STUDIO 555. Viewing Anaglyphic 3-D.

Convert HD3D into Anaglyph with the (ACB) 3-D Action Set.

Make Still or Motion Anaglyphs with the (ACB) 3-D Action Set.

3-D IS NOT ABOUT WEARING GLASSES. It's about seeing images in three dimensions from a two dimensional surface.
There is often a presumption that 3-D is trying to replace the 2-D mediums. You will hear comments like "Do you expect people to sit there and wear glasses to see it?" You may then reply "No they won't have to sit." 2-D will always have its convenient and mundane place on the surface of screens and pages. 3-D will also have its place in front of and beyond display surfaces.
3-D will always require more image preparation and a display method of channelling or separating the left and right views. The efficiency of the channelling is crucial for stereoscopic imaging. Each eye should have its own exclusive view.
Anaglyphic imaging is the most versatile, cost efficient and achievable 3-D format. With anaglyphic imaging, colors that are spectrally opposed are suitable for displaying the left and right views of a stereo pair. Of the many combinations, a red color channel and a green-blue color channel provide the best combination of mutual extinction and color perception when viewed through red/cyan viewing gels.
30% Red with 59% Green and 11% Blue light mixed together make white light. This suggests a 30/70 brightness imbalance between R/G-B color channels but in practice it is not an issue.

Anaglyph of an Anaglyph. 3-D Photography by Marc Dawson.

Anaglyph of an anaglyph. Try (ACB) 3-D Viewers

ANAGLYPHIC VIEWING IS NOT ABOUT SEEING IN COLOR.
Familiarity with viewing anaglyphic images results in an acceptance of red color loss. Consider the viewability of watching a black and white 2-D movie. You very soon adjust to it and get involved with the movie. Color is used to anaglyphically separate the stereo pair and the color used for the color channelling must be pure. Only two thirds of the color spectrum, green and blue, are perceived. Look around you through anaglyphic gel. You can see green and blue through cyan gel but you cannot see red through red gel. Red objects equate with white objects when viewed through red gel. In a regular color anaglyph image, red looks bright through red gel and dark through cyan gel. All other colors show such an imbalance.
(ACB) 3-D Anaglyphs present balanced color contrasts where colored objects are stable and are represented in graduating degrees of contrasts. An understanding of objects in the anaglyph image that are known to be, or expected to be red, soon becomes second nature. Familiarity with viewing anaglyphic images results in an acceptance of red color loss. People adjust their viewing perception to the medium being displayed.

CONSIDER ROOM LIGHTING.I recommend anaglyphic monitor viewing with the room light on. Otherwise the periphery of the room around the screen becomes increasingly darker viewed through red compared to the cyan view resulting in rivalry of brightness. So turning the lights down low or off like at the movies dosn't help. For printed images, the more light the better.

THE PURITY OF ANAGLYPHIC COLOR CHANNELS MUST BE MAINTAINED. Unfortunately, some anaglyph image makers and viewing gel producers are of the misguided opinion that anaglyph color channels should be blended and or that anaglyph viewing gels should allow some perception of red through the cyan gel. This allows some of the opposing view to be seen. Whether it is a 2% or 7% leakage, the double imaging that results is directly proportional to any red that is perceived. To compensate for the loss of stereoscopic separation that results from such poor color channelling of the image and or viewing gels, the stereo base, (separation of the left and right camera lenses) is then reduced to try to hide the double imaging within the smaller left/right image edge disparity that results from a reduced base.
Taken to its total extreme, this compensating practice results in excellent color with zero stereoscopic perception. You get a 2-D color image, no viewing gel required!
(ACB) 3-D Viewers do not allow red to pass through the cyan gel. Stereoscopic Image perception is the objective.
However, red can be anaglyphically perceived with Modulating (ACB) 3-D anaglyphs where the orientation of the images color channel display, alternates rapidly in synch with electro-optic/anaglyphic viewing gels between red-left and cyan-left display presentations.

ANOTHER MISCONCEPTION IS THAT ANAGLYPHS SHOULD BE ASSESED FOR THIER UNAIDED 2-D APPEARANCE. An anaglyph is meant to be viewed anaglyphically. Any production consideration for its unaided appearance will tend to limit the anaglyphs stereoscopic potential. However, anaglyph images can be treated for unaided viewing. One method involves actively removing all the color used for one color channel from the monitor or placing a screen sized color gel, corresponding to a color channel, over the screen. A modulating anaglyph can also have an active modulating color removal in synch' with a modulating color channel to reveal a full color 2-D image. Or a modulating color element covering the screen will reveal the same. Where the color removal is active as described above, the red channel is removed from the screen display, the image is buffered and may then be also converted to black and white 2-D.

