3D Sweep Panorama pictures - first look

Thursday, 25 August 2011 06:48 | Written by rog
source: se-first.com

3D Sweep Panorama is a new camera functionality that Sony Ericsson will provide to a number of Xperia smartphones. We took this cool new feature on a test ride - sample photos right after the break!
Sony Ericsson once more made use of a Sony technology. The 3D Sweep Panorama feature is already in use for quite some time in some of  Sony's compact camera models. It is a way to take 3D pictures using only 1 camera module. Other 3D solutions need 2 camera modules which take pictures from 2 different angles simultaniously. The 3D Sweep Panorama uses the sweep motion to take a large amount of pictures in a row, then stitches them together and calculates 2 single pictures which represent the very same scenery from two slightly different angles. These files are then combined into one .mpo file (Multi Picture Object) which can be interpreted by 3D capable devices such as 3D TVs. Confused? So are we :-) Let's just move over and have a look at the result of all this.

Below are a couple of sample pictures shot using the (3D) sweep panorama function on an Xperia ray. Please be aware that this is still preliminary software, so things might change until the final release. However, we think this works already quite amazingly. The red/cyan stereoscopic images were generated using an Android application called "3DSteroid", which can convert the .mpo-files that the camera on the phone generates into pretty much any 3D format. If you have a 3D capable TV, you can directly have a look at those 3D pictures from the phone via the HDMI out connector (if available on the phone).

Alright, grab your red/cyan 3D glasses and have a look (click on the images for the original file)!

The 3D Sweep Panorama feature is part of a software update for all 2011 Xperia devices and will be rolled-out starting in October 2011. We will cover all of the other new features (Android 2.3.4, Facebook Inside upgrade) of that update later on, so stay tuned.


Here is the 2D representation of the picture.
Here is the stereoscopic 3D representation of the picture for red/cyan glasses.

Here is the stereoscopic 3D representation of the picture for red/cyan glasses.

Here is the stereoscopic 3D representation of the picture for red/cyan glasses.