NSA '97

[P3D Gregory J. Wageman <gjw@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi, everybody.  We had a blast at NSA '97, our very first NSA convention.
It was great to finally see some of the faces behind the names.  I would
like to personally thank everyone who obviously busted their tails to
make the convention happen.  There was so much going on all the
time that it was impossible to see everything, and everything we saw was
worth seeing.  Wow!

Bill Moll did a fantastic job organizing the workshops, which were a
huge success.  I'd like to second some of his comments:

>The Stereo Theatre was a great success, with "Frogs and
>Friends" by Robert Bloomberg winning the blue ribbon for best program by a
>nose (or maybe a wart).

This was truly a great program of macro stereo shots, exquisitely
photographed and mounted to perfection.  I don't think there was a window
violation in the bunch, and the window was used to great effect.  The
soundtrack, synthesized on a Kurzweil with frog sounds mixed in, was
the perfect icing on a splendid cake.

In truth, most of the stereo theatre programs were impressive.  There
was every format from Viewmaster to 35mm panoramic (using anamorphic
lenses) represented.  Lincoln Kamm's experimental and innovative
"3D Stuff" was a pleasant departure from the conventional, showing
a mixture of techniques including computer, multiple-exposure and
the simply "weird". :-)

>David Lee started his program on making stereo cards with the objective of
>improving the quality of his fellow Stereoscopic Society members' cards, only
>to get "what is the stereo window?"  as his first question.  David recovered
>and did a great job of showing his mounting jigs and techniques.  Stan White,
>one of the preeminent card makers (he does beautiful hand tinted views),
>added a few salient comments.

We managed to catch this one.  David did a great job succinctly explaining
a difficult subject.  His views (available at the trade show) are also
beautiful work.  Stan White had some fascination multi-strip panoramas
in the stereocard competition.  I don't think Susan did too badly coming
in second to him in the "Modern Documentary" category, especially for a
first-timer.  I didn't envy the judges their task.

>Jon Golden proved that a few pictures are worth more than many thousands of
>words in his slide mounting workshop.

I wish everyone's, including my own, first exposure to mounting and "the
stereo window" could include a presentation like Jon's.  Every concept
we laboriously try to describe verbally here was easily shown on the
screen with the twist of a lever.

>Elliott gave a dual presentation - tools used in camera repair and how to do
>table top 3D.  It was also his third workshop of the convention, including a
>cameo on doing paper slides mounts in Jon's program.

I've got Elliott's fine "3D Diver" lenticular sitting next to me here at
work.  It is definitely one of the better examples of the form that I've
seen.  It's available from Dahlia.  Finally got to see first-hand one of
those mythical Realist sorting boxes, too.

Greg Perez writes:

>The Stereo electronics I think were the surprise hit of the conference.
>Mike Weissman of the Human Interface Technology Laboratory of the
>University of Washington did a terrific job of organizing the
>demonstrations.

It was great to see this medium.  While not as hi-res and colorful as the
slide projections, it had the single advantage of motion.  There was a
wide variety of content shown, too, ranging from the unfusible to the
mediocre to the outstanding.  In the latter category, Ray ("ray3d")
Hannisian's videos stood out from the crowd for providing beautifully
videographed 3D that didn't feel the need to "poke you in the eye".

>Thanks also to Mike for allowing me to put on two late night showing of
>Spacehunter, Adventures in the Forbidden Zone. 

Speaking of being poked in the eye, it was a blast finally seeing this
Saturday-afternoon TV staple in stereo.  Too bad it was made with the
infinity points converged, making it a "moving window violation".  It
was definitely NOT the projection system's fault, as Ray's videos were
shown on the same setup and were quite nicely windowed.

>I didn't make it to the workshops and I didn't get to see all the slide
>shows, but I had a great time and got to work with a great bunch of
>people on the planning committee.

Unfortunately Greg and I never did get to meet, but I did see him
shooting stereo video and helping out.  Thanks, Greg!

Norm Goldblatt wrote:

>Re: NSA convention-  I was there for a day with a booth displaying my
>Stereogram glasses- great response by all - Had a wonderful time-
>Unfortunately I didn't have a chance to meet you folks (except for Larry
>B).

Not true, Norm!  Sue and I got to chat with you for a while.  Isn't it
amazing that you can drive 850 miles across 2.5 states just to meet
someone from down the road?

Mike Kersenbrock wrote:

>	I'd like to thank you for the showings of Spacehunter.  I
>stayed for the whole showing on Saturday Night.  Not exactly a blockbuster
>four-star film, but the 3D was great and I quite enjoyed it.  For those
>who have not seen it, it's a 'B' sci-fi movie that was also quite funny as
>a sci-fi "spoof" film, although I don't know if it was intended as such.  :-)

And it co-stars a then-unknown Molly Ringwald, too.  Too bad they had no
concept of window.

>	Mike Weissman's dual-projection TV setup was quite impressive as
>well.  Brightness was quite good, even with the polarizers and the 
>conflict of polarization "problem".

What Mike's referring to here is the fact that the light from the LCD
shutter is already partially polarized, and not all in the desired plane
to work with the glasses, so there's more loss through the filters than
there would be with unpolarized light.

Jamie Drouin wrote:

>I had a chance to meet several new email-friends in person,

As did I!  I won't even try to mention everyone, as I will undoubtly
unintentionally omit someone and I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings.

>I only got to say 'hi' to Gregory and Susan Wageman, which I feel
>horrible about, but this is the nature of such a busy convention.

Don't worry Jamie!  We feel bad about not getting a chance to chat, too,
but as you say there was just so MUCH to do and to see!  I want MORE TIME!

Paul Talbot asked:

>I'm still anxiously waiting the first report from a P3D'er who made
>it up to see the exhibit Jamie put together.
>Anyone??

Unfortunately, not us either.  I *wanted* to, but there wasn't time.

	Looking forward to the next one,
	-Greg W.


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