The Irish Times Innovation Awards April 2014 | Page 8

INNOVATION SHOWCASE 3-D

Live 3D first at the awards
John Holden

The reappearance of 3D may seem strange to those of us
who remember watching trashy movies wearing blue and
red glasses in the 1980s. But certain advancements in the field
have made the technology sexy again. At last week’s awards
it was front and centre being overshadowed only by the 4D
appearance of An Taoiseach Enda Kenny.
3D printing was on view courtesy of Dave Head of 3D Dave.
Using his Ultimaker fused-deposition-modeling (FDM) printer,
Head applied heated plastic layers - one on top of the other to create a plastic version of one of the event’s awards.
Head’s Dutch-designed flat pack Ultimaker is one of the top
selling small 3D printers. Its main rival would be the US-made
Makibot. However, the market has exploded now.
“Three years ago when I started out there were only four
or five companies, and those two stood out the most,” says
Head. “Now there’s so many others all replicating the same
thing. The cost has reduced dramatically in recent years. It’s
possible to buy a basic 3D printer for around $250 dollars,” he
says.
IT Tallaght has the country’s only 3D sintering machine
printing in metal and nylon powder, setting the Institute
back €250,000. The ability to print in metal, however, creates
numerous possibilities. “NASA have been using it on their
rocket engine nozzles and have made them more efficient
and Boeing are using it to make hinges for aircraft making
them both lighter and stronger,” says Head. “There’s even

people making fully printed car bodies now.”
The event itself was being broadcast in live 3D, a first in
Ireland. This joint experiment was made possible by Dr Gary
Baugh from Trinity College’s Sigmedia Research Group and
Colin Norris of production company Media Coop. Pairs of
high tech 3D glasses sat on each table, one for everyone in
the audience. However, unlike The Late Late Show, we were
not allowed to take them home with us, as was repeated by
the event’s host Matt Cooper on numerous occasions (too
expensive unfortunately).
“We have made it possible to see the presenter Matt Cooper
on stage in 3D as well as all the 3D content being presented
on screen,” explains Dr Baugh. “It’s similar to the cinema
experience but in that case its pre recorded. This is the first
time live 3D has been attempted.”
No point having an awards ceremony celebrating innovation

without taking a few risks though. “It was very exciting and
a little scary because of the number of new challenges,”
explains Colin Norris of Media Coop. The filming side is more
complicated and you have to be very careful about how you
approach it. You’re using two cameras at once meaning twice
as much technology involved and twice as much processing
at the very end.”
U2 has held concerts in live 3D in the past and it has
also been used in other entertainment settings. But the
technology has other more practical applications. “We’re
engaged in a project with the Royal College of Surgeons in
Ireland (RCSI) where we film doctors doing dissections of
cadavers in 3D,” says Baugh. “When students watch a 3D
dissection of a cadaver, it’s easier to understand the anatomy.
The geometry is much more realistic than watch