[photo-3d] Re: How I almost wrecked the 3D Zone

[Tony Alderson <aifxtony@xxxxxxx>]

> Gabriel Jacob wrote (digest 167): 
> The treat for the evening was Ray Zone giving the
> keynote address. It was a moving address. He
> mentioned how he got interested in 3-D in the early
> 50s, when he saw his first 3-D comic book. He gave
> thanks to all the people (Tony Alderson, you were
> one of them!) that helped him through the years.

Well, I'm not surprised. Ray is pretty generous with sharing credits.
But he's also prone to exaggeration and hyperbole. (This is not a
criticism, really, Ray had to be somewhat of a carney barker to
accomplish all he has.)
What I suspect he didn't relate was how I allowed him to screw up his
first independant 3D job.

Let me tell you a story...

Way back in the dark days of the mid '80s, when Reagan was at his peak
and the Artist Formerly Known As Whats-His-Name was, well, I forget;
back when 3D Video Corp. was on it's last legs, a certain refugee from
the steel mills of Fontana (also on the way to hell) had just lost his
dream job at said Corp., found himself at liberty on the streets of Los
Angeles.

Now, this silver-haired regenerate had had enough of despair in the
outlands, and gave himself over to eternal optimism in Lotusland. Having
seen a multitude of missed opportunities in his former employ, he put on
his black suit and white tie, and began to plumb the world of art and
publishing with his gospel of anaglyph stereoscopy.

His first score was, as I recall, some sort of gallery show with
anaglyphs and a Pulfrich video. I had helped develop, with John
Rupkalvis, the color anaglyph printing for 3DVC, but by then was
creating stereo effects animation for the magnum opus "Metalstorm." So,
Ray asked my advice in preparing the brochure and prints for this
gallery show.

Now, I'll concede I'd been infected by the virus of proprietarism at
3DVC, I had this delusion that there were some sort of stereo secrets I
could leverage to my advantage. Secondly, I'm an impatient tutor; my
attitude was that if you couldn't figure it out on your own, you
shouldn't be doing it. Finally, I think I was somewhat annoyed that Ray
hadn't been paying close enough attention while we were both at
3DVC--dag nab it, why didn't he already know the answer?! So I gave him
some vague hint about channel manipulation, thinking the thing was so
obvious that would be enough.

Well, I went to the opening and, examining the brochure, what do I see
but that Ray had swapped the wrong seps! (This was in the days of
photo-mechanical CMYK, recall...) Well, there was still some stereo
effect, and the crowd was still having fun, being blissfully ignorant
and inexperienced, but considering Ray a friend, I discretely (I
hope...don't really remember vividly) pointed out the error. Now, Mr.
Zone has a good a poker face as anyone, but I imagine a wave of
revelation and comprehension swept through him, not to mention a sense
of "well, NOW you tell me!"

Of course, it all worked out well in the end. Ray has a good sense of
humor and a high threshold of embarassment, and he learned some valuable
lessons that night: (1) Never trust 3D experts (2) In a technical art
form, you've got to immerse yourself in the technology (3) Don't take
business personally, press on. I learned a few things that night too,
but this story isn't about me...

Tony Alderson