P3D Color and Depth

[Ray Zone <r3dzone@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Phil Caine wrote:

>I wonder if there is any relationship between color vision
>and human perception of 3D.  I ask because my wife says
>that red objects, particularly letters, protrude out into the
>room in a 3d effect when she watches television.  I don't
>see this effect when she mentions it.  Is she imagining it
>or is there such an effect for some people?

Ray Zone responds:

Yes, there is a definite connection between color and perceived depth.  Hot
colors such as Red and Yellow seem to come forward and Cool colors like
Green and Blue seem to recede in space.  Stereophotographers can exploit
this subliminal color depth in their work by combining  these perceptual
cues with real parallax-based binocular stereopsis.

This phenomenon might be an atavistic perceptual bias that is possibly
based on the fact that for milennia the most remote imagery in our field of
view, that which is farthest from us, is usually the blue of the sky.  And
whenever we perceive red it may well have been the near and yawning mouth
of a predator coming for us!

Advertisers have been aware of color perception for decades and have
historically used hot colors within a cool background to arrest the
attention of potential buyers.
Take a look at the Kodak logo, for example.

This phenomenon is also the basis for the Chromatek process which uses
prismatic lenses in glasses (oriented oppositely in left and right eyes)
that bend color waves to separate Red/Yellow/Green/Blue and configure them
in a foreground to background perceived array in that order.

The optical spectrum of color is also configured in the same order and runs
from near infraRed at 700 nanometers through Yellow and Green to
ultraViolet at 400 nanometers.

Color is an important factor in stereo perception.  It remains a fertile
area of exploration for the stereographer which yet might yield powerful
and beautiful effects.




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

r3dzone@xxxxxxxxxxxxx

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

The 3-D  Zone
P.O. Box 741159
Los Angeles, California 90004
323-662-3831
fax-662-3830