses
- Angenieux 26x7.8 or 19x7.3 ENG Lenses
- Fujinon HA22x7.8 or HA18x7.6 HD ENG Lenses
- Lens Installation
- Requires v3 Ready Adapter installed in place of 2x extender housing
- Aperture Size
- 1 mm to 35.4 mm
- Aperture Excursion
- 3 mm off optical center
- 6 mm p-p max (@f/16)
- Aperture Scan Rate
- 0–15 Hz
- Power
- 12 volts supplied through controls maintained
- Lens Control
- Standard lens controls maintained
- AX3 Controls
- Unit operated via on-board controls
- A thumbwheel provides for change of menus and parameter settings
- Four programmable buttons are included for operator lens/AX3 function presets
- Parallax scan direction control included for stereoscopic applications
- Broadcast remote operation via CCU or hand control connected via serial interface.
Moving Optical Element (MOE) lenses 6
The 35mm MOE Prime lenses are PL-mount compatible lenses that allow cinematographers to capture parallax scanned images on 35mm film or in a digital cinema format (4K).
MOE lens specs:
- Aperture Range
- Lens speed - T16 with marked thirds and splits
- Aperture Excursion
- 12mm off optical center 24mm p-p Max (@T16)
- Aperture Scan Rate
- DC - 15.0 Hz Maximum (standard) Allows filming stop motion thru 80 frame/s
- Image Format
- 35mm Full Frame 18.67mm X 24.89mm (0.735" X 0.980")
Digital Parallax Scanner (DPS)
The Digital Parallax Scanner is the parallax scanning component of the AX3 HD zoom lens unit and the 35 mm MOE prime lenses. It is inserted into a lens’ optical path at the plane or near the plane of the iris allowing the capture of parallax views.
The DPS employs two linear actuators and a central pivoting armature that holds the iris. The two parallel linear actuators have coordinated motion in such a way as to produce both x and y motions of the iris. For illustrative purposes think of the way, a tank moves. If both tank treads move forward/backward the “gun tip” moves forward/backward (both treads moving normally). If one tread moves opposite to the other (turning, both treads moving differentially) the “gun tip” would move left or right. It is this type of differential motion that allows the iris to be positioned in any area of the optical axis in the lens, and do it in the smallest possible space. The linear actuators consist of a moving coil and fixed magnetic yoke assembly, very similar to the typical actuator that controls the read/write heads in a computer hard drive. By incorporating miniature, high-resolution optical encoders, the entire scanner mechanism control system becomes digital.
See also
- Critical alignment
- Parallax Image Display (PID)
- Parallax scanning
References
1. Hammer, Ben. Businesses learn to beat plowshares into swords, Washington Business Journal - October 8, 2007
2. U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Serial No. 78607788, Reg. No. 3147889, Word Mark: v3, Registration Date: September 26, 2006
3. Mayhew, C.A. et al. (1996). Parallax scanning using a single lens. Proc. SPIE, 2653, 154-160.
4. Results of Search in US Patent Collection db for: AN/"Vision III Imaging, Inc": 14 patents.
5. Mayhew, Christopher a. et al. U.S. Patent No. 4,815,819, March 28, 1989 and Mayhew, Christopher A. et al. U.S. Patent No. 4,966,436, October 30, 1990 are assigned to Vision III Imaging, Inc.
6. Subramanian A, Iyer L, Abbott AL, and Bell AE (2001) Segmentation and range sensing using a moving-aperture lens. Proceedings of the Eighth IEEE International Conference on Computer Vision, volume 2, pages 500{507.