Historical Stereoscope Cards converted to Anaglyph

This is a project I’ve been working on in my spare time. I like to take high res images of stereographs (circa 1860-1910), and convert the left and right images into anaglyphs (blue/cyan). The only real requirements to convert these stereoscope cards to anaglyph is that the scan must be free of glare, the card must be decent quality (no fading, good pictures and correct camera angles), and the scan needs to be at least 1024px wide (2024 is ideal).

I have a few dozen to look at here, and I’ll be adding more in the future.  I will eventually create a wiki for all of these, but for now, I’m adding it all to this blog post.  Enjoy!

On with the show….

Native Americans

The-Fantastic-Potlatch-Danc

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My INTRU3D/ColorCode 3D Anaglyph Images

I’ve been playing around with my buddy’s Canon RebelXT SLR and doing stereo photography.  I’ve been converting most of them to red/cyan, but ever since I got my hands on a pair of Intel INTRU3D Super Bowl Glasses (Chuck 3D), I’ve been all about ColorCode/Intru3D/blue-amber/wtfever.

I like it better than red/cyan, because the green levels are shifted over to the left eye.

On a standard pair or Red/Cyan 3D glasses, the RGB (red/green/blue) is distributed like this..

|R|=|GB|==,   <—-Regular RED/CYAN Glasses Diagram   ?:-}

The super bowl glasses are like this…

|RG|=|B|==,   <—-Super Bowl 3D Glasses Diagram, with a smidgon of a tweak on the blue, and maybe just a hair on the green.   ?:-D

It means that you get better greens, reds & blues.  On red/cyan anything that is red or cyan (red=skin), they show up blurry.  On top of that, the blue/amber halos make are easier to view for users who don’t have 3D glasses.

How Can I make my own 3D images?

Simple.

  1. Take two pictures, side by side.  Take them similar to how your eyes see the world.  Think Wayne’s World: Camera one.  Camera two. Camera one.  Camera two.I like to use the Continuous Exposure feature to rattle off a series of 6 or 7 photos, as I swing my body from right to left.  That way you’re almost always guarenteed to get one steropair good enough to make into an anaglyph image.
  2. Download Gimp.
  3. Google “Tutorial Gimp Anaglyph” and read the first few links.  Then, maybe search the same thing on YouTube.  I haven’t checked, but I’m sure something is out there.
  4. Have fun.

Up we go...

If you're interested, 3D video isn't much harder.

I’ll post more 3d colorcode images as I take them.  Stay Tuned!!!

——— Image Update ————–

circa 1840

circa 1840

If you

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You gotta get this album..

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YouTube in 3D

YouTube now has support for 3D video.  I tried uploading anaglyph videos a year or two ago, and the video compression really degraded the 3D effect.  Nowadays, you simply upload your stereo left/right video, and you’re done.

Only catch is you have to merge your left and right videos together before you upload.  No support for, “here’s my right, here’s my left,” yet.  It would also be nice if there was an option for autosteroscopic lcd displays. Maybe I missed that.  I’d like to also make a second request for 1080p.

Check out this YouTube 3D FAQ for more info OR click to read more…

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Working with Blender 3D

Making things in blender is fun. Waiting for animations to render is not. Here are some test videos from some recent work. Enjoy.

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I saw Monsters vs. Aliens in RealD 3D

I liked it, and I would recommend it.  All of the kids in the audience went bonkers, and a few of the adults did, too.  The story line was very entertaining, and the 3D effects had a good amount of depth.  The polarized 3D glasses (RealD 3D) had no visible lines, and seemed to be a big improvement over the last polarized 3D movie I saw (Muppets 3D).  These polarized lenses were not dark at all, and they were quite comfortable.

I would like to have sat closer to the screen, so it filled my peripheral vision, but I opted for the center stadium seat (half way up, half way over).  I must say, I was a little over psyched.  As much as I loved the 3D effects and the greatly improved polarized glasses, I feel the 3D Direction of the movie was a little lacking.

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Super Bowl INTRU3D Glasses Photoshop Tutorial (aka ColorCode)

Ochre / blue anaglyphs made in Photoshop

Here’s a pic of what your glasses should look like (kinda).

ColorCode amber/blue goggles from American Paper Optics

ColorCode anaglyphs are made with ColorCode© software. According to Claus Krarup (previously a share-holder in the company), the colour is truly coded, hence the name. Colours in the original are changed to match the light transmission of the ochre filter. This conversion table is a secret and not revealed in the patent…. but isn’t too hard to decode.

On a standard pair or Red/Cyan 3D glasses, the RGB (red/green/blue) is distributed like this..

|R|=|GB|==,   <—-Regular RED/CYAN Glasses Diagram   ?:-}

but the super bowl glasses are like this…

|RG|=|B|==,   <—-Super Bowl 3D Glasses Diagram, with a smidgon of a tweak on the blue, and maybe just a hair on the green.   ?:-D

It means that you get better greens, reds & blues.  On red/cyan anything that is red or cyan (red=skin), they show up blurry.  On top of that, the blue/amber images are easier to view for users who don’t have 3D glasses.

If you want to find the exact color conversion table for ColorCode, just go to one of their 3D websites, find a white 3D image on a black background, and take note of the halos to the right and left of the white image.  You’ll just need to find something that is #FFFFFF and #000000, with a blue/yellow halo to the right and left.  If you take a color sample of those halos, you’ll see that they don’t come out to be exactly (0,0,255) and (255,255,0) on the RGB colorscale.  That difference is their “top secret, patented, color spcetrum.”  Mess around with the Green/Blue Levels (or brightness) to fine tune the colors you need.

