More Fun with 3D

I recently updated a previous post showing the outside view from my loft. The original photo was taken on Sep 16th, and now the second was taken on Nov 2ed, These photos are arranged for Cross-Eye 3D viewing (CE3D). I took this last photo just because of the very bright fall colors. Not wanting to bore my blog readers with "just another one of my 3D photos", I decided to attach it to a previous blog page (nobody other than myself will really notice).

But, I inadvertently discovered a very interesting artifact of publishing them on the same post page; after clicking on the first image for the expanded browser view, you can quickly flip between the two views with a gentle roll of the middle mouse button. For this scene, only the season's colors change (and maybe a slight unintended zoom scale). The effect can be seen in 2D, but it is not nearly as dramatic as seen in 3D.

Even with only two photos, the time lapse photography is very intriguing in 3D. I now plan to take similar photos at regular intervals to expand the time frame. Maybe a new photo set each week.

I use ImageMagick to combine the Right and Left images into a CE3D view. For example:

convert R.JPG L.JPG -splice 10x0 +append -chop 10x0 -resize 1200  CE3D.JPG

Note: the Right/Left order of the two original images is very important.

Oh, I have been viewing so many Cross-Eye 3D Viewed photos that I now can quickly switch to Cross-Eye 3D mode and without Eye Strain. The images are photos that I have taken, or created from the raw Mars Mission photos, and others found on the web,  I view most online images from about 30 inches (distance to the computer screen).

I like 3D photos, they provide so much more revealing detail, that just can not be perceived in 2D. It is similar to the different listening pleasures of; an AM Mono broadcast, and good a FM Stereo Music Station.

I plan to do a lot more with this interesting viewing mode.

Here is an interesting Cross-Eye 3D Video that may help explain the viewing technique.

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Mars 3D via ImageMagick - Cont'd

For fun, here is another Homebrew Mars Cross Eye Photo created with the following ImageMagick command on linux (see previous post). Original photos taken on Sol2 via the Navigation Cameras.

convert  NR*.JPG NL*.JPG -splice 10x0 +append -chop 10x0 -fill 'rgb(255,150,0)' -tint 150 CrossEye3dFakeColorFull.jpg

Sol0002 - Cross Eye 3D Fake Color

I think you can see two blast craters created by two of the four decent rockets. Assuming that they are blast craters, it would be interesting to know the direction the Sky Crane left the area, the blast pattern might suggest to the left or to the right.

The following are my observations, and therefore obviously not authoritative.

What is not obvious in the original photos, and which can only be seen in the 3D view, is a slight depressions (running left and right) beyond the large lumps (about 1/4 down from the top). Also, there appears to be a old yet small crater near the same lumps, and nearer than the depression. In the distance, the ground appears to be much less level, Curiosity's Sky Crane picked a good level landing spot !

A 3D view provides so much more insight !!

Because of the distance between cameras (much more than the normal width between your eyes), very close items is in the foreground are hard to view. When (if) the camera is aimed a little higher (at the horizon), there would not be the very near foreground distractions.

This Cross Eye 3D viewing technique is not for everyone, some people complain that it gives them headaches. I have now trained my eyes to automatically adjust as necessary, and can quickly enjoy the images. It helps if you tilt your head so that the horizon (as it appears in the above image) is horizontal (as it should be).

The Landing Site

Note: All of the raw photos can be obtained from the NASA site:

http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/multimedia/raw/

Annotated Image Gallery at:

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/msl/multimedia/gallery-indexEvents.html

UPDATE:

Here is a later interesting Image, only in the 3D view is it obvious that the large foreground rock is stacked on top of another.

Stacked Rocks - Lower Right

Or try this (click for larger image):

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