Re: Stereo Difficulty

[P3D Larry Berlin <lberlin@xxxxxxxxx>]

>Date: Wed, 20 Aug 1997
>From: P3D Dr. George A. Themelis writes:
>
>Jon Gross asked about possible correlations among people who lack
>stereopsis, possibly increased automobile accidents?   Somehow I don't see
>how stereopsis helps in driving, assuming that you have two otherwise
>healthy eyes.  I don't think that stereopsis is a required test to obtain a
>driving license (in the USA at least).  Monocular cues (like motion
>parallax when driving) are very strong, most everyday actions (except
>possibly from passing a thread through the eye of a needle) do not rely on
>stereopsis and most people who lack stereopsis are not even aware of this
>deficiency.

*******  Perhaps it should be a required test. Stereopsis is very strongly
part of essential driving skills. Yes, one can drive without them, but just
like with drinking and driving, a little bit less attention can sometimes
spell disaster. I drove from California to Bellevue for NSA 97. All along
the way I was entertained by renewed awareness and respect for various
stereoscopic factors as they relate to driving. Driving is a very 3D kind of
experience. I would hate to be deficient in my awareness and use of
stereopsis factors.

At NSA Jon Gross shared an observation that our stereo awareness in our
peripheral vision is more of the cardboard cutout variety. We checked it out
using wine glasses at the banquet, but since then I've confirmed the
phenomena with clumps of trees at various distances from the road. If I look
directly at the trees, I get a full sense of roundness, protruding branches,
and leaf clusters. If I look somewhere else and examine my sense of the same
clump of trees, it seems more like the trees become a flat cardoard cutout
in my perception. There is stereo information because I can determine that
the trees are in front of the more distant range of hills, but not any sense
of roundness in the trees themselves. Only in the narrow cone of central
vision is there a full sense of 3D. Thanks Jon.

>.........................
>The question that is still unanswered in my mind is why do some of this
>90% has such diverse reactions when exposed to stereo.  Some people go
>bananas, others are totally indifferent (even though they enjoy a healthy
>stereopsis). ................

The world and life in it is filled with subjects, details and activities
that can fully occupy one's mind and thoughts. If one is happy with the
range of activities that have been selected already through the years, there
is less incentive to get involved in another, regardless of how interesting
it may be. That's why delivery systems for 3D are so important. If the
delivery can become as easy as watching TV, then you cross the barriers
created by existing likes and preoccupations. The biological wiring in favor
of 3D is very powerful, but we have to give it time as well as
ease-of-use-opportunity to sink in for those preoccupied elsewhere.

Larry Berlin

Email: lberlin@xxxxxxxxx
http://www.sonic.net/~lberlin/
http://3dzine.simplenet.com/


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