Jupiter 3D
I wrote a Matlab program that takes a planet image and rotates the planet on its axis through any given (small) angle.
Using this program, I took a single processed image of Jupiter, rotated it forward and backward a little bit to make two new images that can be used for a stereoscopic 3-D view.
There are two ways to make/view stereoscopic 3-D images. Both are illustrated here.
Before starting, it is important that the Jupiter images below have a horizontal separation that is approximately the same (or a little bit less) than the separation of your own two eyes. These images were sized correctly for my computer monitor, which is a high resolution (1200x1600) 20 inch screen. On other large but lower resolution screens, the images will be too far apart. If this is the case, you will need to resize the image. If you are viewing with Internet Explorer, you should be able to adjust the size of these images and therefore the separation as follows. First click on one of the images to open the jpg file in a separate browser window and then resize that browser window. The image should automatically shrink as you make the window smaller. If this doesn't work, go to Tools->InternetOptions->Advanced->Multimedia->EnableAutomaticImageResizing and make sure the checkbox is checked. (For Netscape/Mozilla, go to Edit->Preferences->Appearance->ResizeLargeImagesToFitBrowserWindow and make sure the checkbox is checked.)
With both viewing methods you will need to sit with your eyes about 18 inches (half meter) from the computer screen.
Okay, now for the first method, which uses the following pair of
Jupiters. After resizing appropriately, relax your eyes so that you
stare through the image as if you have X-ray vision and are looking
at something behind the image. With your eyes properly relaxed, you
will see three Jupiter images. The middle one should pop out as a
3-D image. If the two side images are bothersome, hold a piece of paper (black
works best but white is okay too) vertically as a separator so that
your left eye only sees the left image and your right eye only sees the
right image.
For the second method, we use the following pair.
This time you must make the three Jupiters by looking cross-eyed at the
screen. For me, the simplest way is to hold up my index finger about
halfway between my face and the computer screen. I move my finger about
until it is on top of the left Jupiter when viewed with my right eye and
simultaneously on top of the right Jupiter when viewed with my left eye.
Then I concentrate my gaze on my finger. There should appear a 3-D Jupiter
straight behind the finger. I then shift my gaze to this 3-D image. This
last step takes a little practice (at least for me). But, the upside
is that the two side images fall close to my blind spot and partly disappear.
This is very nice.
