I just wanted to show the difference in 3D depth between movies and games. I hope this shows the massive difference between 3D movies, which in my experience have the perceived depth of about a theater stage; and games, which have full, real world 3d depth. Many people see movies and wonder what the big deal is, especially when combined with some of the side effects some 3D configurations bring, like reduced brightness and crosstalk(aka, ghosting). Not every type of 3D method is the same and different setups will give more or less of these side-effects. 2011 saw a huge decrease in these side-effects. Thats only a one year difference. These problems are being solved by technology developments and they are secondary IMO compared to the issue of lack of depth, since your pupils will dilate to adjust to any reduced brightness and you will likely ignore any crosstalk when engrossed in a game, i know i do.
Below are photographs of games [top] and movies[bottom] which shows the difference in depth. What to look for is how much separation there is in close objects vs far objects. Its easiest to see on vertical lines [ie, the laser beam in the top left photo]. The 3d movie shots dont have many vertical lines, so you'll have to look more closely at those.
[img]http://img64.imageshack.us/img64/5324/movievsgamesdepthcompar.jpg[/img]
What this lack of separation means is that the angle of the eyes when viewing something close will be very similar to their angle when viewing something off in the distance. This results in a sometimes very underwhelming 3D effect, because if your standing at the edge of a cliff looking down at your feet, the bottom of the chasm can look as if its close to you.
Games are completely different. When standing at the edge of a cliff, the bottom of the chasm will appear far away because the separation between the images is inches apart and your eyes will gaze straight on, as they would in real life. This will obviously give you a huge sense of danger. When standing next to an aircraft carrier for example and looking up, it no longer looks like a photograph, it looks like a monstrously large entity in front of you and you can easily make out the enormous height of it as well as being able to make out of the ins and outs over the surfaces. 3D makes it easy to make out the enormity of caves or the tightness of small passageways simply from that extra information your brain gets from the [perceiving of the] 3rd dimension. If in the Mines of Moria looking down the row of the enormous columns, they will look as though they continue into a vast distance and every single column you can see will give you the correct height/size information, essentially making it look as if you are there. In a movie the nearest column will look more like it is in front of a photo of more distant columns.
Geometric detail put in by the artists is easily made out. For example, a heavily detailed rock wall can appear flat in 2D, unless your moving, but in 3D, all the detail will jump out [and in], as it does everywhere, naturally, on the fly. It even works on bump/height maps. It also works on atmospherical effects, like mist and dust. Using the cross-eye 3D method, heres a good example of massively confusing detail made completely clear by 3D[the photo at 1:04, 3:43, 7:13 and 7:29]:
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDylA6cvQ6I&feature=fvwrel[/media]
In Skyrim, the biggest thing real world, life-like 3D depth does is it makes the screen literally look like as though it is laid out in front of you. Thats not an overstatement, thats my experience. Thanks for reading and enjoy Skyrim, whether in 3d or 2d.
Now, watch this!!
:twirl:
Didn't think it was possible, did you.
