P3D The Stereo Glossary

["Donald Wratten" <Wratten@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

As Abram Klooswyk has blown my cover, I had better emerge from the shadows
of P3D where I habitually lurk in order to own up to being the principal
editor of a revised version of the long-established Stereo Glossary, which
will shortly be published, and let members of this forum know what the
present position is.

Actually it would probably have been in print by now had Abram himself not
contributed a large number of new suggestions just as I was putting it to
bed.  (Not that it was his fault that this was at the last minute - as he
has said, the draft had earlier been published in four consecutive issues of
The Stereoscopic Society Journal of 3D Imaging for any member to comment on;
and I was unaware that his membership had lapsed, so he only picked up what
had been happening by a side wind.    Nevertheless, his very helpful
comments have necessitated a further round of consultation with some of my
colleagues in the drafting process, which has set us back at least a couple
of months.)

The history of the Glossary goes back to Bill Dalgoutte's original version
for The Stereoscopic Society in 1967.   When the International Stereoscopic
Union was set up in 1975, one of its first tasks was to consider the need
for an international standard glossary of stereo terms and it was agreed
that the Dalgoutte version (which had been reworked somewhat in the
meantime) should be adopted for the purpose.   It was published in
Stereoscopy's Technical Supplements 21 and 22 in 1984.

With the passage of time, considerable revision has appeared necessary; and
this is what I have been undertaking with Colin Clay as co-editor over the
past two years.  We have carefully considered, and wherever possible
adopted, the many useful suggestions made by those readers of the SS Journal
who took the trouble to let me have them.   However, I have to say that this
democratic process has not been without its pitfalls since many of the
suggestions received have been contradictory - especially as regards the
amount of detail to put into them - and each one has had to be painstakingly
resolved.   The result is therefore inevitably something of a compromise.

Also, the main purpose of the Glossary is, and always has been, to help
newcomers to stereoscopy who may be baffled by some of the esoteric terms
they come across, and as such wherever possible the definitions are limited
to a single sentence.      This will certainly not satisfy some of the
intellectual giants who contribute to P3D or the specialists who will be
attending the upcoming Stereoscopic Displays and Applications Conference
next week and who may well be considering their own more advanced glossary.
So I don't want to jump into the fascinating - but to me largely
incomprehensible - detailed discussions on individual terms which liven this
forum from time to time, and which have their own merit beyond what we are
seeking to achieve.

My remaining task is to offer the finished Glossary to the Editor of
Stereoscopy for him to consider how best to promulgate it.   It will become
the intellectual property of the ISU, and I would doubt very much that they
would decide to publish it on the Internet.  After all, the ISU depends on
its subscriptions from individual members for its very existence and receipt
of Stereoscopy is their main benefit.  How many people would continue to
subscribe if the value of membership were diminished by making its property
so widely available without charge?

Don Wratten