The 3-DVG Workshop
Make any picture 3-D....using only your fingers!
Take the 3-DVG Visual Self Test
The visual self test illustrated above uses holes made in ordinary business cards.
INTRODUCTION: Testing yourself calls for 10 minutes of your time and requires you to assemble the five following items:
1. two business cards
2. a scissors
3. a black dry marker
4. a desk lamp using a standard 100 to 200 Watt Bulb
5. your favorite scenic picture magazine and some means of propping it up while you’re looking at it.
TEST OVERVIEW: There are five parts to the test
Part 1, consists of making a small (ideally 1/16th inch diameter) clean hole in the center of a business card. Make two of these cards using the quick and dirty folding technique outlined below.
Part 2 asks you to darken the inside of the holes and also around them with a black dry marker.
Part 3 has you selecting a picture and applying the required extra lighting to the picture.
Part 4 has you looking through the holes and moving them as instructed in order to achieve the effect.
Part 5 allows you to verify that you have indeed detected the effect by comparing what you’ve seen with the 3-DVG detection criteria.
1
Figure AA.
ACTION - Make a clean (i.e., non-fuzzy) hole in the center of a business card: hold the card vertically, fold the card from top to bottom and then from left to right. Using a scissors or sharp razor, cut the smallest diagonal possible off the uppermost left corner. (This corner should be at the center of the card). See Figure AA. directly to your right.
The resulting square hole should ideally be about 1/16 of an inch on its side. But typically, the results are closer to 3/32 of an inch (about 2.5 mm). On a second try, attempt to make a smaller set of holes. The most important thing is that the holes not contain any fuzz from the cardboard. They may have virtually any shape; select the smallest set of holes and move on to Part 2.
3a
Figure B. Persons taking the test, both sitting and standing. It is best however, to stand a distance of six (6) feet away from a National Geograpic picture that takes up one or two full pages. If the picture takes up half a page, you may stand or sit four (4) feet away.
ACTION - Select a scenic picture from a magazine. Illuminate the picture with extra light, so it is very brightly lit. See Figure B. and Figure BB. If glare is present, eliminate it by tilting the picture or changing the illumination angle of the light source.
4a
Figure C. An observer looking through the holes at a picture. The holes should be positioned as close as possible to the eyes. just short of toughing your eyelashes
2
Figure A. Business cards with black dry marker circles.
ACTION - Using a black dry marker darken a circle about the hole in each card out to a radius of 1/2 of an inch. Also blacken the inside edges of the hole. Fold over or tear off the corner of the card obstructing your nose. See Figure A .
3b
Figure BB. This picture illustrates what you will see standing a distance of 6 feet away from a Natinal Geographic picture that takes up two full pages
4b
Figure CC illustrates what you will see looking straight through the holes at the picture from a distance of six (6) feet. Although you are looking through two holes, they readily merge together and appear as one hole.
ACTION - Stand six feet away from the picture. With a card held vertically in each hand, look through the holes at the picture. The blackened area should be facing you. See Figure A, Figure C, and Figure CC.
4c
Figure DD - Here, the cards (i. e., the holes) are being separated just the tiniest amount (less than 2 millimeters
4d
Figure DDD - illustrates the view through the holes when they are separated (i.e., pulled apart) no more than the thickness of two dimes. Do not separat the holes any further than the illlustration shows.
ACTION - Now, SEPARATE the cards apart just the tiniest amount (less than 2 millimeters) so the view through the holes looks like Figure DDD. Figure DD also illustrates the cards being separated.
4e
Figure EE. Shows the pinholes being moved very very slowly in the opposite direction. Take at least 15 seconds to move the pinholes one millimeter. Look carefully at the picture for the expected 3-D.
ACTION - Now, start to move the pinholes in the opposite direction (i.e., closer together) very very slowly and, begin to look carefully at the picture. Figure EE illustrates the view (minus the picture) as you are slowly moving the holes closer together. Move the holes slowly, like the minute hands on a clock. The total distance moved is only about 1 millimeter (the thickness of one dime) and you should take about 5 seconds to do it. While you are doing it, focus on and examine the picture not the holes.
Most individuals detect the 3-D effect within seconds of trying it the first time. See the clip of the first public display of the invention.
5
How do you know you have detected the 3-DVG effect?
The 3-DVG detection criteria is valid when high precision optical quality holes are utilized. If your home made holes are relatively clean this criteria will still apply though with diminished results.
You have detected the 3-DVG effect when you can unequivocally answer "yes" to all three of the following questions:
1. Is it giving you the clearest and sharpest picture you have ever seen bar none? Switch back and forth between the device and your normal view of the observed picture to ascertain this.
2. Can you look all the way into a good scenic picture (like, out to infinity)? If you have trouble here, increase your viewing distance by three feet and try again. Also, try looking at smaller magazine photos.
3. Does the picture appear to be truly three-dimensional (i.e., stereoscopic)? If you examine a scenic picture containing trees, foliage, or flowers you should be able to distinguish the apparent difference in visual depths of small individual elements of the picture such as leaves on a tree or flowers in a garden.
It should appear unequivocally stereoscopic though not identical to images from normal stereo pairs. Direct comparison can easily be made by "free" viewing a color stereoscopic pair versus the 3-DVG viewing of one of the dual images.
Presuming you were successful, congratulations are in order. Probably less than a thousand people in the world have experienced the 3-DVG effect. If you are visually orientated it may represent the most unique visual experience you may have had in recent history. If you are technically orientated, you will really have a problem trying to explain it. If you didn’t see it, don’t despair, roughly 30% of the persons who detect the effect did not do so on their first try.
Figure EEE, Use this position for the optimum 3-D effect. Pulling the pinholes further apart results in exaggerated 3-D effects. Pushing the pinholes closer together gives reduced 3-D that can work well at large viewing distances. Repeat the entire process if you were unsuccessful.
4f
Figure EEE. Use this position for the optimum 3-D effect. Pushing the pinholes further apart results in exaggerated 3-D effects. Pushing the pinholes closer together give reduced 3-D that can work well at large viewing distances. Repeat the entire process if you were unsuccessful.
ACTION - Continue to move the pinholes very very slowly (continue even after detecting the 3-D). The optimum 3-D effect occurs when the view through the holes looks like Figure EEE, where the holes overlap each other by 50 percent.
Stop all pinhole motion at this position, Figure EEE. Note that the holes overlap each other by 50 percent. (The circumference of one circle coincides with the center of the other). Assuming you detected some kind of 3-D sensation, begin to examine it. The 3-D image you initially detect will actually improve as you scrutinize and study it over a fifteen minute period. Repeat the entire process if you were unsuccessful in detecting the effect. Go to Part 5 to validate what you should see.
The overall focusing process is easily remembered by the instruction to first look straight throught holes (so they overlop), then separate the holes (so they appear like a figure 8) then relax the separation as you look at the picture for the 3-D.