Computer graphics processing and selective visual display system – Computer graphics processing – Three-dimension
Reexamination Certificate
1999-03-12
2001-09-25
Zimmerman, Mark (Department: 2671)
Computer graphics processing and selective visual display system
Computer graphics processing
Three-dimension
C345S007000, C348S042000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06295067
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to a method of manufacturing a 3D viewing disk.
A known type of 3D viewing disk which can be fitted in a stereoscopic viewing device, such as the device sold under the designation VIEWMASTER, is made of stiff opaque sheet material and is formed with 14 substantially rectangular apertures which are equiangularly spaced about, and are equidistant from, the center of the disk. Seven pairs of transparencies, representing left and right stereoscopic images respectively of seven scenes, are accommodated in the 14 apertures respectively.
The stereoscopic viewing device has two eyepieces for viewing simultaneously, with the left and right eyes respectively, one pair of transparencies so that the user can view a 3D image of the scene. The viewing device includes an advancing mechanism which engages indexing holes in the disk for rotating the disk to seven indexed positions allowing the user to view 3D images of the seven scenes in succession.
The opaque sheet material may be two cards which are made of paperboard material and are glued together with the 14 transparencies held between the cards.
In one practical method of manufacturing a 3D viewing disk, a 3D camera is used to capture left eye and right eye images of a scene on photographic transparency film. The transparency film is then used to generate corresponding internegatives and the two internegatives of one pair are mounted on a carrier in carefully controlled relative positions and orientations. The carrier is placed in an optical printer which makes multiple copies of the left eye image and multiple copies of the right eye image on respective rolls of receiving film. The carrier serves to position the internegatives precisely relative to the frame of the receiving film, and accordingly the images are located with a high degree of precision relative to the frame of the receiving film. The rolls of receiving film are die cut into individual transparencies and the left and right eye transparencies for a given scene are attached to a first of the two cards using registration elements to ensure that the two die cut transparencies are in the proper relative positions and orientations. The left and right eye transparencies for the next scene are then attached to the first card, and so on until all seven pairs of transparencies have been attached to the first card. Finally, the second card is attached to the first card and the 14 transparencies are then held securely between the cards.
3D viewing disks of the kind described above are used as toys, in which case many thousand copies of a given disk might be made. However, the 3D viewing disk has also found a market in short runs as a promotional tool, and in this case the purchaser may require as few as ten copies.
The conventional method of fabricating a 3D viewing disk requires complex machinery which must be maintained and adjusted to ensure that the die cut transparencies will be properly positioned in the completed disk. The cost per disk of manufacturing a long run of disks is very low, but the nature of the manufacturing process makes it expensive to manufacture a short run of disks. Further, the lead time required to obtain a short run of disks is long.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides a method of manufacturing 3D viewing disks that are structurally compatible with the stereoscopic viewing device sold under the trademark VIEWMASTER using computer technology, rather than mechanical technology, to position the images. The method allows a short run of viewing disks to be manufactured at a substantially lower cost per disk than the conventional method of manufacturing 3D viewing disks.
According to a first aspect of the present invention there is provided a method of manufacturing a transparency embodying left and right stereoscopic images of a selected scene, positioned to provide a 3D image of said selected scene when viewed using a 3D viewing device, said method including creating first and second image data files representing said left and right stereoscopic images respectively of the selected scene, employing the first and second image data files to create a stereo image data file representing said left and right stereoscopic images in predetermined relative positions, and employing the stereo image data file to create a transparency image incorporating the left and right stereoscopic images.
According to a second aspect of the present invention there is provided a method of manufacturing a 3D viewing disk for viewing in a stereoscopic viewer, comprising creating a first stereo image data file representing left and right stereoscopic images of a first selected scene in appropriate relative orientations and positions in a graphics plane to create a 3D image of the first selected scene, creating a second stereo image data file representing left and right stereoscopic images of a second selected scene in appropriate relative orientations and positions in a graphics plane to create a 3D image of the second selected scene, employing the first and second stereo image data files to create a multiple stereo image data file representing the 3D image of the first selected scene and the 3D image of the second selected scene in appropriate relative orientations and positions in a graphics plane for separately viewing the 3D images of the first and second selected scenes using the 3D viewing disk, and employing the multiple stereo image data file to create a transparency image incorporating the 3D images of the first and second selected scenes.
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Cao Huedung X.
Smith-Hill John
Smith-Hill and Bedell
Zimmerman Mark
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