The digital tools that we’ve seen in movies and used for entertainment—such as digital animation and interactive digital environments—will soon become available to companies and individuals. We’re not talking about tools that will require armies of programmers and technical specialists. We’re talking about intuitive, everyday tools and applications that will be accessible to grandparents and schoolchildren alike.

Here’s just one example. A taste of what you’ll be able to do.

• A furniture company sends you an e-mail with a link to their Spring Catalog—with 3D models of their furniture and accessories.
• You scroll through the images and spot a blue sectional sofa that catches your eye;
• You grab your digital camera and snap a few photos;
• Within a few minutes, you have a digital 3D model of your living room;
• You “drag and drop” the digital couch into your living room; and then
•  You rearrange the furniture without ever straining a muscle.

We’ll be able to freely combine the images with real-world photographs and video. The boundary between the digital world and the live world will become permeable. We’ll be able to flow data and images seamlessly between them.

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We’re standing on the edge of a major change in everyday business practices, and it’s going to change the business world as much as the transition from the electric typewriter to the word processor reshaped the business community.  Over the next few years, the digital tools that you’ve watched in movies and used for entertainment will enter the world as full-fledged business tools. Then, they will become intuitive applications usable by anyone—children and grandparents alike.

 You’ve probably been enchanted by Pixar’s storytelling power through digital animation. When the lights go down, you’re transported into vibrant new worlds—filled with animated toys, over-protective clownfish, squabbling domestic superheroes, racetrack drama, culinary rats, and lonely robots. These films produce surprise and delight.

Yet, we seem to live in a much less exciting world. Some of us spend our time trapped reading and writing text-based e-mails. We get trapped in meetings where some passionless speaker fires off bullet-points until we surrender to complete boredom. We submit a proposal to our bosses and clients, and when they ask, “what will this look like” we often find ourselves giving a vague answer or writing out more words. Always more words.

Each of Pixar’s movies had strong global box-office receipts because they present great stories within incredibly powerful visuals. Now, stop and think about that combination for moment. What if you or your company could achieve the same results? Can companies (let alone individuals) really harness the power of digital storytelling?

That’s why we believe in the principal of “Show, Not Tell.” It’s going to transform how we share ideas and communicate information. For years, visual storytelling tools provided fantastical entertainment. Now the toys in the nursery room have grown up. They’re ready to transform our workplaces and our home lives.

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If you’re a trained architect, then blueprints convey a lot of information on what a proposed building will look like.

However, if you’re not a trained architect, then you’ll struggle with the blueprints to envision how the 2D documents will become a 3D space.

Neoscape recently created a great animation for the William and Mary Mason School of Business. The animation starts with the classic 2D blueprint, and then it literally builds the future building before our eyes–highlighting different spaces through color-codes and then showing the exterior and interior spaces.

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Just as the U.S. prepares for the transition from analog television to digital television, manufacturers want to lure buyers from HDTV to 3DTV.

This year’s consumer electronics show in Las Vegas featured 3D television. Manufacturers such as Sony, Panasonic, and LG believe that it represents the next big step forward in home entertainment, and consumer-ready models could appear as soon as 2010.

These images represent true stereoscopic images–with information transmitted to each eye. Would you want to wear special 3D glasses when you sit on your own couch and watch a movie?

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Sometimes, you can get lost even with a 2D map. You need a landmark to help you find your way. Or, when you’re driving, you miss that an intersection really isn’t an intersection, it’s an overpass.

When you’re driving, those small contextual clues can make the difference between a smooth trip in an unfamiliar city and a trip where your GPS politely “recalculates” your directions after you’ve missed a turn.

3D maps are coming to your favorite GPS device. Software provider Nav N’ Go revealed 3D maps which reveal overpasses, landmarks, and other key 3D elements.

Here are 3D samples of Las Vegas and San Francisco. It’s another example how 3D will become embedded more deeply into our lives over  the next few years.

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This summer, Google launched Lively within Google Labs. When we first looked at Lively, it seemed a close cousin to Linden’s Second Life. Users create virtual avatars within a 3D social networking space.

Recently, the Lively team announced that they will shut down Lively on December 31, 2008. The development team members will shift to Google’s core businesses–search and advertising. Honestly, this announcement didn’t come as any surprise to us.

Lively offered cool technology without a clear business purpose. Sure, you could possibly embed advertisements within the Lively environment (much like in-game billboards). Yet, would enough people use Lively to make the investment worthwhile?

The current economy takes some of the blame for the end of the Lively project. Yet, Lively was an experiment in “what’s possible.”In the future, we’ll see other multi-user virtual worlds emerge.

Interactive virtual worlds can serve viable purposes beyond games and entertainment–as long as the worlds allow people to solve real-world problems easily or more effectively.

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Over the past couple of years, we’ve become comfortable watching and posting videos online–through services such as YouTube.

However, what if you could easily manipulate objects within an embedded video? Recently, Dan Goldman of Adobe’s Advanced Technology Lab offered us a look at some new video editing technology.

Interactive Video Object Manipulation from Dan Goldman on Vimeo.

From what we can see in the video, using these tools look as easy as uploading a video or editing a text document. You don’t have to be a 3D modeler. Your average internet-savvy user could sit at a keyboard and add thought bubbles to their favorite family videos.

From what we can see in the video, these video manipulation tools seem easy to use for an average internet user.

I believe the 3D revolution will transform all of our lives in both subtle and profound ways. Not only will businesses will be able to deploy visual storytelling but also (and more importantly) everyone will be able to use these tools.

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