P3D Joys of the Anaglyph

[Ray Zone <r3dzone@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On June 22 Boris Starosta wrote:

I have become most excited with the anaglyph medium.
The thing that I have come to love so much about anaglyph is that
the 3-d is so _tangible_.  The image is right there, interacting with real
space.

Ray Zone responds:

Congratulations, Boris!  You have grown to love a specific form of
stereography which has always entranced me.  And you have accurately
apprised it's nature by pointing out that it interacts with real space (as
do 3-D slide shows, 3-D movies, and autostereoscopic displays).  With the
anaglyph you have immediate control over the physical space in which you
view it.  The virtual (3-D) space created by the anaglyph is perceived in a
real physical space. And generally speaking, we can modify the relationship
between the virtual (perceived) space and the real physical space by moving
left or right, stepping back, etc.  This is a very powerful combination.

In 1986, a California 'light and space' artist by the name of James Turrell
exhibited "Aerial Stereos" in which two forms of 3-D display were used.
The stereo images themselves were aerial stereo photographs that Turrell
shot while flying an airplane over his Roden crater project in Arizona
using an army camera with a winder shooting 10" x 10" negative film.  For
viewing  the 3' x 3' wall mounted stereo pairs Turrell constructed large
Wheatstone mirror stereoscopes that were affixed to the floor in front of
the stereo images.

Turrell retained my services to produce a single large 4' x 5' anaglyphic
print of one of his stereo views which the gallery attendees viewed through
plastic anaglyph glasses.  At the opening, people looking at the anaglyph
print while wearing the glasses were walking around the image, holding
their hands up in front of their faces, weaving back and forth in front of
the print and generally demonstrating the interactive nature of their
viewing experience.  I imagine much the same thing happened when you
displayed your large phantogram print in the art gallery recently.

And the odd thing is that despite the great expense Turrell expended to
build the Wheatstone stereoscopes for viewing large format photography, all
sense of physical scale disappeared as soon as one looked through the
stereoscopes.  With these devices, as with Viewmaster viewers and all
hand-held stereo viewing devices, the 3-D image is perceived as virtual
space only.  You might say that the physical space is in the eye itself and
any attempt to alter the relationship between virtual and real space is
impossible.  And, of course, the phantogram is the ultimate expression of
how anaglyphic displays are perceived in real, physical space.

If you like, you can read my review of the Turrell "Aerial Stereos" exhibit
on my website at:

http://home.earthlink.net/~r3dzone/cycper.html


* * * * * * * *
The Ray Zone Theory of Relative Numbers:  1 + 1 = 3(D)

r3dzone@xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Visit Ray's 3-D website at:
http://www.ray3dzone.com

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P.O. Box 741159
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323-662-3831
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