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'i3D' Demo App Shows Off Head-Tracking 3D on iOS Devices

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Last month, French researchers Jeremie Francone and Laurence Nigay posted a video showing off a method for using head tracking by a device's camera to simulate three-dimensional scenes for the iPad, a concept in which Apple has expressed some interest.

i3d targets
As noted by MacStories, a new demo app from Francone and Nigay known as i3D has appeared in the App Store, giving users the opportunity to test out the technology on their own devices.

i3D is a free universal app running on the iPad 2, iPhone 4, and fourth-generation iPod touch. It contains a sample video image displaying a bounding box as it tracks the user's head location, as well as five demos showing the simulated 3D perspective that can be generated using the tracking.

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Top Rated Comments

Trius Avatar
Trius
194 months ago
Cool concept... but it doesn't work very well yet..
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
guzhogi Avatar
guzhogi
194 months ago
Just downloaded it and I have to agree - very cool stuff, but still needs a lot of work.


I just want to know how it works when no one is touching the ipad.. I can understand the technology with the accelerometer in place.
Actually, it doesn't use the accelerometer. According to the article, it uses the front camera to track where your head is in relation. Because of that, there's no need to touch the iPad.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Satori Avatar
Satori
194 months ago
Just downloaded this for my iP4. Some demos work better than others - and overall it is a bit jerky. I don't think the head tracking is quite right yet. Very promising though -it will be so cool when it's perfected.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
S
SandynJosh
194 months ago

What is the music from ??

A piano. ;)
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
I
irun5k
194 months ago
Overall a pretty impressive prototype, considering the available hardware was not engineered with this as a use case. The initial demo that tracks your head with a red rectangle demonstrates that they're doing a pretty solid job with the tracking part.

I think the stuttering and hesitation on the subsequent demos might have more do with the graphics processing & rendering than the actual tracking algorithms.

Note: I tested on an iPhone 4.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
EricStriffler Avatar
EricStriffler
194 months ago
I've been so excited to try out this head tracking 3D, and after playing with this app for a few minutes I'm so underwhelmed. It doesn't feel anywhere near as cool as I expected it to. Maybe it will be better with some more development, but I'm definitely let down.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
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