Homemade Time-Lapse 3D Anaglyph Video

A friend pointed me to this USA Today article about folks making their own 3D, and to my delight, they're using red/cyan glasses. It spurred me on to make this quickie:

New Site in progress

It's still in the womb, but I needed to add a link to it, and this place works.
No, I'm not replacing the watts4u2 blog, this is a new site featuring my 3D and normal photography services. It's a mess, any suggestions are welcome!
https://sites.google.com/site/wattsonline/

Museum in Australia Features My 3D Picture

The Museum of Tropical Queensland in Australia is featuring one of my 3D anaglyph photos in their new Train exhibition.

This is one of my older single-camera pictures, not the best 3D I've done, but hey, I'll take it. Thanks!

3D HD from Panasonic?

Looks like I have something to add to my wishlist....if they ever make this thing. Gizmodo luvs some 3D.

3D Movies Not the Next Big Thing?

Slate's Daniel Engber has a terrific article on the pitfalls of 3D movies, and why the new crop isn't really better than the old style:

"There are plenty of other problems with 3-D movies that might contribute to the sore eyes, headaches, and nausea. As a general rule, the greater the disparity between the two image tracks—that is to say, the farther apart the two cameras are placed during shooting—the greater the illusion of depth in the finished product. That's a plus for the filmmakers, who tend to favor extreme special effects, pickaxes flying off the screen and all that. On the other hand, the more pronounced the disparity, the more difficult it is for the viewer to fuse the two perspectives into a coherent scene. That could lead to double-vision, uncomfortable flickering, and—yes—eyestrain.

So if the new 3-D movies are still giving us headaches, why has no one bothered to mention them? It may be that the visual fatigue, however pervasive, is small enough to hide in the novelty of the experience—we're so jazzed up that we barely notice our eyes hurt."

I like the new-style 3D movies much better than say, Jaws 3D... they are better. The U23D movie on IMAX was sensational. But yeah, as long as we need glasses to see 3D, there is going to be some discomfort. I find looking at anaglyph pictures much easier on the eyes than movies, and this article helps explain why. Cool article with lots of detail, even if it does douse some water on the new 3D fire.

How to 3D on Wired

Check out this video from Wired that shows the basics of shooting and viewing 3D. I couldn't believe one of the images in the video (starting 25 second in the video).... I've taken a 3D picture of that!



Picture I took:


Here's an odd-colored screenshot from the video:

The Future in 3D

Engadget HD has a good update on the state of 3D technology. Oh sure, they diss the red/cyan glasses, but the future looks bright (and it's sticking out of the screen).

What will I do when red/cyan glasses are out and new 3D technology is in? All the pictures I have in 3D are in pairs....pairs that could be reassembled in any 3D format. So, in a sense, they are future-proof. Cool!

O-oh, Say Can You See?

It was a beautiful day!

Break out the 3D glasses for this slideshow from Barack Obama's visit to Wilmington, back during the primaries, and/or just check it out like it is so you can hear me play a song on acoustic guitar.

I recorded the Star Spangled Banner moments ago and ran it with some echo for the soundtrack, so make sure to press play and turn it up loud, captain!

The 3D is really compressed, and there are some 'never published before' shots in there (read: crappy out of focus, but now somehow historic) so head to flickr for better pictures from that rally.

On the election: I'm kinda at a loss for words, I keep feeling proud to be American, alive in this moment, I feel somehow redeemed. But I'm tempered by the same thought I had the day Saddam's statue came down in Bagdad: "Now for the hard part!" I'm gonna choose joy over worry for a while.

Obama in 3D

Obama3D, originally uploaded by Watts4.

I lucked into tickets to see Barack Obama speak in Wilmington, NC yesterday. Next thing you know we're asked to sit up behind the stage! This was my first real outing with the 3D rig, more to come...

kitties

kitties, originally uploaded by Watts4.

This picture is a 3D anaglyph, best viewed with red/cyan glasses.

Our neighbor's cat, Whiteface, pulled open the door to our crawlspace and gave birth to these 4 kittens under our house. We kept them for a week before taking them back over there. It was great, for a week, glad they're gone now, though!

Studios Embrace 3D

DreamWorks and Pixar-Disney are serious about 3D movies, it's the future and it's coming fast:

"Clearly I'm putting my money where my mouth is and the company's bet on it," said (Jeffrey) Katzenberg (DreamWorks Exec)...

...Katzenberg, who plans to make all future films in 3-D...

This article's title says:

Disney previews 10 new animated movies, most 3-D

Yeah, 8 out of 10 will be 3D, wow! Most people don't see this coming....

Anaglyph Article Quotes Me

I was recently contacted for an article about 3D anaglyphs, and the article is online at the Columbia News Service:

Watts Carr, a 39-year-old real estate broker, uses the "cha-cha method" of taking one photo and then either moving the camera to his other eye or taking a step to the side. It is the cheapest way to make an anaglyph, but has a downside, since consistency can't be guaranteed. Johnson plans to use yet another method by rigging two cameras together and synchronizing their firing.

Today's anaglyph makers are a sprightly bunch, united by the Internet and inventing creative outlets to keep the art form from dying.

Three weeks ago Carr was inspired to try making an anaglyph after finding his daughter's Shrek glasses. "I just wanted to see if I could do the technique," he said. "I figured I already take pictures and the software is free, so I tried. And it actually worked!"

Since that first try, Carr has created more than a dozen other anaglyphs around his North Carolina home and can "spit one out" in as little as 10 to 15 minutes. Carr plans to use his new hobby to promote his real estate business, by providing glasses to clients so they can view 3-D images of homes online. "My wife thinks I am crazy," he said. "She keeps walking in on me in the home office and I have the glasses on."

Ha! I'm still doing the 3D anaglyph things and you can see my set here. And actually I've been using this rig more than the cha-cha method, but whatev...

3D Anaglyph Rig

rig3, originally uploaded by Watts4.

I've been picking up on 3D photography. This is the rig I built to take the two master photos that I turn into a 3D anaglyph using free software. You'll need some anaglyph glasses to see some of the full, glorious results here.

There are lots of tips and tricks to the trade, and I've been scouring the web soaking up information. Here's a great source of info on 3D picture taking, including anaglyphs. Here's the free software I've been using mostly, Callipygan. (interesting side note: "Callipygan" is a Greek term meaning "Having Shapely Buttocks")

Frankly, after seeing some of these 3D pictures, normal "flattys" just seem so... well, flat. There are lots of limitations on distance, colors, background, ghosting, etc., but a great one is worth staring at for a long, long time.

If you need some 3D anaglyph glasses, shoot me a note or leave a comment and I'll send ya a pair. Thanks for looking.