The International 3D Society (I3DS) said it’s sponsoring a six-hour course...

The International 3D Society (I3DS) said it’s sponsoring a six-hour course July 17 at the University of Southern California’s Entertainment Technology Center to help bring film industry professionals up to speed on 3D. Society CEO Jim Chabin said the course is open to anyone interested in stereoscopic 3D. The program is the first of 18 learning modules about 3D to be held year round, he told us. The first class includes an overview covering the art, technology, business, and public policy and health aspects of stereoscopic 3D, followed by practice sessions in film and live events. The course ends with a session on planning and budgeting a 3D production. Buzz Hays, the chief instructor at Sony’s 3D Technology Center, is the chairman of I3DS, which was designed “with a lot of input from Sony,” Chabin said. The I3DS will give the first Harold Lloyd Award to a member of the stereoscopic 3D technical community at an Oct. 5 ceremony at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. The award acknowledges technological achievement “in the new era of 3D,” Chabin said. Efforts on 3D from 1980 to 2009 are eligible. The final judging is at the end of July, and the winner will be announced Sept. 1. The award is named for Harold Lloyd, an actor, director and producer who was an advocate of 3D and the first president of the Hollywood Stereoscopic Society, in 1950.