Re: restrictive 3D

[P3D Larry Berlin <lberlin@xxxxxxxxx>]

>Date: Fri, 12 Sep 1997
>From: P3D ron labbe writes:
>................ and don't forget that stereo does place restrictions on
>>>subject matter (god, 2D is so EASY!)
>>
>>
>>I'm curious what you mean by restrictions on subject matter? 
>>
>
>I'm hoping to avoid a long thread on what seems (to me?) obvious: in 3D one
>wants to avoid situations with too much parallax (and possibly too little
>parallax!)... this is especially difficult in moving images which also have
>the liability of restrictions of cuts which can pop convergence from
>positive to negative (or vice versa) resulting in uncomfortable viewing.
>You can do practically anything in 2D (well, my wife hates the flashing,
>hi-speed MTV type cutting)...
>


Well, several things are obvious, one is that traditional production
techniques when applied to 3D only take into account some small percentage
of the 3D environment as if that's all there is to it. The result is an
appearance of extreme limitation. An illusion of limitation that really
doesn't exist.

Consider all the *limitations* they encountered during the years that movies
were being invented and a variety of editing styles were tried out. Today
movies have a well rehearsed and widely variable language using many effects
and styles that would have been considered strange, silly or unnatural in
the early days. Consider the POV. It's common to have a POV float all over
the place now, compared to early films when, not only would that have been
difficult to provide, the producers would have argued that it's totally
unnatural and they would have assumed the audience wouldn't accept it. 

You raise extremely valid points, and rather than conclude that 3D is
limited, those who enjoy working with 3D should be out there pushing the
limits and finding ways to deal with various problems. The extra work is
relatively insignificant in that any creative technique that proves
successful is justifiable to the production effort. The point is to prove
that most perceived limits are limits in thinking, not in the medium itself.

Too much or too little parallax is an important factor. Figure it in there
with focus, depth of field, length of lens, exposure settings etc. An
overexposed film doesn't prove that you shouldn't shoot film on a sunny day!
Since parallax is important, it needs to be tracked in some fashion and it's
effect measured according to the presentation method. Where some situation
needs adjustment, there are a number of potentials which can be used to deal
with it so that in the final result, parallax isn't too great or too small. 
One often overlooked method for such things, is a continuously variable
stereo base camera. Fixed base or single lens 3D camera systems just don't
have the variablility to deal with the variety of demands found in typical
production environments. Why should that dictate that 3D be more limited
instead of dictating that better and more versatile camera systems be
devised and used? (they do exist) Or that producers learn about these
effects and how to work with them to advantage?

Bottom line is that with a variable 3D camera system combined with savvy use
of electronic editing, digital processing, etc,  limits perceived by so many
disappear and instead new opportunities unfold. 3D is the richer environment
by a long ways, except few seem to realize it can be used in it's fullest
sense. 3D won't really be accepted widely by today's audience until
productions start making more use of the medium instead of less. The typical
audience doesn't necessarily know what's possible, but there is an inner
hunger or thirst (biologically built in) that just isn't getting satisfied
with the limited approach. Like bland cooking is food but not as satisfying
as a gourmet meal.

Larry Berlin

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


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