It seems that the front camera on the iPad 2 can be used for more than videocalls, as there’s a project out there, done by two researchers, involving 3D visual effects on this device. The front camera has been used for head-tracking, in order to create the visual effects you see in the video demo below.
The idea belongs to researchers Jeremie Francone and Laurence Nigay of Laboratory of Informatics at the EHCI Research Group. They’ve reached this 3D effect, by using a tracking system for the user’s head movements with the aid of the iPad 2’s front camera. This is very similar to what the Kinect sensors do, actually.
This is not real 3D, mind you that, so if you’re looking for a screen of this kind, the Nintendo 3DS is the best to find it. We can’t help but imagine how cool this innovation would look in a 3D videogame on the iPad 2. Also, 3D CAD renderings would be cool…
