IPL goes 3D ...

Spider Cam

          Yes you read it right people!! The Indian Premier League has thrown surprises in every of its editions since its existence. Be it in the money involved or the tech used. This time, the third season of IPL scheduled to commence from March 2010 takes the cake. Because for the first time in sporting history, cricket will go 3D!!

          They plan to use spidercams, again on an experiment basis in the last four matches. The spidercam according to Modi will roam around the ground and provide never before seen live images.

Lalit surely knows how to grab eyeballs!!

            The mastermind of the spidercam system is Jens C. Peters. He founded CCSytems Inc. in 2000 in Austria with the original aim to further investigate the innovative concept of the spidercam and to develop a fully functional prototype.

          He intended to create a cable-suspension system for a camera transporting device, capable of moving not only laterally or horizontally along the ground, but also vertically, thus providing full 3D-movement while covering wide areas; applicable indoors as well as outdoors.

          Whatever, skipping the history of spidercam, it is supported by 2 cables crossing each other at a fixed point over the gallery .Now guess whats the basic contrasting factor between a spider & spidercam as far as their motion is concerned???

 Spidercam hanging on to its web

          While a spider grooves on its web our supercam doesnt groove on its cables being at rest with respect to the fixed crossing point.Yah the length of the cables do change in such a way that the cam not just moves on the plane over the gallery it can change its height from the ground as well.

          Even it can take shots starting just from 15-20 feets from the ground level to over 150 feets .Now this is what makes it mightier Giving eye popping realtime HD live videos and making U feel like an eagle flying over the stadium enjoying the game with the freedom of its own to go for various prospectives to see what going on down the pitch or even better than that .

          Well talking about 3D though spidercam supports 3D I have no idea weather they are attaching 3D cam with the spidercam rig or keeping it upto the conventional tripods operating them separately.But spidercam in 3D is way too expensive though its icing on cake. Now its upto them, which one to go for .

                                                                        ( Ranjith Baskaran )