[photo-3d] Re: To math or not to math?

[Bruce Springsteen <bsspringsteen@xxxxxxxxx>]

Where was Math Maven Mike two years ago when I was trying to generate
enthusiasm for a hypothetical circular slide rule base calculator, giving
reliable OFD and stereo "bite" to even the most formula impaired?  His
eloquent defense of "precision" stereo art would have given me a boost in
the eyes of 3D consumers and gadget developers, and maybe would have
launched a lucrative niche product. <sigh>

At the risk of killing the debate, I'd like to make an analogy to drawing
and painting.   There are many styles of visual art, exhibiting varying
degrees of precision, previsualization, and technical fussiness.  Some
artists use technical pens, rulers, protractors, dividers, scaling grids
and the like to create highly preplanned, real-illusionistic scenes based
on a close study of perspective projection rules, properties of light,
anatomy, vision.  Some others like "gestural" drawing where the goal is to
emit intuitive, quick, expressive lines that suggest vaguely or
dynamically seen objects and movement, using a fast fluid scribble,
perhaps with a brush or other soft medium.  Some pursue pure abstraction,
maybe with their feet or noses dipped in buckets of paint mixed in
randomly chosen colors, dancing and rolling on a bedsheet.  The range and
variety of visual art is unlimited, and "better or worse" comparisons
between styles and techniques are as senseless as trying to prove that a
Chihuahua is a better dog than a St. Bernard, or that a greyhound is not
really necessary if you have a schnauzer and are happy.  To those who ask
"who needs math?," the answer is "those who are trying to do things that
can only be achieved with math."  It's a truism - what you need or don't
need depends on what you intend or don't intend.  Well, duh.

So the answer to Themelis' rhetorical query "To math or not to math?" can
only be Dottle's query "Where are you coming from?"  and my corollary
query "Where are you going?"

There's the rub.

Bruce


__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Get email at your own domain with Yahoo! Mail. 
http://personal.mail.yahoo.com/

 

Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/