StereoMirror Dazzles at ISPRS

Every four years the International Society of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ISPRS) organization holds a conference with worldwide participation. The quadrennial conference is synchronized with Summer Olympics and, this year, it coincided with the Olympic site as well. About two javelin throws from Beijing's new Bird's Nest stadium, a different group of well-trained experts assembled to see the latest developments in imaging, software and hardware for photogrammetry.

We demonstrated our StereoMirror technology to a good portion of the 3,000 people that attended the meeting. Planar stereo monitors could also be found in booths belonging to photogrammetry software leaders ERDAS (formerly Leica Geosystems), Intergraph, DAT/EM Systems International and Inpho. In addition to showing aerial images for photogrammetry, we highlighted the superior image quality of our monitors with a slideshow of the Forbidden City, Temple of Heaven and the nearby Olympic sites.  Unfortunately, the stereo pictures of the Summer Palace and The Great Wall were not captured until the exhibition had concluded. We'll have to bring those to the 2012 ISPRS meeting in Melbourne, Australia.

In addition to the image quality and viewing comfort, there were many visitors that appreciated the open viewing angle for collaboration. Whether standing or sitting, it was easy for 3 or 4 people to gather around the SD2020 and see high quality stereo imagery.  It was a great to talk with people from Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Denmark, Germany, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Morocco, New Zealand, Norway, Philippines, Poland, Russia, Thailand, The Netherlands, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, Vietnam and others. There was also plenty of local interest that will keep our new distributor in China busy. 

Upcoming Exhibitions for the StereoMirror Team

Did you miss the ISPRS conference in Beijing? There are several more opportunities to see Planar's StereoMirror products in 2008. You can find Planar's StereoMirror monitors at:

Let us know if there are others conferences you think we should attend? If you would like to see a demo, but are not planning to be at any of these conferences, contact Janis Jennings and we will try to setup a demo in your vicinity.

Schrödinger & StereoMirror for Viewing Your Molecules in 3D

In early June we showcased the StereoMirror at Schrödinger's 2008 User Symposium in Portland, Oregon. Schrödinger is a dynamic company that develops state-of-the-art computational chemistry software for use in pharmaceutical and biotechnology research. We heard a lot of positive comments on the stereo image quality and viewing comfort. We heard customers communicate their need to have an accurate perception of the 3D geometry of those molecules. We are always seeking to gain a better understanding of those who use molecular modeling software. Ask Scott Robinson for more details about how to use our StereoMirror for molecular modeling and crystallography.

Convert USB to DVI

Many of our customers use a side monitor (or two) along with the stereo monitor. Some of these customers have used one graphics card to drive the stereo monitor and another card to drive the side monitors. Others have used the Quadro FX4500 X2 (or new Quadro FX 4700 X2) that has four DVI outputs while using a single PCI Express slot. 

I recently came across a product that may be useful to those that don't have an extra PCIe slot for an additional graphics card or don't want to spend the money of a quad-output card.  Gefen, Inc. is now selling a USB-to-DVI graphics adapter . The adapter supports up to 1600x1200 resolution and the list price is $129. This will not interfere with OpenGL stereo output of other graphics card used to drive the Planar stereo monitor. It may not handle computationally intense applications without some latency, but if you just want to show some extra menus or check your e-mail, it is an inexpensive option.

Get More Frequent Updates via the Planar3D Blog

In case you haven't noticed, we are also posting new content about the StereoMirror and stereoscopic technologies on the Planar3D blog at blog.planar.com/3D. Subscribe to the RSS feed or look for blog updates on the home page of Planar3D.