Young engineer’s gadget simulates the human eye; Aids movie special effects, medical school lessons.
MUMBAI: Thirteen years ago 15-year-old Devaraj Mohan saw a film called My Dear Kuttichattan, wearing a pair of ‘3-D glasses’.
Today, at 28, he has a gadget that will allow him to watch the same movie with the same special effects — for perhaps the 21st time — without the special lenses balanced on his nose.
And he did it all by himself! He came to Mumbai to look for buyers for his invention, and today, his star seems to be shining: he’s just got two offers — one from London and one from Germany. Both are being negotiated through the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).
Now working as a project engineer with a Mumbai company, Devaraj is a gold medallist with a diploma in mechanical engineering from the Ramakrishna Mission in Chennai.
While in Thakkolam, about 100 km from Chennai, he worked on an optical converter that could not only revolutionise the process by which SFX is created in movies, but can also be used as a valuable teaching tool in medical schools.
As a tool for medical students, the converter is indeed useful. Modelled on work by New York-based William Dobble, in effect, it simulates the working of the human eye.
This gadget can be a boon for movie-makers as well. The optical converter allows the capturing of three-dimensional images without expensive holographic or stereoscopic technology and production processes.
Using the common garden movie camera, Devaraj has created an arrangement of four convex lenses that can be attached to produce output from a single camera in stereoscope, rather than mono-vision, which is the norm. More simply put, two cameras are not required to produce the stereoscopic image; just one, with the device attached, will do.
This double-barrelled result can be viewed on a screen within the camera itself. This technology can cut the costs of 3-D films dramatically, with the commonly used holographic system, each frame would cost about Rs70,000; with the optical converter, it will cost a mere Rs2-4.
Devaraj and his partner, A Parthiban, submitted the optical converter to the Patents Office in 2000. It was given government approval in 2004 and the duo started the search for customers. In the interim, Devaraj has been busy playing with numbers— the young scientist has devised a laboratory apparatus for getting the universal and accurate value of gravitational force.
This is deemed a 'discovery', not an 'invention' by the government, and so Devaraj only has a copyright on the formula he has been working on. According to him, this too is important for modern technological progress. When practically applied, it can reduce fuel costs of airplanes and, in future, spaceships, too by a significant margin.
What does the future hold for him? More such work, Devaraj hopes, which will not just bring him name, fame and fortune, but also be of value to humankind.
About the optical converter
It allows the capturing of three-dimensional images without expensive holographic or stereoscopic technology and production processes
It uses the common garden movie camera, and an arrangement of four convex lenses to produce 3-D images from a single camera in stereoscope
It can cut the costs of 3-D films dramatically. With the commonly used holographic system, each frame would cost about Rs70,000; with the optical converter, it will cost Rs2-4.
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