Topic (1): If any of you are going to LinuxWorld next week in Boston, be sure to stop by the "Emperor Linux" booth (# 1821 - http://www.emperorlinux.com). They are slotted to demonstrate a new Linux-based laptop from Sharp Electronics that has their latest 15" autostereoscopic 3D LCD display -- running a PyMOL demo of course :).
It is too early to say for sure, but I think that the Sharp 3D LCD technology has a good shot at displacing shutter-glasses as the dominant technology over the next couple of years. You get most of the convenience of stereo 3D in-a-window without needing a bulky CRT display on your desk and without having to deal with those expensive fragile glasses. Glasses-free stereo 3D rocks! It is the future, and it is here for you today. My focus is on Sharp because they are the first company with a workable stereo LCD solution suited to our specific needs. Though the 3D "sweet spot" is supposed to be tuned for just one person at a time, in my opinion, at least 3 and perhaps even as many as 5 people can realistically gather around one of their displays and benefit from greatly enhanced depth perception. With PyMOL, it works for surfaces, electron density, cartoons, spheres, sticks, and even line representations -- basically everything! In short, I believe that our 3D "use case" requirements in chemistry and structural biology are fully met by the Sharp technology, and so far, most of those who have seen PyMOL running on such a display have agreed with this assessment. Even seasoned medicinal chemists down on 3D have changed their tune after seeing it in action. User interface content outside the 3D window is certainly affected in appearance but remains quite useable in most cases. Full-time crystallographers will of course need a display larger than 15" (one is hopefully in the works), but casual stereo-graphics users should be quite happy with the standard size. It works just like a normal 1024x768 LCD display when not in stereo mode (easily toggled via button or software). The only other practical limitation I have noticed with Sharp's autostereoscopic LCD technology is that you need to draw using lines that are at least 2 pixels wide in order to insure that both eyes receive complete depth information. So long as that rule is followed, the depth quality is as good as shutter glasses. Unfortunately, these displays aren't yet compatible with off-the-shelf QBS stereo 3D software, but DeLano Scientific is committed to insuring that commercially-supported versions of PyMOL work just fine on these displays. Sorry Mac users -- only Windows and Linux only for now, since OS X still doesn't support stereo-3D in a window (though not for lack of trying on my part!). The displays also require an nVidia-based graphics card. Standalone 15" display: <http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1647634,00.asp> Laptop (prior generation): <http://www.sharpsystems.com/products/pc_notebooks/actius/rd/3d/> Sharp 3D-enabled PyMOL versions (Windows & Linux): Available to paid-up PyMOL subscribers upon request. NOTE: If you are seriously thinking of buying one or more of their new 3D products, please consider initiating your purchase through DeLano Scientific LLC (sa...@delsci.com) in order to drive additional funding for the PyMOL project. We are not currently a reseller, but could become one if there is sufficient market justification for doing so. Topic (2): Thank you to everyone who responded to "Stereo 3D matters to me" by providing direct feedback on the need for windowed stereo 3D graphics on the Mac platform. We received over 600 email responses from 286 organizations and are scheduled to deliver them in hardcopy form to Cupertino later this week along with a short executive summary and stereo 3D demonstration. Whether it will change anything, I don't know. But I do know that Apple management will no longer be ignorant of the tough dilemma faced by Mac users who have needed professional 3D graphics for quite some time now. Cheers, Warren -- Warren L. DeLano, Ph.D. Principal Scientist . DeLano Scientific LLC . 400 Oyster Point Blvd., Suite 213 . South San Francisco, CA 94080 . Biz:(650)-872-0942 Tech:(650)-872-0834 . Fax:(650)-872-0273 Cell:(650)-346-1154 . mailto:war...@delsci.com
