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Who can forget the fun of 3D movies and comic books? Ever seen the 3D Betty Page book? Now *that's* a cool use of '50s imaging technology. Chromatek has brought the funkadelic fun of 3D to the Web (ah...minus Ms. Page) with its "CyberHolograms" and HoloPlay 3D glasses.
The beauty of CyberHolograms is that they don't use the blue and red overlapping (called "anaglyph") of previous 3D imaging techniques. Using a patented process called ChromaDepth (that puts micro-optics onto the lenses of the glasses), anyone can create 3D images (and animations!) with a graphics program and the primer booklet that comes with the CyberHolograms Deluxe Internet Kit. The 3D effects are encoded into the glasses. All the 3D artist needs to do is follow the guidelines in the primer on how to choose and place colors to get the best 3D effects. The basic concept is dirt simple: on a black background, reds will appear closest to the viewer, blues farthest away. All of the other colors will fall in-between based on their place in the color spectrum (red, orange, yellow, green, blue). There are other tips for optimizing the depth effect and working with text, but that's basically all you need to know.
Besides the primer, the Deluxe Internet Kit contains one pair of plastic HoloPlay glasses, one pair of cardboard HoloPlay glasses and one pair of cardboard C3D glasses (optimized for viewing print versions of 3D images). Chromatek also sells glasses in bulk. Another advantage of CyberHolograms (gawd, what genius came up with that name?) is that the images don't appear fuzzy or altered in any way so they can be viewed without the benefit of the glasses. If you want to have 3D content on your website, you don't need separate pages for them. CyberHolograms are being used on a number of entertainment websites and sites containing scientific visualizations. The same ChromaDepth technology has also been used on TV shows and in various toys and games. Chromatek points out that some images and movies not specifically designed for ChromaDepth 3D still produce 3D effects. Disney's Mulan and Batman and Robin are two examples given. My son and I had fun going around the house looking for accidental 3D images. Fortunately, that extreme close-up of "The Woz" on the cover of the September issue of Wired was *not* in 3D. (Is it just me, or do they consistently have butt-ugly covers?) - Gareth Branwyn [8/28/98]
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