About IMAX 3D technology

The IMAX Experience® in 3D – the world's most immersive movie experience – has entertained and enlightened millions of people worldwide. With crystal clear, larger than life, 3D images complimented by exhilarating state-of-the-art surround sound, audiences feel as though they are in the movie.

The high quality of all aspects of the IMAX 3D experience makes IMAX 3D presentations the world's best – providing the most realistic and immersive 3D ever. One key factor behind the magic of IMAX 3D is the implementation of dual filmstrip technology.

This technology is far superior to the old fashioned "red-blue" anaglyphic 3D, which combines left- and right-eye images onto a single strip of film, compromising sharpness and colour. IMAX 3D technology eliminates this compromise and enhances the images by not only using the world's largest film format (15/70mm), but also by using two separate strips of film for both image capture and projection.

The IMAX 3D Camera

The IMAX 3D camera is one of the highest resolution image-capturing devices in the world. By simultaneously recording separate left- and right-eye images onto two 65mm wide film strips – one for each eye – the IMAX 3D camera helps to create spectacular high resolution images characteristic of the wide field of view of IMAX presentations.

The IMAX 3D Projector

The IMAX 3D projector simultaneously projects two strips of 15/70 film, one for each eye, onto a special silver IMAX 3D screen. Each member of the audience must wear IMAX 3D glasses, which channel the right-eye image to the right eye and the left-eye image to the left eye.

Some IMAX theatres use P3D glasses, which have polarized lenses that separate the left- and right- eye images. Other theatres use E3D glasses, which utilize electronic liquid crystal shutter technology. The 15/70 film format used by IMAX is ten times larger than a conventional 35mm film and three times larger than a standard 70mm film.

The sheer size of a 15/70 film frame, combined with the unique IMAX projection technology, is the key to the extraordinary sharpness and clarity of films exhibited in IMAX theatres.

The Theatres

IMAX theatres' specialized design and unobstructed views place audiences right in the on-screen action. Gigantic IMAX 3D screens – up to eight stories high – eliminate the discomfort and decapitated edges of smaller-format 3D systems.

The screen, coated with a specialty high-performance metallic paint, has a slight curvature that extends beyond the field of geometric recognition incorporating some of the audience's peripheral vision, enhancing audience members' feelings of being in the film.

The images are enhanced by a superb specially-designed six-channel surround system comprised of 44 custom-designed speakers that extract 12,000 watts of pure digital surround sound.

The Films

IMAX 3D films take viewers on fantastic journeys to places far beyond the reach of most people. Audiences have been propelled back in time, transported into the future and taken to the far reaches of Earth through films such as T-REX: Back to the Cretaceous, Into The Deep and SPACE STATION, narrated by Tom Cruise.

Exceptional 3D animation can be experienced in films such as Steve Oedekerk's Santa vs. the Snowman and IMAX's Cyberworld. In March of 2004, audiences will be able to sit in the driver's seat of a 200 mile per hour NASCAR racecar in NASCAR 3D: The IMAX Experience.

IMAX 3D Polarized Glasses (P3D)

In theatres utilizing polarized 3D technology, each member of the audience wears custom-designed polarized IMAX 3D glasses with oversized lenses. The polarized projection system uses a carefully-aligned polarized filter in front of each projector lens, with the two lenses having a different alignment.

The glasses' lenses are carefully aligned to the respective eye of the projector. The glasses channel only the right-eye image to the right eye and the left-eye image to the left eye, delivering the stunning, full color, 3D images.

IMAX 3D Electronic Liquid Crystal Shutter Glasses (E3D)

In theatres utilizing electronic 3D technology, each member of the audience wears electronic liquid crystal shutter glasses. Used to show left-and right-eye images of each scene, IMAX E3D glasses sense an infrared signal from the projection system.

The projector projects left- and right-eye images sequentially without overlap. Viewers wear glasses with shutters that alternately open and close 48 times per second, allowing each eye to see the appropriate image. Because the glasses and projector are accurately synchronized, the correct image is always channeled to the appropriate eye.