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3D is a buzz now a days and here is a product that adapts the current trend. Poppy is a device that transforms an iPhone into a 3D camera. You can capture, view and share photos and videos in 3D by inserting your iPhone into the device. Poppy is on Kickstarter. Very interestingly, the entire inspiration for this device came from the child toy Viewmaster.
“As kids, we loved those old toy Viewmasters, and how they gave you the feeling of stepping into another world. We wanted to let anyone create and share their own immersive 3D scenes too. That’s why we made Poppy,” says Joe Heitzeberg, one of Poppy’s creators.
To create 3D images and videos, just insert your iPhone or iPod touch into the device and give the box a twist to start recording.
Poppy uses mirrors to capture two stereographic images using the iPhone’s single camera. When seen through the viewfinder, Poppy’s lenses combine the two video streams into a single, crisp, 3D video.
Poppy also works with a 3D content that is already available. YouTube supports 3D and has a huge library movie trailers, music videos, sports clips and user-generated content in 3D. With Poppy, now you can watch these videos without red/blue glasses and infact it would look much better.
Since Poppy works by recording two stereographic images in your iPhone’s single camera, any camera or video app like Camera Plus or Vine will work with Poppy. There is also a dedicated iOS app for Poppy which features:
Capturing 3D videos and 3D still images
Saving photos and videos to your iPhone’s photo album
Uploading videos to YouTube
Browsing your own 3D content as well as 3D videos on YouTube
Easy controls and navigation for when your phone is in Poppy
Technical Details
With Poppy, a system of mirrors splits the field of view of the iPhone’s camera, so that it capture two images at once. The mirrors are positioned eye-width apart (the “interpupilary distance”) so that the images represent what is seen by the left and right eye, independently.
The viewer built into Poppy then isolates the images, so your right eye sees the image taken by the right mirror, and the left eye sees the left image. Your brain fuses the two images into a single, three dimensional scene. Once you have these two images, called a stereo pair, you can reconstruct the original three dimensional scene in number of ways.
The videos and pictures created with Poppy can be used anywhere. Poppy is made of rugged ABS plastic. It weighs less than a pound. Because it splits the camera’s view, images taken with the device are half the size of your iPhone’s typical photos and videos.
Poppy works with iPhone 5, 4S, 4 and fifth generation iPod Touch. It’s also designed with the future in mind, it has an extra room to work with the next generation of phones as well. Check out the video below to see how it works: