P3D Re: Boris' Phantogram

[Bruce Springsteen <bsspringsteen@xxxxxxxxx>]

Several points on the one-man "phantogram" craze:

If any of you try to violate Boris' agreement with his model and put
the image on the internet, you will be a louse - AND disappointed. 
The image is designed to be viewed at a particular size, distance and
ANGLE.  It cannot be viewed "head-on" like a regular computer image. 
The figure is "slant anamorph", which means the page is viewed with
the line of sight oblique to the page, not perpendicular.

I went back in my treasured collection of "Scientific American"
magazines from the 70's and 80's, and found a pair of relevant
articles.  One was an Amateur Scientist column on anamorphic
photographic printing, perhaps useful to those who want to try a
photographic, rather than computer-based approach to creating
stereoanamorphographs (I just coined that word - a lulu, ain't it?) 
The other is a Mathematical Games column by Martin Gardner (a BIG hero
of mine) on the general topic of anamorphic art.  One interesting
point Gardner makes is that astigmatism is a kind of anamorphosis
created by the eye.  The brain will adjust for such distortion.  Then
if a person gets classes to correct the astigmatism, they see things
as distorted until their brain re-adjusts to the new optically
"corrected" scene.  Boris described experiencing something like this,
and Dan Shelley suggested just such an explanation.  I don't have the
article citations to hand, but you all are capable researchers.  I'll
dig them up and post if anyone is interested.

Was the question of whether "phantogram" is a proprietary name ever
settled?  I prefer "free-standing anaglyph", or the neologism
"stereoanamorphograph" for better description, but since those are
cumbersome how about if we call Boris' versions "BrandiGrams", in
honor of his first subject?  The geometry is well-discussed in Arthur
Girling's book "Stereoscopic Drawing" - that is what inspired me to
write a Basic program a few years ago to calculate geometric
line-drawings in this medium.

BTW, those of you who receive copies of the tabletop BrandiGram should
try placing small objects near the "figure" on the table - it is
stunning how that can enhance the appearance of reality.

This area bears more exploration by stereophotographers, I think.  As
Boris has discovered, it is a real "gotcha" trick for reeling in
non-stereo folk. I'd love to see some poster and comic book
applications, as well as animated video or projected versions.  We
have the technology.  All we need is the will! ;-)

Happy Holidays P3D!

(When your name is) Bruce Springsteen (you'd better have a sense of
humor!) 





 
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End of PHOTO-3D Digest 3128
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