P3D Re: DVD Private Eye

[vmacek@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Vincent G. Macek)]

<<From: Dottle <markaren@xxxxxxxxx>


>This is a dolly motion. Carefully choosing 2 frames from the movie (
>with an estimated parallax that resembles 2-3 inch lens spacing) If the
>background lacks depth in stereo, then the background scenes were added
>with a green screen or some other post-camera effect. If the background
>shows depth in stereo, then the set was of real construction, either a
>model or an actual location. Get it? I noticed some dolly scenes from
>the movie " The Haunting" are flat in stereo........so I conclude that
>these interior scenes are computer generated and the camera motion adds
>to the illusion of depth.
> Some backdrops from the movie " Starship Troopers" are in stereo!
These
>places do not exist so I conclude that models were used.


I don't necessarily agree with your conclusions, Mark.  As we all know,
stereopsis is created by horizontal disparity.  It doesn't matter
whether the objects are "real" or merely drawings.  A savvy cartoonist
knows that foreground objects move a greater apparent distance than
background ones during a horizontal trucking shot, and if drawn that
way, a stereo pair made from a cartoon "dolly shot" will show flat
objects at apparently different depth planes.  Likewise, a background
added using a two-dimensional screen (whether blue, green or
rear-projection) can still show depth if the proper disparity is present
between frames.

Perhaps the background plate was a "traveling matte" shot (i.e. a truly
2-D painting being physically moved behind the [stationary] car in
question).  A greenscreen of a true dolly shot would retain any
horizontal disparities originally present.

I haven't seen the shot you're talking about, but if they've somehow
'blown' the non-stereoscopic perspective depth cues, I can't imagine the
scene looking "right" even in 2-D.  It would look like a piano roll
scrolling by in the distance, or like the background behind Fred
Flintstone when he's driving his car through Bedrock.>>

You can find Pulfritch 3-D in the oddest places. I was looking for it in
the early Road Runner cartoons where there's separate movement speeds for
the subject, the near background and the far horizon. If one is lucky
enough to find the 1930s Popeye cartoons with the full-modelled scenery I'd
bet it'd work well.

AMC has done a nice job of running letterbox versions of my favorite
eye-candy 1960s movies with some cool Pulfritch scenes, including 'Casino
Royale' w/ Peter Sellers and Ursula Andress on a revolving round bed (very
Austin Powers) and 'The President's Analyst' with a great helicopter
flyaround shot of the Statue of Liberty in 1967 NYC.

VMaceek