A Guide to A World Dominated by 3D Media

Ever since Facebook rebranded to Meta, the metaverse has been all the rage. One of the consequences of this move is the realization of the importance of 3D media in the world that we are building.

The metaverse has been touted as the next stage of the internet. It will involve the merging of the virtual and real worlds, to an extent where the boundary is blurry.

If you are wondering how the divide between the real world and the virtual world in our computers can be breached, there’s just one answer for you: augmented reality.

Augmented reality involves the superimposition of media onto the real world. In a few years, you might be walking down the street and the image of a sales attendant pops out of nowhere.

Through hologram technology, such an image can appear like a real person. At some point, the only way to know whether the person is real or not will be to run a hand through them. And since we won’t be able to run a hand through everything that we see, it will be difficult to tell between what’s real and what isn’t.

And that is where 3D media comes in. The building block of the entire metaverse will be one thing: media. And since 2D media doesn’t exactly give an immersive experience, 3D media, or volumetric media, is the only option.

As such, everything to do with 3D media, including its generation, manipulation, distribution, and presentation, comes to the forefront. You can’t have a stake in the metaverse unless you can generate 3D media.

Additionally, the metaverse is not a record of the real world, it’s an extension of it. It’s our chance to reimagine and remake the world. It will be an avenue for creativity to be expressed fully, a place for physics and other rules that govern our current world to be treated with blatant disregard.

Consequently, the ability to manipulate 3D media will be important. The better you are at such manipulation, the more competitive advantage you will have in the metaverse, especially in the initial stages.

Volumetric media is about to become one of the most important technologies in the world.

And it will be commercialized. Already, companies have started developing avatar products. An avatar is the form that you assume in the metaverse. You can make it look like a digital copy of you or you can fully customize it, transforming your appearance into whatever you want it to be. The companies that come up with the best avatar solutions are likely to reap big.

Now that 3D media is about to take over the world, it’s probably best if you have at least a basic understanding of what it’s about. That way, when the 3D camera mobile becomes commonplace, or when you need the services of a 3D scanning company to do 3D printing, you won’t be lost.

Below is an overview of the most important topics related to the world of 3D media.

What is 3D Media? 

3D media is three-dimensional. In addition to the length and width that we are used to in two-dimensional media, 3D media has depth. It can be represented on a cartesian plane with three axes.

What this means is that you can experience 3D media like you would experience the real world. This makes it perfect for the metaverse. For example, rather than see a man from a fixed perspective like in 2D media, you can see the man from all perspectives possible. You can look at him from the top or from any side.

Volumetric Media Capture 

Volumetric media capture is the process of generating 3D media. In the past, generating 3D media has been an expensive process. At some point, the only way to do it was through a 3D scanning company, most of which charged exorbitant fees.

However, thanks to the development of technology, volumetric media capture has been democratized. You can now do it with a mobile 3D scanner, a lightweight, handheld device that produces high quality scans and that can be easily acquired at an affordable price.

What is more, high-end cameras are increasingly being equipped with some form of volumetric media capture ability. Consequently, with some of these phones, all you need to generate a 3D scan of anything is an app.

With time, the 3D camera mobile will be commonplace. Generating 3D media will become as easy as taking digital photographs now is. And for professional use cases, the handheld mobile 3D scanner will remain a solid choice.

3D Printing 

One of the most significant impacts of 3D media is that it has enabled quick and accurate 3D printing. 3D printing is the production of materials that are a replica of some digital 3D scan. The products thus acquired can be made of a range of materials, including plastic and metal.

3D scanning and 3D printing are revolutionizing and democratizing manufacturing.

Thanks to the two technologies, you can reproduce almost anything you see, be it a legacy motor vehicle part or a toy.

There are multiple 3D printing companies now in existence, and, as long as you can scan it, they can produce it for you.

Consumption of 3D Media

We are used to consuming 2D media, which can be conveniently displayed through the screens on our mobile phones, computers, and television sets. However, 3D media can’t be displayed on the screens that we are used to.

An important part of the consumption of 3D media is that the viewer can experience it through the 6 degrees of freedom that correspond to three-dimensional space.

3D media is also interactive, enabling the viewer to be the director of his or her viewing experience.

To achieve this, 3D media is consumed through devices like virtual reality glasses. Such devices transport you into the virtual world, enabling you to experience and interact with 3D media like you are in the real world.

3D Technology Applications 

3D media will be huge in the metaverse. However, it’s already being put to good use in a wide range of industries. Knowing the various ways in which 3D technology is used can inspire you to use it to improve any field.

3D in Manufacturing 

3D scanning has greatly revolutionized the manufacturing process. It is being used in various stages of the manufacturing workflow, from product design to inspection.

In product design, 3D scans are used as a base to kickstart product designs. Normally, very few products are made from scratch. New products are often a combination of small parts of previous products or an enhancement of previous products. As such, a scan of already existing products can come in handy.

Further down the workflow, once the product has been manufactured, 3D scanning can be used to inspect it, making sure that it has the right dimensions. Inspection and quality assurance using 3D scans is fast and accurate. It is also convenient, since you can overlay the scans on the original design and use advanced software to immediately spot differences.

3D in Entertainment 

3D media is already impacting the entertainment industry. This impact is projected to improve significantly in the near future. Movies in 3D are already a popular form of entertainment in cinemas. Their main appeal, as with other forms of 3D entertainment, is the immersive experience they provide.

One of the principal themes of entertainment such as movies or video games is escapism. Nothing aids escapism more than filling up the viewer’s entire field of view, which is what 3D entertainment does.

Games played with virtual reality glasses are gaining in popularity and soon, video games just won’t be fun without 3D glasses.