Stereo 3D Relativity

Here is a stereo 3D clip I made, that shows roundness.


To view the stereo 3D option, you need a Windows based web browser. YouTube does not present the 3D menu on an iOS browser.

It is easy enough to show stereo 3D depth with no roundness at all. Flat cutouts posed at different distances from a stereo camera can accomplish that effect. So can binoculars, even when the objects in view are naturally round.

Roundness in stereo 3D is a continuous, noticeable variation of depth along a surface, like a face. It is curvaceous in concavity and convexity, compounded. Roundness is the way we perceive objects intact and whole, enveloped in their identity.

The clip shows a semi-transparent globe which is convex outwardly and concave within.

The next time you watch a stereo 3D movie, look for roundness. You won't find much in most live action movies, but you will find a lot of roundness in most computer graphic (CG) movies.

The reasons for this difference in roundness portrayal have more to do with the way Hollywood functions than with any inherent difference between real cameras and CG cameras. I will pursue that thread later, but for now, I want to talk about how you, as a viewer, can assert some control over perceived roundness in a stereo 3D movie.

Certainly, there are circumstances beyond your control, set in stone when a movie production is in the planning stage. What remains within your control, however, is where you sit in front of the screen.

Watch this movie in stereo 3D by any means available via the YouTube 3D menu. (PC browsers only) Set the resolution and size to 1080 full screen. Few people have 3D monitors or 3DTVs connected to the Internet, but you owe it to yourself to keep a pair of cardboard framed red/blue anaglyph glasses somewhere within reach. Red/Blue anaglyph is an an option from the 3D menu.

Pause the YouTube player when the globe depth is most pronounced. This is what you will notice:

The closer you are to your screen, the less round the globe will seem. The farther away you are from your screen, the more round the globe will seem.

Of course, the screen fills more of your view when you sit close to it, and much less of your view when you sit way back.

So you have a choice: enjoy a sprawling image with shallow depth and little roundness, or a narrow window with great depth and pronounced roundness, or something in between.

Roundness in stereo 3D is relative to the way you choose to perceive it, by deciding where to sit.