This is one of the most simple methods of viewing real 3D. It began many years ago. In fact the Victorians were very knowledgeable about this subject. They had invented most of the 3D techniques we use today!

What creates 3D?

Seeing with two eyes creates our depth impression of the world. The best way to understand this is to do a practical experiment. Hold a finger up about 50 cm's away and focus on this finger observing the background at the same time. Everything towards the fixation point, your finger, becomes converged in your eyes. Move another finger from near your eyes towards the 'fixed' finger. Notice how it goes form being two images to one as it gets closer to your 'fixed' finger. The brain has many clues from image convergence and divergence to interpret depth. In fact, much of what we see as a single image is actually an illusion. The two differing images are recognised by us as a single image and the differences calculated in our brains to be the depth.

 

What is the Anaglyph glasses method?

 

Two images are required for our brain to assume depth. On a single screen or printed material the anaglyph method uses two distinctly coloured images which will interfere with each other as little as possible. One colour is allowed into the left eye and the opposite coloured image into the right. The glasses are therefore doing the separation of the images. Red cyan is the best combination because the mix of red and cyan gives an impression of full colour, but any opposing colours will work.

How does this work on a computer?

Nvidia have created additional software drivers that compliment their standard graphics board drivers. (They must have the same version number or they will not work properly). These are totally free and can be downloaded from their web site.
What they do is detect 3D game information from the programming language sent to the graphics board. When it is written in Open GL or Direct X the software generates two images as if the viewer were in two slightly different locations i.e. two eyes. This interprets as a left and right eye image. The left eye and right eye pictures are created in opposite colours and presented on your monitor. When you wear your anaglyph glasses only the red image will enter your left eye and the cyan image into your right eye.
Nvidia also offer an additional program with the free stereo driver download (called nVidia Stereo Viewer) for viewing internet and other computer generated Anaglyph stereo images in the .JPG format. The JPG images are red/cyan anaglyph images. During game play it is also possible to save screen shots by typing Alt F1. These are saved in a folder C:\NVSTEREO.IMG, ready for viewing with the nVidia viewer or with an appropriate 3D viewer such as the stereo applet used on this site.

Remember, there are tons of other applications that use the anaglyph method.

For example:
Comics - TV - DVD Movies - internet pictures - CD pictures - VRML interactive internet virtual worlds...

This a thrilling and engaging topic you can try out really cheaply, if not totally free. Just look for those sweet wrappers, photographic filters etc. and check it out now. You won't be disappointed.

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