P3D Re: I Need Help, Please!

[Larry Berlin <lberlin@xxxxxxxxx>]

>Date: Sun, 14 Mar 1999 
>From: omniwin@xxxxxxxxxx
>  Doc  wrote:
>........................
>I got some agreement about using Holmes style reproductions.  View Master
>and lenticulars were also suggested.  I have discounted these last two
>because they can *only* be seen using some type of viewer whereas a Holmes
>style can be viewed with a viewer (in 3D) or without a viewer (in 2D or 3D).

*****  Sounds a bit mixed up here. Holmes style images are usually a very
limited medium because of the use of parallel mounting, which limits viewing
the images by requiring some sort of special viewing device. It would be far
better (for your purposes) to format them for cross viewing, which doesn't
require any viewing device at all and the images can be printed at any size
and in full color by any normal or typical printing process. However,
viewing devices can be used to aid in viewing for those who just can't
figure out the cross-eyed freeviewing technique.

When you classify lenticulars with the View Master, it's really mixed up...
View Master does require a very special viewer, as well as having very small
image chips. Lenticulars however can be viewed very easily, made in many
different sizes and do NOT require either a viewing device or a special
skill with the eyes. Other than an elevated printing cost and special
materials, once made, they are the easiest and most available commercial
stereo medium.

When you want easily printed results, don't discount printed anaglyphics
either. If your images and themes are properly designed to work with the
circumstance of  a *grayscale* format, it's relatively inexpensive to
provide viewing glasses. These glasses are far cheaper than plastic
lorgnettes for parallel viewed Holmes cards, or antique style card viewers.

Speaking of style, it's hard to beat the antique card viewers and stereo cards!


>.................
>I need some opinions about the reproductions.  Do you think that press
>reproductions (full-color on slick paper) or film reproductions would be
>more efficient in 1K or less quantities?

*****  What's your budget? Where will they be used or distributed? Lot's of
businesses are increasingly having their full color printing done at places
like Kinko's where small or large quantities are easy to provide. Working
from a digital original, they can crank out hundreds of color *originals*,
as differentiated from color *copies*. The results are showing up in CD
jewel boxes, labels on food containers, and a host of other applications
that used to always be printed on presses.

Experiment with several methods that sound interesting and go with whatever
works best for the defined objectives.


>
>---------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----
>                          Original Post
>
>I need help.  A local company wants me to help them with a 3D promotion.

*****   A good place to start...

>
>The beauty of this situation is that the company is starting the promotion
>from scratch.  They want to provide 3D pictures of people in casual
>settings.  In my mind, my concept of their requirements seems to be
>something like high quality baseball trading cards.

*****  Will they be sized like trading cards? Will they be traded or just
passed out as advertising? A double wide trading card would be small enough
to be parallel viewable...


>
>The photos that they want to use should be:
>	(i) reproducible using conventional press techniques;

*****  This would include anaglyphs, side by side images, and the not really
available yet polarized inks. Lenticulars are printed in large quantities,
but I don't know if you'd call it a *conventional* technique.


>	(ii) as good or better than those found in "slick paper" magazines;

*****  Know your budget...

>	(iii) in a size that allows for ease of production and reproduction
>and ease of viewing;

*****  Production methods accommodate many different sizes. Ease of viewing
gets all tied up with which method/s you aim to support.


>	(iv) taken with cameras that are portable (i.e. no large format,
>tripod mounted studio cameras);

****  Interesting restriction for a commercial project. Why not use a
mounted studio camera? Is the photographer going to be dancing or running?
If you consider lenticulars, you can rent a professional 5 lens camera
(Image Tech) that uses 120mm film and get some very nice shots of people in
casual situations. The main advantage might be a greater degree of
enlargement without losing quality.


>	(v) taken with cameras that are commercially available;

****  That's a lot of cameras!!! You can use virtually any camera for stereo
images.

>	(vi) viewable with inexpensive viewing aids.

*****  Lenticulars, side by side prints, anaglyphs, polarized ink prints.


>................. This company is open to any 3D
>reproduction that results in a combination of the highest quality at the
>lowest price that can reasonably be produced.

*****  There are too many unknowns here. What the product is, as well as how
the promotion is intended to work will determine the optimum combination of
factors. Perhaps this company is not aware of how many variations exist for
3D presentations?

Good luck!

Larry Berlin

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


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