ANALOG vs DIGITAL - Ultra High Fidelity Magazine

Publicity photo for Muppet Vision 3D at Walt Disney World. The
It’s not the first wave of 3D, nor
the second, nor the third. Threedimensional
images arrived not
long after the dawn of photography.
The first 3D images arrived not long
after the invention of photography itself.
Making 3D pictures was easy enough:
you took one picture, then moved the
camera over a few centimetres, then
took another. You did have to make
sure the subject didn’t move, but then
the exposures were then so long you
couldn’t capture movement anyway. You
would view the prints with a handheld
stereoscope. The Viewmaster, still sold
today, is a descendant of the stereoscope.
But even a color Viewmaster slide is
not a movie. You might be surprised to
learn that the very first 3D film was made
by the appropriately-named Lumière
brothers, often considered the inventors
of the motion picture. Their first
3D movie lasted under a minute, and
showed a train seemingly coming out of
28 ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine
Cinema
3D Wave
the screen, the sort of effect that would
be replicated again and again.
The year was 1895.
In the years since, we have been
assured that 3D technology had finally
been perfected, that it would become as
natural to make a movie in 3D as it is
to make it in color. As we shall see, the
problems have remained stubborn. Many
have been solved. Many have not.
Forgive us for a quick explanation of
the principles of 3D. In “real life,” each of
our eyes sees a slightly different image,
because they are separated by a distance
of about 8 cm. Our brains fuse the two
images into a single one so that we may
perceive depth. If we use two cameras
also spaced about 8 cm apart, and if we
can find a way to let each eye see only
the image “meant” for it, the viewer will
see depth just as he or she would in real
life. How to make each eye see only the
appropriate picture is the challenge.
As far as we can tell, the first real
3D wave was in the late 1930’s. A crude
viewing system was used for viewing.
The two images would be superimposed,
one of them red, the other green or bluegreen.
The viewer would wear glasses
with lenses of those same colors. The
red lens would block the green image,
and the green lens would block the red
image.
The same system is still used for 3D
images in print media and the Internet,
but its drawbacks are many. Blocking is
imperfect, which means the viewer sees
a double image. The system is not compatible
with natural color. The image is
relatively dim, and spectators often see
unpleasant color flashes when they take
the glasses off.
You’ll often read articles claiming
that during the feature-film 3D wave of
the early 1950’s, red-green glasses were
used. Not so. A then new technology was
developed, still at the heart of 3D today,
based on polarization.
The Polaroid Corporation is best
remembered for instant photography,
but founder Dr. Edwin Land named his
company for its first product, the polarizing
lens, which he had found a way to
manufacture inexpensively. A polarizer
lets through light waves vibrating in
one plane while blocking light waves
vibrating in the plane perpendicular to
it. Polarizing sunglasses are excellent for
cutting reflections from road surfaces.
Hollywood was convinced it had
solved the problem of 3D movies. Two
films were projected one atop the other.
Polarizing filters, turned at 90° apart,
were placed in front of the projector
lenses, and viewers would wear glasses
whose two lenses were also polarizers
rotated appropriately. No more problems.
The studios brought out a wave of
hit 3D films, and predicted that, from
now on, all films would be in 3D. Sound
familiar?
The wave didn’t last.
There were good reasons for that.
Movie theatres had two projectors,
so that multiple reels could be shown
without a break, but 3D required both of
them. Now movies needed an intermis-