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www.oakvillebeaver.com · OAKVILLE BEAVER Friday, February 26, 2010 · 12 Sheridan goes for gold with glasses-free 3D game By Dominik Kurek OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF There are many activities for visitors in Vancouver during the current Olympic Winter Games and one sight that is drawing crowds was developed right here in Oakville. Sheridan College staff, students and partners have developed a glasses-free playable 3D game that is currently promoting Ontario tourism in Vancouver. The game, which runs on auto stereoscopic monitors developed by Toronto-based Spacial View, is fully three-dimensional. In the game, players have to piece together puzzles that depict 20 of Ontario's tourism hot-spots, such as the CN Tower, and it's all in 3D. To move the pieces, players use Blackberry phones that are connected to the game-hosting computer via wi-fi. "We were approached by the ministry (of tourism) who wanted to highlight Ontario's power and innovation in digital media," said Darren Lawless, dean of applied research at the college. "Since Sheridan is known to be taking a leading position in digital media applications they approached us to see what we can do. We partnered with Spacial View and ERIC RIEHL / SPECIAL TO THE BEAVER 3D GAME DEVELOPERS: Sheridan College staff and students developed a 3D game, which doesn't require 3D glasses, for the Ontario House Pavilion at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. Pictured here holding blackberries are (l-r) Damian Domagala (3D artist), Song Ho Ahn (programmer),Ian Howatson (developer) and Jonathan Eger (3D artist). RIM (Waterloo-based Research In Motion, makers of the Blackberry) and created a game that addressed what the ministry wanted." Three of these games are set up at the Ontario House Pavilion in Vancouver, where Ontario is promoting itself to tourists, while a fourth is at Sheridan College. The Ontario Ministry of Tourism funded the development of the game. "The development of this game is great for Sheridan College, it's great for Oakville. We live in a global world and we're leading edge and we want to put Oakville on the map," said lawless. When the college received the contract it had about 12 weeks to complete the project. "It was tight, tight, tight," said Ian Howatson, one of the project developers. "It was fast paced with a lot of long hours." "It was challenging but the team is strong so we were able to do it," Lawless said. "We blended in faculty members and students as needed so we were able to do it." Despite the short amount of time given, the project came together within the time frame and the ministry's budget. Some 15-20 people were involved in the project, including five paid students, who were interviewed beforehand, contract developers and school faculty. Jill Birch, business development vice-president, said the school has already had various visual projects similar to this one with clients such as McMaster University, Atomic Energy of Canada and the municipality of Ottawa. This is also the second glasses-free 3D application they created. The first was developed for the Apple iPhone. The developers of the game also noted there are pros and cons to the glasses-free technology. "The advantage is there's no glasses," said Song Ho Ahn, visual developer. "The disadvantage is that, theoretically, the screen resolution goes down." He said a 3D image that uses two visual layers has half the normal screen resolution. This technology, which uses five image layers, has the resolution divided five times. However, Ahn said this can be overcome in the future. Another aspect of the game development was that it had to be language-free for international tourists who may not speak English. According to the developers of the project, though the technology is there, there is still a long way before content is available for it. For more information, visit www.sheridan3d.ca. THE LARGEST Hardwood Flooring Retailer In Ontario Introduces FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER NO GST and NO PST on all in-stock LAMINATE FLOORING Looks Beautiful... and Stays Beautiful PRICES STARTING AT JUST 89¢/SQ. FT. Over 50 colours to choose from! FINAL 3 DAYS Sale ends Sunday, February 28, 2010 59 Bramalea Rd. Brampton 905-450-6268 1-866-450-6268 bramptonhardwood.com