New in OS X: Get MacRumors Push Notifications on your Mac

Resubscribe Now Close

'i3D' Demo App Shows Off Head-Tracking 3D on iOS Devices

Monday May 23, 2011 6:40 am PDT by Eric Slivka

Last month, French researchers Jeremie Francone and Laurence Nigay posted a video showing off a method for using head tracking by a device's camera to simulate three-dimensional scenes for the iPad, a concept in which Apple has expressed some interest.


As noted by MacStories, a new demo app from Francone and Nigay known as i3D has appeared in the App Store, giving users the opportunity to test out the technology on their own devices.

i3D is a free universal app running on the iPad 2, iPhone 4, and fourth-generation iPod touch. It contains a sample video image displaying a bounding box as it tracks the user's head location, as well as five demos showing the simulated 3D perspective that can be generated using the tracking.

Related Roundups: iPod touch, iPad
Buyer's Guide: iPod Touch (Don't Buy), iPad (Don't Buy)
[ 55 comments ]


Top Rated Comments

(View all)

Avatar
Trius
103 months ago
Cool concept... but it doesn't work very well yet..
Rating: 3 Votes
Avatar
Satori
103 months ago
Just downloaded this for my iP4. Some demos work better than others - and overall it is a bit jerky. I don't think the head tracking is quite right yet. Very promising though -it will be so cool when it's perfected.
Rating: 2 Votes
Avatar
guzhogi
103 months ago
Just downloaded it and I have to agree - very cool stuff, but still needs a lot of work.


I just want to know how it works when no one is touching the ipad.. I can understand the technology with the accelerometer in place.


Actually, it doesn't use the accelerometer. According to the article, it uses the front camera to track where your head is in relation. Because of that, there's no need to touch the iPad.
Rating: 2 Votes
Avatar
JilzVT
103 months ago
Good start - but we're still several years away.
Rating: 1 Votes
Avatar
ArtOfWarfare
103 months ago
I wonder if a free API for this will be released... I can think of some cool features it could be used for in a game...
Rating: 1 Votes
Avatar
adztaylor
103 months ago

Cool concept... but it doesn't work very well yet..


Agreed.
Rating: 1 Votes
Avatar
irun5k
103 months ago
Overall a pretty impressive prototype, considering the available hardware was not engineered with this as a use case. The initial demo that tracks your head with a red rectangle demonstrates that they're doing a pretty solid job with the tracking part.

I think the stuttering and hesitation on the subsequent demos might have more do with the graphics processing & rendering than the actual tracking algorithms.

Note: I tested on an iPhone 4.
Rating: 1 Votes
Avatar
SandynJosh
103 months ago


What is the music from ??


A piano. ;)
Rating: 1 Votes
Avatar
EricStriffler
103 months ago
I've been so excited to try out this head tracking 3D, and after playing with this app for a few minutes I'm so underwhelmed. It doesn't feel anywhere near as cool as I expected it to. Maybe it will be better with some more development, but I'm definitely let down.
Rating: 1 Votes
Avatar
ghostface147
103 months ago
Hmm, not as cool as I thought it would be.
Rating: 1 Votes

[ Read All Comments ]