Lents and Cents

[P3D Gabriel Jacob <jacob@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Paul Talbot writes

>I had not previously heard of the distinction between "Layered Depth"
>and "Full Depth."  I am sure the eagle picture described earlier must
>be full depth; I suspect the macaw picture might be layered depth.

I am not an expert either but will attempt to shed some (poloarized ;-)) 
light on it. Yes your quite right, the eagle is full depth. As for the macaw,
it would be hard to say. First as you have concluded, all layered depth
really is, is the cut out cardboard effect. This was done recently with the
McDonald's Hockey lenticular cards. This is done because either they only
had a 2D source, or was to much trouble (or again cost) to convert from 2D
to 3D using computers or it was originally full depth but the image 
resolution poor or stereobase was to short. As for the one with the 
macaws I don't have that particular one, but do have ones with the similiar
effect that you describe (other than the Hockey lents which are obvious
layered depth). In those others ones that I have, there is one with a 
Schnauzer dog with a red background. The picture has nice stereo 
depth but the dog looks kind of flat (cut-out cardboard) but after
closer examination you can tell it's not in this particular case. One
way to tell, is to rotate the left and right side of the lenticular
back and forth. You'll more readily see any changes of perspective in
the scene (not the boundarys of the scene but within the scene)
while rotating within the area of the plane in question. Those changes
in perspectives means it full depth or can also be more layered depths!
If not then the conclusion might be it's indeed a cutout or poor resolution.
In another one with Buzz Aldrin on the moon, it looks like he is a cutout
and is very hard to tell if he isn't. The rest of the scene has very good
depth and his placement on the ground looks realistic except for the fact
that he looks very flat. I suspect it is not a cutout but not sure. I
remember reading somewhere that they had a special 3D camera made by Kodak
on that trip. I don't know if this is true or not. Someone mentioned they
had one from another company. I do have some of people in different scenes
and in those they are full depth and was easy to see it. I think in the
different lenticulars discussed maybe they used different FL lenses and
might explain why in some of them it's harder to determine if it's full
depth. As for the colors again I am not one to say but my guess is the
colors didn't play a part in this case between the capabilities of
layered and full depth. Of course colors can have an effect but from the
lents I have seen, there were some that were similiar in color tone to the
eagle, but with shallow or no depth in a particular plane.
Those lents you saw at the flea auction, I would guess are from the 
original time period they came from, but alot of them are availabe new
as reproductions. Of course they are all reproductions, but I mean new
printing runs of the same scenes. I bought one last year of some horses.
This was a 13x10.5 and came in a ornamental gold coated frame with a
quartz clock that chimes. I paid $15 for it which was a very good price.
This was brand new. On the box it shows the other types of lenticular pics
that were also made by the company. There were about 10 different ones
shown on the box, but the store only had one. These were made in Taiwan
but am not sure about the lenticular part. I don't run across them in the
stores that often though.

On a side note I went downtown and was able to get more of those 25 cents
lents. As I mentioned they are post card size and have nice 3D effect. Not
excellent but good nonetheless. One is of a flower arrangement in a white
vase surround by beige earth or something. The other one is of two colorful
birds perched on some flowering tree. They look like pigeons but are
colored green and red with some blue. They also had a children lent of some
kind of fairy tale. Some slightly larger lents which were also available,
were selling for 50 cents. These were 6.25x4.75 inches. One is of white
orchids and the other of a red lobster on a brass scale surround by a fish
net and other stuff. Both are nice also but limited quantities. The smaller
postcard size they have quite a few. I would estimate about a few hundred!
Mind you these are from around the early 70's. So John Roberts, I have 
more than enough and either you or I contact each other by email off list
tomorrow. :-) Same with you Alexa. And if anybody else is interested for
the cost of postage and the lents, let me know off list.

Gabriel shutting down for the night.


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