Re: Freeviewing

[P3D <SCHUB@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

    A little more free advice on freeviewing: When I was learning, I found that
small 3-d line drawings were easiest, and a friend lent me a bunch of copies
of "Stereoscopy" (which frequently has such things in it; I don't know where
else you'd find a lot of them) to practice on.  Next easiest for me were
contrasty photos, and hardest were single-image random-dot stereograms.  As
others have mentioned, good light, no reflections, and not being tired help
immeasurably.  Having rubbery eye muscles from having viewed too many poorly
mounted slides also helps :->.  Also, sometimes beginners don't realize that
most people can't view biggish images like antique stereo cards; you really
need small images, and when you're just starting, the smaller the better.
Someone suggested freeviewing catalog images; this sounds like a great idea!
    Here's how I freeview (it's kinda hard to describe, so bear with me):  I
hold the stereograph at a distance where I can focus on it comfortably, and
then I relax the focus of my eyes, letting the image go very blurry.  I then
pick out some spot (well, blurry blob at this point) in the photo which stands
out (usually because it's big and dark or light) and just sort of let the
tracking of my eyes wander until the two images of the blob come together.
Then I focus, slowly, trying not to let the tracking change.
    The process can certainly be frustrating to learn (especially when you get
conflicting advice from a zillion people who do it with ease!).  Relax, keep
trying, and good luck!


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