| Author | Message | ||
     Anonymous Rating: N/A |
http://www.johnsonsmith.com/ (Item No. 25931) Does anyone have one of these or know what it is exactly? It says, "Make spooky three-dimensional apparitions materialize out of thin air right in front of your eyes on a special projection screen, or any white wall. Startle your friends, scare your guests with 3-D haunted Halloween effects. Create moving 3-D monsters that grab at their victims & floating objects that fly around the room. Make shadows come to life & apparently walk right out of the screen! Uses the same process that 3-D movies use, and you view the effect with 3-D glasses. Also a good science project for schools or hobbyists wanting to learn the principles of creating cinematic 3-D effects. Kit includes "secret" light source, 6-ft. x 9-ft. screen, 15 pair of 3-D glasses & instructional video." | ||
| Fly Rating: N/A |
Is this it? http://www.alphaville.com/fantasy-monsters.html kidding, It sounds like fun, I'll be looking for this | ||
| Anonymous Rating: N/A |
ATSOLUBELY ILHARIOUS!!! | ||
| tj Rating: N/A |
That IS funny! With a name like "3D fantasy," it seems appropriate to that "3d nude pics" thread of some time ago. :-D Heh heh! But seriously, as for that Johnson Smith item, I too wonder about the real story behind it. When I was 8 years old (long ago) I used to order from their catalog a lot (sent in cash!). Many times I'd feel like I'd been ripped off, as what I'd receive fell far short of its description. Yet it taught me some valuable lessons about being gullible. For instance, a kid might think that the "money printing machine" or the "mind reading device" really work (and are legal) or that the "1000 magnets for $3.00" might actually be as big as they look in the picture (which made them look like big metal refrigerator magnets, but what arrived was scored sheets of tiny vinyl "magnets" that you had to break apart yourself... okay, maybe in the picture the hand holding one of the magnets was that of a fetus). | ||
| Anonymous Rating: N/A |
I e-mailed Johnson Smith and this is what they told me: 'The 3-D glasses are red and blue. They are to be used in conjuction with red and blue light bulbs that are included in the kit.' | ||
| tj Rating: N/A |
Talk about "poor man's stereoscopic projection"! No polarization issues! Whaddaya think: maybe this involves some sort of dual projector, one to project the red image, one for the blue? Then for that matter, you wouldn't need red/blue light bulbs at all - you could just use red/blue filtering in the image film you're projecting through... although for that matter, then you wouldn't need two sources at all - you could simply project an anaglyph image... (unless an idea might be to vary the perceived depth of the projected image by magnifying it (multiple lens setup) and altering the stereo separation) ...er... um, maybe I'm giving this too much thought. ;-) | ||
| Anonymous Rating: N/A |
I imagine a View-Master on steroids. Instead of passive, make it active (projection). Static source images are simple objects on black background. Pan projector to "animate". 6'x9' "screen" is probably a big sheet of white 1-2 mil poly (i.e., trash bag material - that's why they call it "special"). | ||
| Anonymous Rating: N/A |
I e-mailed them again and this is what they said: 'Here is what is on the instruction sheet: The best way to get a response with this product is to keep things moving towards and away from the screen, Remember that for the haunters, you want to play towards the lamps. Your side of the screen is exactly the reverse of the way the viewer sees things on their side. When you advance towards the lamps, the viewer sees it as a shadow coming out at them. This reverse reality is another cool feature of 3D Monster party. Your viewers will not believe that you're standing away from them, but you are. The lamps are literally the eyes of your viewers. Once you have this concept down you will be in control of how to make your haunts more dramatic. Consider playing music to set the mood.' I am going to buy it. | ||
| tj Rating: N/A |
I don't get it, but let's try to. [begin assumptions and theories as to how this thing might work] Perhaps it involves a dark room where the plastic sheet "screen" separates the "haunter" from the "viewer" wearing anaglyph glasses. Behind the haunter are the horizontally spaced red and blue light bulbs, which cast separate shadows onto the screen. As haunters approach or "play towards" the lamps, the shadows on the screen diverge, increasing their stereo separation, making the shadows appear stereoscopically closer to the viewer. So I would guess that this thing only works with projected shadows. Of course that's a limiting factor (and if the haunter sticks out his arm, he needs to ensure his body isn't blocking its shadow) -- however, the idea of a shadow appearing to have stereo depth seems intriguing. I'm assuming you could also alter the ILD (inter-lamp-illary distance :-) to get exaggerated depth effects. [end assumptions and theories] If you buy it, please let us know how well it works (or how it differs from my guessing). Actually, it might be kinduv cool! I suppose you could make it yourself, but adding to the challenge would be matching your bulb colors (or color appearing on-screen) to those of the filters in the glasses. | ||
| DoubtingThomas Rating: N/A |
Note they said "lamps." I'm guessing you get two light fixtures. One with a blue bulb and one with red. They probably tell you to set them up a certain distance away from the screen (like you said, plastic garbage bag material) and a certain distance apart from each other. Then, when you're standing behind the screen, your red/blue image is "projected" onto the plastic. Could something this simple work? | ||
