Re: Stereo Difficulty

[P3D John W Roberts <roberts@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

>Date: Wed, 20 Aug 1997 23:03:25 -0500
>From: "P3D Dr. George A. Themelis" <fj834@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>Subject: Re: Stereo Difficulty

>I've taken my stereo viewer and slides to work to show them to a
>"neutral" environment where people are not even aware of my interest
>in 3d and still get the same wildly different reactions... Some could
>not care less, others (few) just love them.  As an engineer I also
>deal with scientific stereo pairs (SEM mainly) and see the same
>varying reactions there.

>I find this variation in reactions very interesting and I am looking
>for an explanation for it.

Several factors come immediately to mind. First, the one which has been
mentioned by several people, that the degree of perception of stereo
varies greatly from person to person.

Second, ability to perceive is not necessarily the same as passionate
interest - there's been little discussion of this if any on P3D. The brain
takes in an immense volume of information, and has to filter it by interest
levels. I might be able to judge a passing stranger's medical condition
by the way they smell, or tell when somebody drops some pennies, but in
many cases I won't be particularly interested in these phenomena. Some
people may remember the "Far Side" cartoon in which a city is in flames,
people fleeing in panic, and a dog riding along in a car finally sees
something which is "really interesting" - another dog.

In "Life on the Mississippi", Mark Twain wrote about learning to be a
steamboat pilot - he noted that before his training, he was struck by the
beauty of the ripples on the water - after his education he knew far more
about how they indicated the presence of sandbars, snags, and other
navigational hazards, and had trouble seeing the beauty. I don't think
we have to lose our appreciation for the beauty of 3D photography, but we
need to be aware that artistic appreciation is a separate skill from the
ability to perceive the 3D effect.

Third, there is a tendency to judge enthusiasm for 3D by willingness to
go out and take 3D photographs. But this requires considerable effort
compared to 2D photography, and the predominant mental model of the
craft of 3D photography that is discussed on this list is such that it
would tend to keep things this way forever. It is my opinion that there
would be far more enthusiasm for 3D if an effective alternative for this
mental model could be found.

John R


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