3D in the 20th C (part 1)

Travel back in time to the downtown avant-arts scene
of Gotham City 2000 — and in 3-D !

Both in format and content, a rare video document.


HOW TO SEE THE VIDEO IN 3-D:

ALL forms of stereoscopic viewing work by
giving each eye its own slightly different
view of a scene, so it is necessary for there
to be two images to produce a 3-D effect. The
two images, although very similar, are not
identical because they were videotaped at a
distance of a few inches apart from each other
(just like human eyes). The left side is for
your left eye and the right side is for your
right eye.

To see this video in three-dimensions you need
to fuse the left and right images into a single
image. This can be done in different ways.
The "free-viewing" method, requiring no special
glasses or gadget, uses the eye-"relaxation"
technique popularized by the Magic Eye books.
This method yields true 3-D with "parallel-format"
stereo (in which the image for the left eye is
presented on the left side and the image for the
right eye on the right). This video is in parallel
format. (Nonetheless, it is also worth trying
eye-crossing/eye-convergence, which for many
people is easier than "Magic Eye"/relaxed/divergent
viewing, even if what then happens, when applied
to parallel-format stereo, is that your right eye
sees what is meant for your left eye and vice-versa
so that technically you are actually experiencing
what is called pseudoscopic stereo. Pseudoscopic
stereo may look strange, as if near has become far
and far near, but some people don't experience this
strangeness, and even if they do the effect can
be interesting.)

Try this:
Hold up a finger of one hand a few inches from
your nose -- the "close finger". And at the same
time with your other hand hold up a finger further
from your nose, maybe a foot or at arm's length --
the "far finger". Look first at the close finger
and be aware of what happens to it when you shift
your attention to the far finger. Suddenly you
will see TWO of the close finger. THAT is what
you need to do when looking at the video, to
produce this double-vision, so that with the
resulting four images (the original two, doubled)
you get two of them to overlap/fuse. You will
see three dancers, the center one in 3-D.

Seeing the video in 3-D and in focus may take a
little practice. Basically what you need to do is
to look at the video but with your eyes converging
less than they normally would -- positioned, in
other words, as if you were looking at something
BEHIND your monitor but with the lenses of your
eyes remaining focused upon the monitor. This is
a separation of two visual activities, focus and
convergence, that normally are never separated.




here is someone else's explanation if
the above one isn't clear:

http://www.3dexpo.com/parallel.htm

(Also, gadgets, such as the Pokescope and the
Freeviewer's Assistant, do exist to help with
viewing of parallel format 3-D.)

Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• stereoscopic
• dance
• 3D
• 3-D
• avant-garde
• art
• electronic