Beyond 3-d

MY THANKS TO TOM HUNT ington for “The Gimmick That Ate Hollywood,” which made the Spring 2003 issue a definite keeper. Those of us in the business the article is about have a saying, “3-D is the wave of the future—and always will be.”

In 1987 Prentice-Hall published my book The 3-D Oscilloscope: A Practical Manual and Guide , which gave details, including construction plans, for a unit that requires no glasses and provides stereo and movement parallax over a wide range of viewing angles. The idea was that since television displays evolved from the ordinary oscilloscope, perhaps 3-D TV would benefit by starting from a 3-D oscilloscope. British Telecom bought two units from us to test the idea’s potential for television. Unfortunately it scaled down the viewing-angle width to its barest minimum, predictably dooming it to failure.

After investigating a variety of 3-D techniques for television and movies, we’ve concluded that a most effective technique that requires no new equipment is simply to move the camera smoothly and continually, horizontally, vertically, or at an intermediate angle, when still scenes are being shot. With personal-computer graphics displays, slowscene rotation or oscillation can be very effective. The legendary pilot Wiley Post had only one good eye, and most birds and fish have eyes with nonoverlapping fields of view and thus have no Stereovision, yet they navigate in a threedimensional world. Motion provides a highly effective depth cue that works even for one-eyed creatures.