3D movies and live and studio TV broadcasts, along with 3D equipment used in cinemas and homes, are certainly in the public eye in 2011. But while today’s S3D (Stereo 3D) technology is new, the history of 3D motion pictures dates back more than a century.
At the beginning of the 20th century, British film pioneer William Friese-Greene filed a patent for a 3D film process with two projectors. Frederick Eugene Ives later proposed a stereo camera rig with 1.75-inch distance lenses.
In 1915, Edwin S Porter and William E Waddell showed 3D test reels to an audience at the Astor Theater in New York City. But this turned out to be a dead end. The first commercial 3D film appears to have been shown in September 1922 to an audience in Los Angeles, and over the next two years a series of short films using a variety of different 3D technologies were shown in theaters.
Stereoscopy and 3D still images
There are several basic approaches to stereoscopy, including:
Freeviewing – See a couple of images without a spectator, which implies that the spectators cross or diverge their eyes to make the images coincide and give the illusion of depth.
Stereographic cards and the stereoscope – the stereoscope reduces eyestrain and, by using magnifying lenses, the image appears larger and more lifelike.
Transparency viewers – In the early 1930s, manufacturers released visors designed to work with stereo transparency pairs. A decade later, a refined version of the technology was released, the long-lasting and highly successful View-Master.
3D movie technologies
Polarization – In the early 1930s, Edwin H Land was producing his first polarizing products under the Polaroid brand and saw the possibilities in stereoscopic applications. Two synchronized prints of the film were projected using a special selsyn engine on a silver screen; polarized 3D movies will not work on a normal white screen.
Between 1936 and the start of World War II, filmmakers in Europe and the United States used Land technologies.
Anaglyph – The familiar glasses with red and green or red and blue lenses mounted in cardboard frames are typical of the Anaglyph technology used in early 3D movies in the 1950s. Later in the decade, movies adopted polarization technology as a better quality alternative, and the resurgence of 3D during the 80s and 90s also chose polarized lenses as the user interface.
Stereo 3D (S3D) – two normal HD cameras are placed approximately the same distance as human eyes, sometimes more; sometimes less, depending on the shot. Digital post-production allows the director to edit and develop the show. S3D TVs and projectors decode the finished S3D data and display the images on the screen. Today, the most common viewing technology uses polarized lenses to view stereoscopic images, but you can use anaglyph or active lenses. Glasses-free technology is being developed.
3D movies hit the mainstream
3D movies came into the mainstream in the 1950s with the first color features, although the earliest black and white examples date back to the late 1940s. While 3D movies were important in film Throughout the decade, the processes were found to be too expensive and the results too uncertain to keep 3D mainstream.
Later, during the 1980s and 1990s, IMAX and Disney themed venues brought 3D back into the public eye for specialized films and presentations, based on technology using active glasses synchronized with the 3D program.
It took until after the turn of the millennium for 3D movies to return to the mainstream, using today’s Stereo 3D technology that can be applied equally well in broadcast and home theater applications. Ten years after the new millennium, we can watch many mainstream 3D movies in our local cinemas and buy 3D TVs on any high street.
3D seems to be here to stay at last.