Trivia question: what came first photography or 3D? Surprisingly, it is stereoscopic 3D, which was invented by Dr. Charles Wheatstone in 1840 (drawn pictures that pre-date photography). Even more astounding, after the photographic process came into light, 3D became all the rage 150 years ago, and in the mid-1860’s captured the 16th president, Abraham Lincoln, (the first to be photographed) in living 3D.

Steve Sechrist
Senior Analyst and Editor

This, and a cornucopia of 3D history, content creation tips and new technology all came together at the Cascade chapter of ACM SigGraph sponsored event, "From Toys to Technology - Stereoscopic Display" meeting, which was held last night here in Portland, OR. In fact it turns out that for the past seven decades, Portland led the nation in 3D technology as the home of the famous ViewMaster Corp. and William Grubner, inventor of the popular "reel-based" 3D viewing device.

Many vintage models (ViewMaster Model B, Model C, etc.) were on hand last night with classic 3D reels both in the original black and white and early color scenes. But the old technology shared the stage with the latest and greatest in 3D monitors including the Planar StereoMirror 26-inch widescreen stereo/3D monitor with full 1920 x 1200 3D image resolution generated for each eye. This produced an eye-popping 3D image with undersea content and medical images that had to be seen to be appreciated. In his talk, Patrick Green, Dir. of R&D at Planar, defined the true 3D image experience this way, "What we are really talking about here is fully segregated left and right eye images, and never the twain shall meet." Pat explained that their technology was especially good at eliminating left and right eye crosstalk, the source of many of the 3D visual problems including headaches.

Other 3D technologies on hand included a Perceiva 3D LCD stereo display from MacNaughton Inc. and a Zalman ZM-M220 CRT with interlaced stereo using passive polarized glasses. The latter showed intricate patterns using the Schrodingler small and large molecule modeling and simulation software used in computational drug design by major pharmaceutical firms. Herc Silverstein, program manager for Schrodinger here in Portland gave some great examples of the use of 3D displays in drug development design and application.

The Perceiva 3D display came along with a presentation by Tom Woody, program manager at MacNaughton, a Beaverton, OR based stereoscopic display solution provider. He also had on hand the NuVision 60GX stereoscopic wireless glasses that looked (and fit) fantastic even while wearing prescription eyeglasses.

We also received presentations from Cascade SigGraph vice-chair Kathleen O’Reilly, giving us an excellent 3D primer that was followed by our history lesson from Ron Kriesel, of Portland’s 3D Center for Art and Photography.

The juxtaposition of the old ViewMaster’s (toys) and cutting edge 3D hardware and software (technology) proved for an interesting, informative and rewarding evening, but like most things in life, it was the diversity and uniqueness of the people, including the dedicated Cascade chapter members and staff, that made the event even that much better. - Steve Sechrist

Note: see an expanded version of this coverage in the upcoming June issue of Large Display Report.