Posts Tagged ‘3d’
After 3 Years of Data Crunching, NASA and Microsoft Release Stunning New Interactive Mars Tour
NASA scientists have been crunching data for three years on more than 100 computers to come up with the brand-new Mars map. Its image collection spans the Viking orbiters nearly 40 years ago to the HiRISE camera on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which is still snapping pictures.
NASA says it was looking for a way to share its wealth of Mars images, and WorldWide Telescope was a good fit. To use it, you have to download the PC-only free program, or use a Web client.
NASA says the map may lead to new scientific discoveries.
The program lets you fly through a 3-D rendering of Victoria Crater, soar past Olympus Mons and examine rock formations with surface-level detail.
In some Martian locales, you can right-click an image, and you'll find Web pages for the missions that captured them.
The 3-D effect is derived from information provided by an instrument called MOLA, the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter, which flew on the Mars Global Surveyor. Scientists at NASA's Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, Calif., combined the data with regular images to come up with 3-D views.
The images themselves reside on the Nebula cloud at NASA-Ames.
Two NASA scientists also offer video tours. James Garvin of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., walks viewers through the geological history of Mars and discusses three possible landing sites for human missions there. Carol Stoker of Ames addresses the question of whether Mars harbors life, and discusses the findings of NASA's Mars Phoenix Lander.
[NASA]
Video: Scientists Watch Grass Grow, at the Cellular Scale
The team stained growth cells in Arabadopsis thaliana and rice plants, and trained laser-scanning microscopes on the growing plants, according to Scientific American. They fed the microscope data into new computer algorithms that reassembled the structures, cell by cell, in three dimensions. The result is this video.
The algorithm and the "filming" technique could inform future studies on other plants, and could also be used to study cell death, the authors say.
Plants grow very differently than animals. Their seed embryos give rise to simple stalks, unlike human fetuses, for instance, which grow limb buds soon after conception. Instead, flowers, roots and bark appear as the plant matures. Cell development at this level is not well understood, as SciAm reports -- scientists don't know exactly what causes some cells to grow petals as opposed to roots.
The team stained certain growth cells, called meristem cells, which are responsible for developing organs like flowers and roots. They found that in Arapidopsis, the flower meristem cells divided about once every 19 to 24 hours and multiplied to "several hundred cells, even before the onset of differentiation and organ formation." The finding unlocks some secrets about cell division rules in plants, the researchers say.
[SciAm]
James Cameron Sending 3-D Cameras to Mars with Next NASA Rover
New zoom mast cameras could allow the Curiosity rover to take cinematic video sequences in 3-D
Cameron approached NASA administrator Charles Bolden about including the 3-D camera in January, according to the AP. NASA had originally cut the 3-D camera and zoom lens options back in 2007, for budgetary reasons.
But Cameron's argument that a high-res 3-D camera would boost public interest swayed Bolden to his side. The U.S. space agency recently funded completion of the 3-D and zoom-capable cameras by Malin Space Science Systems, Inc, the company which developed the Mastcams.
Restoring the zoom is not a science issue, although there will be some science benefits," said Michael Malin, principal investigator for the Mastcam. "The fixed focal length Mastcams we just delivered will do almost all of the science we originally proposed. But they cannot provide a wide field of view with comparable eye stereo."
That has led to a scramble to build and test the zoom lens cameras before the MSL rover commences final testing in early 2011. The two Mastcams under development would have 15:1 zoom lenses which can image from telephoto (100mm focal length) down to wide-angle (6.5mm focal length).
The Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) rover is slated to carry four science cameras mounted on a remote sensing mast, where they can pan or tilt to take images all around the rover out to the horizon. All of the cameras currently have fixed focal lengths.
By contrast, the zoom lenses would allow for "cinematic video sequences in 3-D on the surface of Mars," Malin noted. Given our Hubblegasm review of Hubble 3D, it's safe to say that we're crossing our fingers for Cameron to get his proper filmmaking tools in time for blastoff to Mars.
Video: Swoop Through the Real New York as Google Earth Meets Google Street View
What was once a kind of grainy, pixelated experience -- at least if you zoomed in really tight -- is now much more like the real deal. Building facades and architectural nuances are in focus, storefronts are legible, and landmarks can be explored in a far more realistic fashion than before. You could even argue that the ability to fly through cities, experiencing them from both ground level and from their upper stories and beyond, beats pounding the pavement yourself.
Currently, the 3-D experience is limited to a smattering of international cities -- New York, Cape Town, London, etc. -- but more 3-D-enabled locales are surely on the way, as Google's mission is, after all, to catalog everything in the world. You can take a spin around NYC below.
Broad line of 3D products from Samsung
Samsung Electronics introduced a series of products that support the playback of images in 3D format. It is already on sale models such as 3D LED-scan screen TV with 240 Hz and holder of many awards 3D Blu-ray player. At last in January of this year's CES show in Las Vegas, Samsung in partnership with the famous animation studio DreamWorks Animation SKG and Technicolor, a company pioneering the development and printing of 3D-content, presented the new line of 3D Blu-ray players, as well as the first disc format 3D Blu-ray with full-length animated film Monsters vs. Aliens. With strong infrastructure, developed by these companies, 3D-image becomes popular and widely available.
In the line of 3D HDTV in 2010 include LED-TV series 7 000, 8 000 and 9 000, plasma panel Series 7 000, 8 000 and 9 000 and LCD-TV series 750. Together with 3D Blu-ray player Samsung BD-C6900, special glasses and new movies in the format Blu-ray 3D TVs from a new line of fully give the depth, color and clarity Full HD 3D image. But if you want to watch regular programs or movies in high definition, this can be done by pressing a button.