KDDI free viewpoint turns 2D video into interactive 3D

[CEATEC 2010] KDDI has an interesting 2D to 3D demo in their booth. This time, we’re not talking about stereo 3D, but about 3D graphics that is almost video game like (almost). With a single, or several cameras, KDDI can turn 2D video information in a 3D-ish form that can be manipulated in the sense that you can rotate the camera around (with restrictions) to see the action from a different angle. With a single camera, it is possible to change the angle but quickly hit the limit as the application doesn’t know what’s happening on the side or behind. With more cameras, it is possible to get more views. The interesting thing is that you can do that on a live video feed. Now, most of these technologies are not fundamentally new (it’s been researched for some time), but it is curious to see a wireless carrier explore this and try a new implementation of the concept.