Groundbreaking glasses-free 3D Game created at Sheridan to showcase Ontario
to the world at the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games

Sheridan researchers, students and Ontario's high tech industry collaborate on 3D innovation

OAKVILLE, ON, Feb. 8 /CNW/ - Sheridan College , a leader in digital media, has created the first ever real-time auto-stereoscopic 3D game that does not require 3D glasses. The game, called "IC3D", is a showpiece at the Ontario House Pavilion at the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games, and will be used to introduce some of Ontario's most well-known tourist attractions to the world-wide audience in Vancouver .

Developed in collaboration with Toronto-based company Spatial View, the Sheridan IC3D Game is an interactive real-time application where players use BlackBerry(R) smartphones as game controllers to assemble puzzles featuring some of Ontario's most popular tourist attractions.

Visitors to the Ontario House Pavilion will play the puzzle game featuring 20 of Ontario's landmark attractions, displayed as 'icicons'*, on 46" Spatial View auto-stereoscopic 3D screens. The pieces of each attraction, or 'icicon', appear scattered on a frozen 3D landscape. Up to five players work collaboratively to assemble the 'icicons', each using a BlackBerry smartphone. Once complete, a multimedia presentation of the attraction is displayed on each player's device.

"The cutting edge technology of Sheridan's 3D Game showcases our province's tourism icons like never before. The world will see in a unique and innovative way that there truly is no place like Ontario to live, visit and invest," said Michael Chan , Ontario's Minister of Tourism and Culture.

"The project is a great example of how Sheridan's expertise in applied research can seamlessly combine multiple disciplines as diverse as art and information technology. Sheridan's long experience in digital media made collaborating with Spatial View on a 3D gaming and visualization project an ideal partnership," said Jill Birch , Sheridan's Vice President of Business Development. "This unique and innovative collaboration not only demonstrates the Province's commitment to innovation in technology, but we think it is a model for how technology companies and educational institutions with expertise in applied research can partner to create technological breakthroughs."

"We are excited to be working on such an innovative project with one of North America's premier Visual Design educational institutions," says Beat Raemy, CEO of Spatial View. "The combination of Spatial View's technology and Sheridan's creative software development skills has resulted in a truly amazing glasses-free 3D experience."

The Sheridan 3D Game was created by Sheridan's Visualization Design Institute (VDI), an applied research unit with established expertise in the field of computer visualization and specializing in deploying game technologies in 3D environments. A team of students from the college's Applied Computing and Engineering Sciences School worked with VDI staff to take this application from concept to finished product.

Founded in 2004, Spatial View is a leading developer of 3D image processing and display technologies. The company's vision is to make 3D more accessible, affordable and versatile opening up 3D to a broader market, including mobile and personal computers. Spatial View's unique technology allows users to view 3D content in high quality on a variety of platforms without the need for 3D glasses.

The Blackberry and RIM families of related marks, images and symbols are the exclusive properties and trademarks of Research in Motion Limited.

*Icicons is a term created by Sheridan's Visualization Design Institute to refer to iconic images of popular tourist destinations and feature attractions in Ontario.

For further information: Media Contacts: Susan Atkinson, Sheridan College, [email protected], [phone], ext. 2096; Donna Teggart, Spatial View, [email protected], [phone]; Serda Evren, Team Lead, Strategic Communications and Issues Management, [email protected], C: [phone], T: [phone], www.ontario.ca/olympicgames2010