Remember the head-tracking app that would let the iPad fake a pretty convincing 3-D display? Well, now you can try it out for yourself — free — instead of just watching a video of other people using it. The developers, from the University of Joseph Fourier in France, have released the app on the App Store.
It works like this: The app uses the front-facing camera in the iPhone 4 or iPad 2 to track your head. It then changes the on-screen image to match what you would see if you were looking at a 3-D object from different angles. The action takes place behind the screen plane, unlike to majority of stereoscopic 3-D movie effects which jump out at you.
Once the app manages to get a proper fix on your face the effect is uncannily convincing. I had to take off my glasses to get it to work. When I wear them, the app tries to track my ragged, stubbly beard instead. There are instructions for getting a good facial fix, and one of them is "Do not wear a big beard," so it could be that.
Some of the demos work better than others. I found the first one — a blue cube in a Tron-like grid — to be the most convincing, but then I was testing without my glasses on, so you should probably try it out for yourself.
The authors of the app, Jérémie Francone and Laurance Nigay, say that a future version could "be combined with a stereoscopic display for a better 3D effect." Somebody needs to write a game that uses this tech right now.
i3D product page [iTunes]
3D displays on mobile devices [IIHM]
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