Sunday, October 17, 2010

Why Does A 3D Film Look So Amazing?

By Monique K. Abbott

It was once very unusual to hear of a 3D film coming to theaters, but it has become common in recent years. Although the technology that allows modern film makers to create the stunning visuals of 3D movies is rather new, the idea of making realistic three dimensional motion pictures is not; the idea was first developed in the 1950's. The optical illusions utilized in a 3D film trick your eye and brain into believing that the pictures are jumping right off the screen; doing this is no easy task, and it demands a vast array of complex technology.

The techniques used to develop a 3D film are borrowed directly from the human eye and stereoscopic vision, which is the process by which we see different images through each eye which are fused together by our brain. Two side by side lenses are put in cameras when filming a 3D movie so that they can capture images similar to the way your eyes do. Computer programs let animators produce the identical effect even though there is no live action footage in a movie. A 3D film is actually projected from two projectors at the same time; each one sends the film captured by one of the two dual camera lenses.

Many people are familiar with the original 3D glasses that you had to wear to see a 3D film; one side was red, one side was blue. On those films, the two images being projected were processed through red and blue light filters, which then could be combined by your brain when you wore the special 3D glasses. The limitations inherent in this system moved film makers to seek out better technology.

Polarized light is the solution to those issues, and modern 3D films use these vibrating light waves. Though you just see one image, there are actually two projectors sending out one vertically and one horizontally polarized image during the 3D film.

Your 3D glasses prevent one type of light wave from entering each eye so that your left eye sees only horizontal waves and your right only sees the vertical ones. The resulting optical illusion makes your brain receive two images as just one but also creates the realistic depth that audiences love so much about modern 3D movies. - 40723

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