Ever wonder how new 3-D technology differs from the old red-and-blue glasses popular in the 1950s? Scientific American editor Larry Greenemeier explains--and makes a special appearance in 3-D.

• Related Articles

• How to Expel Hurtful Stereotypes from Classrooms across the Country
• Is Ketamine the Next Big Depression Drug?
• Psychologists Find New Ways to Steel Minority Students against Fear of Failure

6 Comments

1. 1. PeterT 06:06 PM 9/28/12

   What nonsense! The red/cyan glasses were only used in comic books in the '50's. Line drawings in red/cyan. The 3-D films (e.g. House of Wax) used linear polarization to separate the two images. If you tilted your head the image would get messed up.
   

   Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this

2. 2. Daniel35 07:08 PM 9/28/12

   Actually, not having the colored glasses, I'd be able to see the image better without the colors, or apparently the red and normal fluorescent lighting. Apparently the left and right views are switched so you're already looking at them cross-eyed.
   
   Without the colors, start with just two pictures of the same scene, taken from side by side positions. Cut out a small hole in the center of a piece of paper, the same height/width ratio as the pictures, but smaller. Switch the pictures so you look through the hole at the left picture with the right eye and vice versa. Shift your head, the paper and pictures so objects in them line up. When you get it right, they should blend together so you see one 3D picture. You can also skip the paper and just hold a pencil point up to line up with a point in both pictures. I don't know why the don't try this at least experimentally with TV.

   Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this

3. 3. Doc Sharpe 10:41 AM 9/29/12

   The red/cyan technology was used for many films in the 1950s. It was only compatible with black and white films, but it was much cheaper than the linear polarization technology, which required theaters to project two synchronized prints of the film at the same time. The red/cyan technology was compatible with standard theater projectors of the time. The "Creature from the Black Lagoon" is an example of a film released in the R/C 3D format. The much better quality, but more expensive, polariation technology was used with excellent results in Hitchcock's "Dial M for Murder". There were a number of Three Stooges shorts made using both technologies.
   

   Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this

4. 4. jimsky7 12:30 AM 10/3/12

   Um, think again when you say "the red lens lets you see red" and "the cyan lens lets you see cyan" -- although it's true that looking thru the red lens, light colors appear red, it's also true that the red in the image appears red thru that lens, and the brain compensates by seeing both "red" and "white" as "white" -- so the red in the image "disappears" thru the red lens, and the cyan, being complementary, appears dark thru the red lens. So what you "see" through the red lens is really determined by the cyan in the picture. And vice versa for the cyan lens. From what you said in the video I'd think the red lens lets me see the red in the image, and it in fact does the opposite by tricking the brain into making the red disapper.

   Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this

5. 5. MBobM 02:26 PM 10/4/12

   The video stops short of explaining the newest available version of 3-D which uses active glasses as found with 3-D TV's. The TV alternates left and right eye images and the glasses use polarizers combined with liquid crystals to rotate the plane of polarization. A signal from an IR LED on the TV is picked up by the glasses to synchronize the switching of the liquid crystals to block one eye or the other during each frame scan. With a 240 Hz refresh rate, each eye sees the images at 120 frames per second which is more than adequate to eliminate flicker.

   Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this

6. 6. PeterVermont 10:14 AM 10/5/12

   In 2009 YouTube added very nice support for 3D. You can create 3D content or watch from the large amount of content. It offers a variety of viewing options, some involving glasses and others side-by-side images to be viewed either cross-eyed or in parallel.
   
   <a href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/find-watch-youtube-3d-content/">How To Find And Watch YouTube 3D content</a>

   Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this