THE BIGGEST PROBLEM WITH ANAGLYPHIC VIEWING IS THAT THERE ARE SO MANY POORLY MADE ANAGLYPH IMAGES AND INEFFECTIVE GLASSES FOR VIEWING THEM. connect via RGB out to a color accurate screen. 3-D photography by Marc Dawson.

connect via RGB out to a color accurate screen. 3-D photography by Marc Dawson.

In 2006 approximately half a million anaglyph paper glasses were distributed in New Zealand for the TV show 'Medium in 3-D'. These glasses were so transmissive that the poorly produced televised anaglyph image looked no different with or without the anaglyph glasses! You could plainly see red through the cyan gel. The anaglyph glasses used for that show all over the world and other ineffective glasses like them, are still out there providing disappointing 3-D viewing no matter what is looked at. If you have a pair of those Medium 3-D glasses, set fire to them.
Avoid plastic framed anaglyph glasses. Every kind I have tried cause double imaging and result in great disappointment.
Their producers persue color perception and recommend anaglyphs with poor disparity to compensate for the double imaging that results from using them. Anaglyph glasses should reveal exclusive color channel displays. See (ACB) 3-D Viewers
Every few years a 3-D anaglyph movie is broadcast on television. The televised image signal does not result in a pure enough color gamut and so double imaging is guaranteed. You'd think those responsible would first test it at the TV station and then cancel the show. This does not make for a good impression of anaglyphic viewing or for 3-D in general. A solution for a 3-D TV episode would be to refer the audience to a website where they can see the 3-D section of the show via streaming or download.
Computer monitors are generally very good for the color accuracy required for anaglyphic viewing. Glass screen CRT monitors, though not trendy, are reliably excellent for anaglyph display. LCD type monitors are more often not as good as glass screen CRT. Then again, I have seen some LCD monitors that do look as good. LED monitors are better than LCD. The LED monitors I have tested all gave excellent results with factory settings of color etc. I have yet to see a plasma screen without double imaging.
Another problem arrises when anaglyphic 3-D is released on DVD and people play it from a DVD player onto a TV set. Double imaging will occur due to DVD compression and color channel error.
The only satisfactory scenario is to play anaglyph AVI from a computer onto a computer monitor or play your anaglyph AVI with a color accurate video projector using the RGB 15 pin connector. LED TV screens are capeable of the accurate color display required if you play the anaglyph file from your hard drive via the 15 pin RGB out. Digital TV broadcast promises to be an improvement. So reliable anaglyphic broadcast may soon be possible.

ANAGLYPHIC PRINTING. THERE IS NO BETTER COLOR ACCURACY TEST THAN ANAGLYPHIC VIEWING.
No matter what it says on the photo paper package cover, there is no better color accuracy test than an anaglyphic test. Anaglyphic prints can display 3-D images even better than screen displayed anaglyphs. However, the color accuracy of the ink and photo paper used are critical. Inkjet prints consistently outperform laser prints for color accuracy. However not all inkjet printers are equal. I have found some leading printer brands consistently fail the anaglyphic test. The printers recomended settings for various photo paper types should be considered as a guide only. The many image enhancement options, other than color accuracy selections like RGB, are best left turned off.
Some photo papers boast many great qualities and they do look great for 2-D image display but when subjected to an anaglyphic test they fail and display double imaging. There is usually a difficulty with light cyan and light magenta. Some photo papers are more color accurate on the reverse non print side! Test a page before you buy it if you can. No matter what it says on the cover and no matter how much it costs, there is no better color accuracy test than an anaglyphic test.
Anaglyph prints need to be brightened a bit. The anaglyph viewing gels will reduce brightness by aproximately two F stops. Unlike screen displayed anaglyphs they are not backlit, though this can be arranged by mounting prints on window glass and viewed from inside. The brightest an anaglyph print will get is the white of the page. The fade resistance of many inkjet photo papers is encouraging. A non glossy photo paper is also a big help for anaglyph prints as the absence of glare assists the stability of the 3-D image.

(ACB) 3-D VIEWERS

FRONT PAGE