Stereoscopic Filming in a nutshell- why and how 3D or visual depth:
We (humans) are predators, so our eyes are on the same plane in order to see depth when chasing prey (that or God wants us to see the world in all it's natural glory, but that's beyond the scope of this introduction;). Stereo 3D is simulating that perspective by filming with two cameras spaced approximately eye width (6.5cm average) apart. This interaxial spacing can change depending on the distance to your subject and the affect that you want. There are stereo calculators available on the Berezin page that I have listed below. Some stereographers use beam splitters instead of two parallal cameras.
Once you have two videos the trick is to fool your brain into thinking it is seeing the two movies at the same time. The most common ways to do this are:
1. active shutter glasses - gamers and true 3D home viewers use this method often.
2. passive polized projection - IMAX, RealD and Speilberg/Lucas are developiong another polarized system.
3. Anaglyph- For your basic anaglyph, you have to convert the left eye video to red and right eye to cyan for respective (left=red/right=cyan) anaglyph glasses.
Resources
There are a few other ways to view 3D stereo content. This site is a good overview:
This is a great beginner's resource:
This is the best place to get stereoscopic software- all the true 3D artists I know use Stereoscopic Player by Peter Wimmer, which you can download here:
For Stereoscopic equipment, I've used this site:
This is a simple 3D film tutorial short:
Here's one of the top dogs, AVATAR will be the first 3D blockbuster:
You can find a lot of anaglyph info on Maddy's site.
This is the best way to show 3D content to a group and many would argue best way to view overall.
Here are some cool anaglyph videos:
Good luck and send me a message after you make your first 3D vid. May you find truth and beauty in whatever you do!
Nat
Some more cool 3D material resources.