| Anonymous Rating: N/A |
I don't know if anyone else noticed this, but on the description it says you can use the 'special projection screen' or any white wall. I e-mailed Johnson Smith again and they said that is a typo. It will only work with the special screen or a white sheet so the viewer is on one side and the haunter is on the other side. Would a white plastic garbage bag be transparent enough? | ||
| Anonymous Rating: N/A |
> Would a white plastic garbage bag be transparent enough? I bet it would be, more so if it was thin. Even a white sheet, like that from a bed, works well. When I was a child we'd put on shows by casting shadows onto just such a sheet, with our "audience" on the other side. We'd do puppet shows or the neighborhood favorite, horror shows. With only one light source, the shadow provides no depth perception, so cardboard cutouts could be used. In part of the show we'd drive a cardboard stake into a guy's body (it was really going into a styrofoam block on the other side of him, but you couldn't tell that from the shadow), or we'd make it look like he got cut and we'd pull out his guts (which were stuffed socks). The kids in the audience would really squeal. They'd even pay to get in. Oh yeah - if the plastic sheet is too thin it might blow around when someone moves by it, however (obviously it'd need to be anchored). | ||
| Anonymous Rating: N/A |
My 3-D Monster Kit came in the mail yesterday. It came with a large white sheet of plastic garbage bag material, 15 pairs of red/blue glasses that say, "Enjoy 3-D Televison" on the front, a 25W blue party bulb light, a 25W red party light bulb, a Y adapter light fixture, and an instructional video. The video says I should have gotten instructions on paper, but it wasn't in the box. I put the bulbs in the Y adapter and put it in a lamp. I pinned the sheet to the ceiling then put the lamp about waist level like the video said. I was only able to put the lamp about 4-5 feet away from the screen because of the small room I was in, but the video said it should be 8-10 feet away. When I moved my hand towards the lamp(which is suppose to make my hand move out on the other side), the shadow of my hand became too blurry with no hallows of red or blue. Moving my hand away from the lamps I started to see the red and blue, but they were very faint. In the beginning of the instructional video, they show a projector with a red and blue light. I don't know why they would show something different than what is actually in the kit, but the focused light from the projector probably would work better. It also says it helps to put a black cloth or black foil behind the bulbs to help darken the room. I am going to try to put a black trash bag behind the bulbs and try to get the screen farther away. I think it will take some practice moving before I know what works. I will let you know when I have it working better. | ||
| tj Rating: N/A |
So just a Y adapter and you even had to supply your own lamp, eh? I guess that blows it for varying the distance between the bulbs. Although, as long as you're providing your own lamp, I guess you could provide two of them (or make them - the hardware is simple and cheap). I wonder if it's important that the light sources not be separated by very much distance? Light bulbs are problematic in themselves. Bulbs can provide a large light source, which leads to softer shadows. Frosted bulbs are the worst - every point on their surface area emits light. The source of your shadow has a hard edge, but because the light source has big "soft" edges, the shadow is cast with soft edges. Even a bulb with clear colored glass (as I'd assume yours are) can still cast soft shadows if it has a large filament. That's why such light really needs to be focused - and probably why the instructions showed projectors being used. When projecting light, a POINT source is ideal (or otherwise a source where all rays are parallel). While an actual light source that's an infinitely small point is physically impossible, you can put a parabolic reflector behind it, or lenses in front of it, that can focus it through an infinitely small point (think of how sunlight through a magnifying glass converges to a point). A parabolic reflector can even be shaped such that it accomodates for the size of the filament. Anyway, I guess that's all beside the "point" ... As you move the source of your shadow further from the bulbs, you'll notice that your shadows get sharper/less blurry. That's because as you move away from your light source, it gets to be more and more similar to a point source. However, that will make your stereo separation less. That's why I think it would be beneficial to experiment with separating the bulbs more than the Y adapter might allow. The black material behind the bulbs is intended to limit the amount of light (in whatever color) reflects off your walls and onto the screen. Remember that white walls reflect a LOT of light, scattering it. I was thinking you'd need a friend to cast the shadows in order for you to watch them on the other side... but now that I think about it, what you see on one side will be the same image as you'll see on the other, just with the red/blue flipped left-to-right... So do this: fold your glasses the wrong way (wear them inside out) and you should see on the screen what your viewers are seeing, with the same depth! (make sure your left-right is right!) I'd be interested to hear about your further experimentation. |
