Bullet time photography patents

Submitted by Ian Wright on Tue, 2007-07-03 17:34.

I am wanting to produce some bullet time photography like on Matrix as requested by my client, but it was invented and developed by a company in the states who now has it patented

http://www.virtualcamera.com/license.html

Now i know they have the patent, but does that mean i cant simply buy a load of cameras and take a load of images in a straight line?

As i cant see how this can be patented, i can see that producing a product and selling it would be, but not actually doing the simple act of photography itself.

That would also mean that just putting 2 cameras side by side and taking an image is breaking the law, is this true?

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Re: Bullet time photography patents

Submitted by Doug Aurand on Wed, 2007-07-04 03:48.

Ian
I'm not sure what they have patented.

Maybe if you can read the patent itself, you'll know what you can do.

Douglas Aurand
Albuquerque, NM

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Re: Bullet time photography patents

Submitted by Scott Highton on Mon, 2007-07-16 17:08.

I am of the opinion that a number of the world's patent offices have become somewhat lazy, rubber stamping just about any patent application that comes through their doors, and leaving it up to courts to decide whether the patents they issue are valid or not. Certainly, it is easier to simply approve every patent application than it is to do thorough reviews and research into each of them, determining whether the applications are indeed for new and unique tools or processes and whether they are substantially different from prior art.

We've seen all too many times (particularly here in the U.S.) how fairly narrow patents have been issued to applicants, and then the patent holders make broad claims in court against others using related technologies. The end results often have little to do with the validity or scope of the patents in question, but rather are decided by who has the deepest pockets and resources available to spend on litigation. The IPIX saga is a prime example of this in our VR world.

As for the "bullet-time" type of photography, certainly a number of patents have been applied for and issued. However, you must also consider the prior art involved. The use of large arrays of multiple cameras to capture and "freeze" motion sequences goes back at least as far as Eadweard Muybridge (1830-1904), whose series of large format cameras were triggered in sequence in the 1870s at the request of Leland Stanford to determine whether all four hooves of his horse were ever off the ground at one time during a trot. Muybridge did hundreds of other motion studies utilizing multiple camera arrays, as well, as have countless other photographers using similar techniques. "Bullet time" is little more than another adaptation of this approach, and is also founded upon the more recent works and research of others such as Paul Debevec.

Scott Highton
Author, Virtual Reality Photography
Web: http://www.vrphotography.com

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Re: Bullet time photography patents

Submitted by Ian Wright on Mon, 2007-07-16 18:00.

Hi Scott
Your absolutely right about the patent situation, and just to cover myself i hired a patent agent to make sure (which cost £900).

It looks as though their patents are not very good anyway, as they are so specific that they are almost useless, for if you change anything, then they arnt infringed.

For example they only effect images which are taken one after the other (eg Video), and also have to be running at a frames per second.

There are many other bits, but that's the main bits which stops me being effected.

But for you following this topic on the Apple Quick Time VR massage boards, this has been mentioned quite a few times, and i received over 25 emails in support, one from one of the Ikea set guys and one from the Matrix Crew.

http://www.ikea.se/dromkok (cheated bullet time effects)

They basically said that 99% of both was cheated, by using wires and holding still. There is even a video which had a link to it, I'm sure it was Hans that added the link but cant find it at hand, about how they made the Ikea website movies.

They even had solid plastic water, as if it was pouring out of a glass, the god dam cheats.

http://www.timeslicefilms.com/projects/beckham.shtml#
But that's almost exactly what I'm going to be trying for, but in a nightclub.

I have feeling the post photography is going to be a nightmare lol.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eadweard_Muybridge
That's the work form about 150 yrs ago. And i also wrote to an Author who wrote a book all about Muybridge asking him more specific questions, and he replied with a few sample images that were exactly as i am doing, produced in the 1870's of a naked woman spanking a baby.

www.NewWorldDesigns.co.uk
CMS Systems, Web Design, 3D Animation

www.QuickTimeVirtualReality.com
Object, Pano, Multinode, QTVR, Flash, Java

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