In the last decade, the creators of modern films, and indeed video, began to lean toward the 3D format. Various devices have been invented, for example, a video camera with two lenses, television sets with the ability to view in volume without glasses and the like. And stereoscopic photos do already very long time ago. Many people remember how in their childhood they viewed books with stereo images using anaglyph glasses. In our time, a striking example in this area is the success of the film Avatar, which, in fact, initiated the development of the entire industry of volumetric cinema. The modern world of entertainment - games, music, video - is sometimes always associated with the effects of presence. Surround video viewing options are just a sea, they are all based on working with stereo pairs .
In this article, I want to share an interesting solution for those who want to see a video without glasses on a regular monitor with the help of some tricks, which will be described below.
A bit about vision
Nature gave us binocular vision, which allows us to determine the distance to objects. Thanks to this, making a review of the situation and keeping it in memory, we get a sense of ourselves in space and control our movements. We have even developed a geometric perception, which allows us to represent objects that are not physically present — usually we call it imagination.
Our eyes act like telescopes, continually targeting objects and focusing on them. If we focus, for example, on the monitor, then the hand in front of it will be blurred, defocused, and this blurring is determined by the distance from the monitor plane to the hand on the line of sight. Our brain can estimate the distance by blurring the image, but for unusual objects, uncertainty arises whether the object is in front of or behind the focus. Conversely, the use of existing images is often used to create illusions in photographs . The relative movement of the observer can easily destroy such illusions, because it allows you to determine the distance to the object. ')
This, for example, is used by astronomers and determines the distance to nearby stars, using, figuratively speaking, the two positions of the Earth as eyes and fixing the change in the position of nearby stars relative to the celestial sphere. Such a change in the apparent position of an object relative to the background is called parallax .
Actually the idea
When we watch a movie with both eyes, we determine the distance to the monitor, and this, in fact, interferes with our perception of volume. If you close any eye when watching a video, you can see a three-dimensional image due to parallax when moving objects. This is the main idea. Blur the image in the foreground and background completes the picture. When the movement is stopped, the stereoscopic effect is weakened, although it can remain with a defocused background or foreground. It is also important that you need to concentrate on viewing, because in this process our imagination begins to work hard. You may even notice that with such a perception, you get a greater information flow. The author of this article when watching movies got more thrill from the constant viewing of scenes - more details create a more voluminous image. Since the depth of the scene and the involvement in the video image are determined by our imagination, then, apparently, some people may not observe such an effect of presence, or vice versa, they have long been accustomed to such three-dimensional imagination.
The rapid passage of the camera over characters and landscapes, especially loved by directors, enhances the sense of presence. The constant movement of the camera with strong focusing accents in the film is the calling card for seeing a three-dimensional image with one eye. You can verify the following example. Of course, it is recommended to view in Full HD full screen.
In addition, you can watch modern trailers online or something else, for example, cuts from the same Avatar .
Conclusion
Volumetric imagination when using one eye is included in films with camera movement and strong defocusing. Perhaps this can help people with one eye problems to see the video in volume. For comfortable viewing, the highest resolution, sufficient frames per second (fps) and a large widescreen monitor to fill the field of view are desirable. And to enhance the best look in the dark, especially for monitors, giving glare.
Imitation of modern methods of shooting, i.e. with constant use of defocused objects in front and behind the focus, as well as camera movement, allows for amateur photography with presence effects on ordinary cameras. True, it should be quite good in terms of the parameters of the apparatus, for it is very important to reduce the noise and improve the detail.
I would like to note that the strain on the eyes under the conditions of the described viewing technique becomes uneven, and this can lead to different consequences. On the one hand, the eyes can be alternated and this gives rest to the eyes; on the other hand, it is difficult to track this alternation when you are strongly involved in the process.
There can be a lot of questions and problems here, which prompted the author to write a post. The topic concerns, first of all, psychophysiology, but technological ideas may also arise. I would like to ask the readers opinions about the proposed approach.