P3D Re: Stereo Kaleidoscope

[Larry Berlin <lberlin@xxxxxxxxx>]

> Date: Tue, 7 Dec 1999 
> From: George Themelis <gthemelis@xxxxxxxxx>
> .........
> --- Peter Homer <P.J.Homer@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> 
> > How do you make a stereo kaleidoscope I have tried to do this
> > myself for both visual use and to photograph the results. 
> 
> And???  
> 
> Did it work or not?  
> 
> I suspect it did not or you would be asking us.  But tell us
> what the challenges are.  (I have given some thought to it but
> it seems to me that any time you have mirrors with an axis off
> the horizonal, shifting the mirrors will shift the image
> vertically which is a "no, no!" for stereo - I have also tried
> the prismatic filters that generate a multiple of images -
> available for 2d effects- and these too will not work for 3d)
> 
> George

*****  I too have considered this situation. Someone asked 
me about such a possibility within the last year. It does 
present certain challenges.

In essence one needs to devise somewhat parallel light pathways with a 
stereo-appropriate viewing aspect that matches between the eyepiece 
and the end where the objects or colors are seen or reflected from. 
To me that means having an impossibility. Each visual pathway would 
have to overlap the same physical space without interference. Since 
the pattern is made by flat reflective planes of certain sizes and 
arrangements, it would seem to be impossible to make physically.

However, maybe such a convoluted pathway is possible within some sort 
of specialized prism? Internally it would have to have two independent 
light pathways that essentially provides a multi-reflected 
stereo-virtual-viewpoint at the end where you'd position something 3D 
to be viewed.

I'm not sure if it's possible or not, but instinct says it is to 
at least a limited degree.

Another option is to do it with software on a computer. 
There the correct stereo view for any arrangement of viewing 
reflection could be maintained by intention.

Or, maybe we can learn from a scaled up model?

Imagine standing in front of a kaleidoscope that is huge. Maybe 
50 to 100 feet long and 10 feet high. Wouldn't you have a stereo 
kaleidoscopic view of trees and people walking around at the 
other end? Wouldn't they see you as part of a 3D kaleidoscopic 
view if they peered into the arrangement from their side? 
(Interesting public works project here!)

So the solution is this concept of two slightly different viewing paths, 
each having just the right variation of path to simulate passing through 
a theoretically huge set of mirrors. That is, the ideal stereo 
interocular based pathway scales to the mirror size directly. 
We are limited in natural kaleidoscopes to structures large enough 
to dwarf our own interocular dimensions. So that our binocular vision 
paths pass together through the reflection arrangement 
without getting separated.

Shrinking that to a table top device means the *existing stereo 
view-interocular* has shrunk with the mirrors. 

Match a human interocular to the existing close viewpoints and you 
have a stereo kaleidoscope.

I suppose that fiber optics might provide a potential solution, 
but I have no expertise on optics for fiber optics. I know they 
are small, but how hard is it to look through them with human 
eyes? Anyone work with this stuff? 

I can't see anyway of reflective observation at the right places 
(of a small device) that doesn't involve magnification as 
well as path redirection.
-- 
Larry Berlin

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