P3D Announcing TrueColor(TM) anaglyphs

[boris@xxxxxxxxxxxx (Boris Starosta)]

Hello everyone.

I've been quiet because I've been very busy with a total re-engineering of
my portfolio website, the 3DShowcase.  Not much has changed on that site
since I made my debut here in the fall of 1997.  But LOTS has changed with
me...

For one thing, I no longer consider myself quite so much a 3d novice, or
even an amateur - which is what my current 3DShowcase basically proclaims I
am. But I do admit that I still have (will always have) lots to learn.

Case in point: converting stereo pairs into attractive anaglyphs.  Here I
have learned a lot in recent months, especially as I am exploring the use
of anaglyph prints to bring beautiful 3-d images to a broader non-3d-savvy
audience.  I will recount several methods of conversion now at my disposal
(all methods use RGB channel manipulation in photoshop or similar program.
In this discussion, I will skip the requisite theory on cropping, on-print
disparity, alignment, etc.)

When I first started doing anaglyph files about 18 months ago (I learned it
from Harolddd Baize, Thanks!), I held to a strictly grayscale anaglyph.
These are nice, because when done correctly, there is absolutely no color
rivalry between the left and right eye.  Upside: very clear depth and
detail.  Downside: there is no color apparent in the image.  I'll call this
method 1.

Method 1.  Grayscale anaglyph.

L image grayscale --> R channel of anaglyph
R image grayscale --> G channel of anaglyph
R image grayscale --> B channel of anaglyph

Then I learned of the way to do a "color" anaglyph.  Can't remember exactly
where I learned this (ray ZOne?  P3D?).  This method did work for some
images, as long as the colors in the images were not too strong.  You had
to avoid strong blues, greens, and reds.  Upside/Downside: weak colors,
weak rivalry; strong colors, strong distracting rivalry.  I'll call this
method 2.

Method 2.  "Color" anaglyph.

L image R channel --> R channel of anaglyph
R image G channel --> G channel of anaglyph
R image B channel --> B channel of anaglyph

Now I just discovered method 3.  Just in case I have something new here,
I'm going to give it a name: TrueColor(TM).  (If it's not anything new...
well then, I am mistaken!)  I've been tinkering with the conversion process
over the past week, and just stumbled into this by chance a couple of days
ago - I've never seen anaglyphs of such bright, clear color before!   On
some of my images, it seems as if no colors are lost at all, and yet there
is no color rivalry between the two eyes!  Magic!  Only strong reds in the
source pair will cause rivalry in the anaglyph; all other colors appear
well represented, though a bit muted.  Some colors are hardly muted at all
- blues, greens, and yellow/gold colors come through amazingly well without
rivalry.

Method 3.  TrueColor(TM) anaglyph.

L image grayscale --> R channel of anaglyph
R image G channel --> G channel of anaglyph
R image B channel --> B channel of anaglyph


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I'd like your opinion on this new process, so I'll tell you where to look
at my new anaglyphs...I have thirteen new pages up on my domain that will
eventually be part of the new 3DShowcase.  These pages are complete and
will link correctly into the new site, when it becomes operational.  Right
now, they are modestly linked together, but not to the rest of the site
(You can't get to them from the old/current 3DShowcase - but a lot of the
links on these new pages put you into the old/current 3DShowcase).

The new 3DShowcase will have four large image galleries.  The thirteen new
pages are from one of the new galleries - TECHNOBOT - showing off my
digital images.  Start here:

http://www.starosta.com/3dshowcase/ihex01.html

and use the right arrow (Go->) "Tour button" to proceed through the
thirteen pages of this new gallery.  You can use the back button in your
browser to navigate backwards.  A toolbar links to anaglyph and enlarged
stereo pair or enlarged anaglyph versions of the images... you'll get the
picture, I tried to make the buttons/icons pretty much self explanatory.

Please look at the new anaglyphs, and let me know how they look to you.  Of
course, I realize that color performance will vary among different monitors
and anaglyph glasses - but your feedback should be of interest to me in any
case.  The best anaglyphs are to be found on the pages for Sunny
Cruiser(02), Atlas Industrial Robot(04), Tower Plane(07), and Pixie(10).
The Sunny Cruiser you will see I used both method 1 (for the zoomed
anaglyph) and method 3 (for the reg. size anaglyph).  Compare and let me
know what you think.

Also check out the button/icon I have for LCS (shutter) glasses.  Right now
this simply points to a .JPS format file (quite large) of the image.  When
I click on this, my browser brings me a dialog for saving the file (I guess
my ISP/browser does not recognize .JPS extension).  Whatever... as a Mac
user, I can't use Depthcharge anyway.  But I do want to accomodate the
shutter glasses user, and this is my feeble attempt.  If anyone knows a
better way for me to integrate the .JPS files, please drop me a line.

If any of you look at the JPS files using Depthcharge, I'd be curious to
know if the Depthcharge generated anaglyphs look as good as my "handmade"
ones.

Thanks everyone, and have a good night.  Let me see some bandwidth!

Boris

Boris Starosta            boris@xxxxxxxxxxxx
                          http://www.starosta.com
usa 804 979 3930          http://www.starosta.com/3dshowcase



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