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May 19th, 2009 by admin | 4 Comments | Filed in Lovefilms, Televisions
Quite a few cinema goers are now asking themselves, how does 3D work, and as more directors and movie studios promise more 3D movies, then it’s a good time to have a look at the basic principles.
When you talk about 3D in a film, what is comes down to is a visual system which creates a third dimension on screen, which actually equates to a feeling of depth. We see things in real life as three dimensional, yet when we watch the TV, or the big screen, we have to adjust ourselves to two-dimensional images.
The ability to see programmes and movies in the same way we see real-life images, has become the holy grail for many in the entertainment business.
And this sensation of depth is usually created by the simultaneous filming of two images by two cameras that are set-up side by side. These two identical images are then played back and with the aid of a viewing device, the viewer sees one image which has been married together, creating the illusion of 3D. Without the viewing device, the image appears slightly blurred on the screen.
Of course, when it comes to computer CGI techniques, these can effectively create 3D images without the use of a viewing device, although it is arguably not as rich an experience.
There are a number of key techniques when it comes to creating 3D images.
Anaglyph is the most common and uses the well-known viewing glasses which have two filters: one red and the other cyan. These play about with the colours that the viewer can pick up and creates a 3D image. This technique is being refined all the time.
The Eclipse method uses mechanical shutters to affect the light that a viewer is aware of, but still the effect is the same, it creates a 3D image.
The method which uses Polarization Filters makes use of the concept of linear polarization to create a stereoscopic motion picture, with two images projected onto the same screen. Light headsets are then worn to sort out the image and create a 3D effect.
With Lenticular, or barrier screens, no glasses are necessary to see the 3D image as the image is beamed onto a special screen.
But whatever method is used, 3D is always the end result and those methods which eventually do away with the need for glasses, but are still commercially viable, will win the day.
