How Does the 3-DVG Work?

Front and rear views of the 3-DVG Initiation Model II. Optimum viewing results require precision metal pinholes made in an ultra thin black substrate. Viewing instructions are printed on the rear of the device.

The 3-DVG Advanced Model

Prototype version of the three-dimensional viewing glasses (3-DVG). H is the distance from the variable aperture pinhole to the illocal frame. Frames must be optically matched. d is the variable distance between the pinholes. The optical axes must be constrained to move in a horizontal plane while providing independent movement of d and the distance between the illocal frames, d_i. This represents three degrees of freedom. There are many ways to achieve this mechanical requirement. I use 1/16" thick cardboard for housings and a differential "V" hinge design made of laminated 1/32" cardboard.

See insert. Housings and optical (illocal) frames must be identical in size and housings should be darkened inside.

Focusing the advanced model: The pinholes are not observable when looking through the advanced model. All that one sees are the frames. But the pinhole’s "separate, look, and overlap" rule must still be adhered to, and the viewer must remember to "position the frames as far apart as possible," and to select the smallest pinhole allowable under the given lighting conditions.

The fingers as a 3-DVG device

The following finger techniques (i.e., Finger 3-D) are also patented under U. S. Patent 4,810,057. Ideally, these techniques should be approached from the vantage of having successfully experienced the initiation model or the visual self test. I have received only one report of success using the fingers without trying the visual self test first. Click here for a description of finger techniques

How does the 3-DVG work?

A really brief history of 2-D to 3-D inventions There are many patents (over 130) that claim they can generate a three-dimensional relief /display from an ordinary two-dimensional (2-D) color photograph. The optimum way to do this is to use monocular stereoscopy (i.e., the Carl Zeiss 'Verant') developed from pinhole viewing techniques or, alternatively, to apply the teachings enunciated in the Adelbert Ames Jr. patents 2,542,789 and 1,636,450. This last approach normally requires alteration of the interoptic angle by the use of refracting or reflecting optical elements.

What is new about the 3-DVG process? The 1993 SPIE Vol. 1915 Stereoscopic Displays and Applications IV paper, "A new 3-D from 2-D visual display process," shows that the Ames teachings, i.e., the generation of 3-D from 2-D by alteration of the viewing axes, can be obtained without the use of any optical elements at all. More importantly, the paper shows that the pinhole effect, the oldest of the 2-D to 3-D effects, allows the visual summation of the Ames effect, pinhole generated chromostereopsis and the effect called illocal framing. Thus, the 3-DVG is a device which allows the integration of four previously known but heretofore unrelated 2-D to 3-D effects. It is the only patent in its class to utilize more than one 2-D to 3-D effect to achieve its results.

So, what is significantly new about the 3-DVG process? The answer is that the invention (including use of your fingers!) actually works and generates a true 3-D stereoscopic display without the use of any reflective or refractive optics.

Chromostereopsis versus stereopsis due to the A. Ames effect Most persons in vision science are not familiar with the Adelbert Ames Jr. teachings on stereopsis and their relationship to chromostereopsis. As the aforementioned SPIE paper discloses, pinhole generated chromostereopsis will merge into and be identical to stereopsis generated by the Ames effect based solely on the objective characteristics of the picture under consideration. Though both processes are governed by the wavelength (chromatic) dispersion of off axial rays traversing the eye, the Ames phenomena is additionally governed by objective visual information (i.e., perspective, shading, aerial perspective, and known relationships) distributed over the region under observation. Fortuitously, both pinhole chromostereopsis and the Ames effect may be studied in the mutual presence of the other by placing small color targets in the middle of a picture undergoing observation with the 3-DVG device.

What is unusual about the 3-DVG process? Most visual instruments are "static" in nature. Your job as the observer is simply to look through the instrument, focus it, and observe the results. However, the 3-DVG process and instruments based on the process make the observer an active participant in a feed back loop. Depending on what you see, you must constantly make adjustment to optimize the effect. When you finally get the hang of it, it will feel like you are actually creating the 3-D that you see.

An analogy can be made between learning to ride a bicycle and learning to operate the 3-DVG. You will first see the 3-D, then loose it, and then see it again. After a few seconds you will get the hang of it. When you finally master it you will feel excited, surprised, and a big smile will overtake you. In more ways than one, it feels like you are "riding a bicycle for the eyes".

The 3-DVG process is an adaptive phenomena It is not uncommon during the course of a session for someone to remark that the magazine pictures on view are starting to look 3-D all by themselves! This heightened sense of depth perception following only one time use of the device is reminiscent of the situation where one suddenly observes a building they must have traveled past many times over and never noticed. In this instance the appearance of increased depth sensation without using the invention illustrates that the realizations provided by the 3-DVG can subtly alter the way a person sees the world.

What is the significance of the 3-DVG process? The 3-DVG (advanced model) is the first optical instrument that allows an observer to tune continuously from the appearance of an ordinary flat picture to one possessing increasing "depth sensation" that ultimately cumulates in a display that appears truly stereoscopic.

This stereopsis is always less than that derived from normal stereo pairs but the total resulting image can, in most instances, actually appear better because reduced stereopsis is compensated for by increased depth sensation, increased sharpness and enhanced visual contrast imposed by the pinhole, illocal framing, and Ames effects.

The 3-DVG, however, is not to be seriously considered as a replacement for stereoscopic pairs. It is however, an excellent, exciting and easy way to generate stereoscopic pictures once the technique is mastered.

The real usefulness of the 3-DVG phenomenon is that it can lead to a total revision of your visual perception regarding pictures and show you how to perceive all pictures in a kind of natural 3-D.

In this sense it represents "the completion of " or is at least "an element which brings conceptual closure to" the normal visual recording process as we know it today. By "completion" or "closure" I mean that the actual 3-D object and the observed recorded image of that object both appear to be three-dimensional.

What can one learn from the 3-DVG process? The 3-DVG invention forces you to realize that people are, in general, already seeing pictures in 3-D by way of "depth sensation" but do not know it or recognize it. What we do readily recognize is the illusion of depth but not the depth itself. We don’t see the depth because of the conflict between the visual space of the image and the visual space of the surface of the picture, its frame, and the contents of the room.

Once the above separation is made (by viewing on axis with the 3-DVG advanced model) the picture will automatically possess extreme "depth sensation". Subsequently, if the 3-DVG device is operated off axis (by stretching the tabs) sufficient stereopsis will be added to create an overall effect that feels so visually impressive it will feel, momentarily, like you are looking out of a window at the actual scene portrayed in the picture.

For vision science experimenters The 3-DVG Resource Document is a collection of articles and references on the 3-DVG and other 2D to 3-D effects. The resource document explains the 3-DVG effect in gory detail and then goes on to show how all pictures can be perceived "in-depth" using only your normal natural vision. The information in this document can lead to a complete revision of your visual concepts regarding pictures.

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Direct all inquiries to Ken Dunkley

Telephone: 215-477-6106
Fax: 215-871-0837
Postal address: 5204 Overbrook Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19131
Electronic mail: General Information: kendunkley@aol.com
9/4/00

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