How Can I make my own 3D images?

Simple.

  1. Take two pictures, side by side.  Take them similar to how your eyes see the world.  Think Wayne’s World: Camera one.  Camera two. Camera one.  Camera two.I like to use the Continuous Exposure feature to rattle off a series of 6 or 7 photos, as I swing my body from right to left.  That way you’re almost always guarenteed to get one steropair good enough to make into an anaglyph image.
  2. Download Gimp.
  3. Google “Tutorial Gimp Anaglyph” and read the first few links.  Then, maybe search the same thing on YouTube.  I haven’t checked, but I’m sure something is out there.
  4. Have fun.

If you're interested, 3D video isn't much harder.

So, How Can I make my own 3D images, IN PHOTOSHOP ?

Simple:

  1. Bring in your right an left images onto seperate layers.
  2. Make the top layer 50% opacity, and lined the two images up to the most likely focal point.
  3. Bring the layer back up to 100% opacity
  4. Select the right image, hit CTRL + L (for levels), then select the Red Channel, and change the output levels to 0 and 0.  Then choose the Green Channel, and again, change the output levels to 0 and 0.  Then click OK. That image should turn a deep blue.
  5. Now select the left layer,  hit CTRL + L (for levels), then select the Blue Channel, and change the output levels to 0 and 0, and click OK.
  6. Now, select the top layer (it can go either way), and change the Blend Mode to Screen.
  7. Now just crop out the blue and yellow border/overlap, and you have a 3D Blue/Amber (ColorCode) image, just like 3D Chuck, 3D Super Bowl Commercials, etc.

Note: If you want the exact ColorCode spectrum, you do need to add a few extra steps.  I’ve just generalized how you can get a working image in just a few steps.  To brighten the image, you can’t use the Brightness/Contrast feature, because it will change the color of the halos.  What you need to do instead is make a duplicate copy of the right and left image, merge them together (CTRL + E), and then adjust the opacity of that layer, for brightness.  Pay special attention to the opacity level that is just low enough so the blue halos near black objects don’t show.

One More Note: If you want the specific ColorCode RGB levels, the best website to pull the values from is here – http://www.hp.com/united-states/campaigns/showroom/flash/  Click on a product, then click on images, and you’ll notice that they’re all on a white to grey gradient background.  Take RGB color samples at the top pixel using the eye dropper tool in Photoshop.  You’ll see that the Blue/Amber Values are a little different than (255,255,0) and (0,0,255).  Good Luck!!!

What about making my own 3D images, IN GIMP ?

err…. let me get back with you on that one….

Here’s a YouTube video tutorial for now – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rN-i0NWoG8

Looking for some ColorCode 3D examples?

Click here if you just want to see some 3D Pictures Compatible w Super Bowl Glasses

Other ColorCode Info

The viewer’s ochre filter transmits red very well, but green is suppressed. It is claimed that printed ColorCode pictures are very close to true colours, even when seen without the goggles. In fact there is some fringing with yellow and blue ghosts and the image has a blue tinge. This is even more obvious when ColorCode software is not used and the author’s recommendation to enhance blue is followed.

Many amateurs use Photoshop. Anabuilder has a yellow/purple choice producing something near to ColorCode. (According to Etienne Monaret, this choice is changing to yellow/blue on future versions of Anabuilder.) The results should not be called “ColorCode,” which is a trademark, just as Coca Cola is not Pepsi Cola.

ColorCode Cardboard viewers are made by American Paper Optics and are only slightly more costly than red/cyan viewers. Few people have them, which makes ColorCode pointless for the Internet. If you are digital projecting to an audience and supply the goggles, then of course you can use any filter colours you like.

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3D Anaglyph Tutorial Made Simple

3D Rocks.  It’s been the next big thing for the past 20 years.  I remember Captain Nemo at MGM/Disney World and loving the stuff pop out of the screen.  What better way to take a real snap shot of life.  Here’s my simple stp by step 3D workshop.

First take two images, a right and then a left. (works best with macro close up shots, or wide angle, just make the difference between the two shots similar to the width of your eyes)

Make Right Layer and left layer in photoshop.

Right Layer: Image >> Adjustments >> Levels >> Chanel (select Red) >> Change output levels to 0and 0 >> Click OK

Left Layer: Image >> Adjustments >> Levels >> Chanel (select Green) >> Change output levels to 0and 0 >> Click OK

Mess with the values on the left to ge them close to the color of the red film on the viewing glasses.  The right will have a light blue/cyan feel to it.  That’s good.

Now under layer properties change your top layer (right layer) into screen mode.

Now play around with the cropping on the focused element to get the full effect.  Use free transform to line up things in the background of the image, to make them appear more in focus.

Here’s a picture of my business card.  You can view it in 1080p 3D!!  Schweet.

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Go Blend Something

If you like to tinker with open source software, you’ve probably already discovered blender 3d animation. I played with Blender a while ago, but in the most recent release 2.48a, it has really become a better tool to create your own animation.

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Animated GIFs are fun and awesome!

Fun, I don’t have to explain, but awesome, please let me explain.

Gifs are awesome for creating ads.  I’m not talking about your typical spastic ad that you might expect to see on Yahoo! Japan’s home page, but a professional animated gif.

Here’s the first one that I made:

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