Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Make Your Own 3D Images!!


That's right you heard me, or read me right, you too can make your own 3D images. By following this simple tutorial you can enter the self made world of 3D. I know what you're thinking, "Bob that's crazy talk, how can you make your own 3D images?" Well I'll get to that in a moment, but first of all think of the possibilities, one word....... "Weddings", everyone has those ordinary B&W or color photos of that special day, blah, blah blah, how would you like to give something special, a 3D image complete with 3D glasses of the lucky couple sitting by a lake, or a pond, or on a swing, how awesome would that be? My youngest daughter is getting married next year, guess what I'll be getting them?

To start with, take a picture of something, flowers, horses, trees, Yodas, people, whatever you like, now take another picture, this time with the opposite eye, in other words move the camera over, around 3 inches, moving in parallel lines and keeping track of which picture is from the left and which is from the right, you are basically taking stereo images of the subject to combine later in your photo processing software.


Next open your images in your editing software, I have photoshop so I will be using photoshop terms from here on in.

1.Rename your photos, eg. Yoda L, for Yoda left image, and Yoda R, for Yoda right image.

2. Maximize your left image, click on 'Image' on the top toolbar, go to 'Mode' then 'Grayscale', the left image is now Grayscaled.

3. Repeat for the right image.

4. Minimize the right image and maximize the left image, so the left image is active, click on 'Image' on the top of the toolbar once again, go to 'Mode', this time click on 'RGB color', now you have your left image as RGB color and your right image as Grayscale.

5. With the left image active still, go the the bottom right of photoshop, click on the channels tab, next click on the blue channel at the bottom so it is shaded, next with your finger on the shift key click on the green channel, now you will have the blue and green channels highlighted.

6. Minimize the left image now and maximize the right image, with the right image active, click on 'Select' on the top toolbar, select 'All', you will see a dotted line around the whole image, now go to 'Edit' on the top toolbar, then select 'Copy'.

7. Minimize the right image and maximize the left image, with the left image now active go the top toolbar and click on 'Edit' then 'Paste', you have just pasted the left and right images together, if you go to the bottom right where the channels section is and click on the RGB channel you will see a red blue image, isn't this getting exciting?

8. It's almost done now, click on the Red Channel so it is the only channel shaded, now go to the RGB channel and click on the little side box so an eye appears in all the side boxes on all the channels, but only the red channel is shaded, this will allow you to move only the red channel to fine tune the 3D effect.

9. What you have to do now is fine tune the red and blue separation, go to the tool section on the left side and click on the move tool, I wear my 3D glasses for this part, with the move tool click on the composite image and move the red channel until you get the best 3D effect, once you are satisfied, you are done, you may have to crop any red off the image after moving that layer around, then presto, you have your very own 3D image.

If I have totally confused you, just click on the link at the top of this post, it will take you to the tutorial I followed. The guy who does 3D images for the NASA missions wrote it.


Talk about pop a doodle doo, the Moon image above and the Nyiragongo Volcano below are a couple of my favorite NASA 3D images, very cool, they pop right out at you.

So if you really, really, really want to make your own 3D images, I still have some 3D glasses to give away, just email me your address and I will send you a pair.



A late addition to this post.  Ruth one of my readers had commented that she thought I'd be talking about the "Big event", Cern's start up of the LHC, well they did successfully steer a beam around the 27 km loop but the actual smashing of the beams won't occur for a few weeks yet, so no black holes, and they go on to say in the press release that new results won't be appearing for another year, which leads me to believe we probably won't know the exact date they will be up to the  power needed to actually create black holes, kind of keeping us in the dark so to speak.  I will continue to read all the articles I can get my hands on to let you know the current happenings as they occur.


35 comments:

Moonshadow said...

Bob, Thanks for the info. The moon image is just WAY COOL! Can't 3D be done with color images?

Hey, I'd take a pair of those glasses. Mine are old and kinda scratched up. I thought I had some others, but I haven't been able to find them. I'll email you my address.

Anonymous said...

I don't know if I can remember all those steps, I am a blond you know! :glasses:

I am going to print them out so I can do it too. I will be so cool! ;-) ;)

I really had fun with your smilies.

Love and Blessings,
AngelBaby

Ruth said...

Funny, I just saw this tutorial the other day online and I thought, but I don't have 3D glasses! It's cool though!

And here I thought you would be talking about yesterday's big event!! Is it old news now?? :D

Bob Johnson said...

Hey thanks moonshadow, I got your address and I sent you off a brand spanking new pair of 3D glasses, enjoy.\m/\m/

Bob Johnson said...

Hi angelbaby, hope you can follow the instructions okay, it is a lot of fun and anybody with an ordinary camera can do it, cool.\m/\m/

Bob Johnson said...

Hey Ruth, I added some stuff on the LHC, I should have followed my initial plan but got so excited about the 3D stuff,lol.\m/\m/

Ruth said...

Haha! Well, thank you for adding the info! Let's see if the earth gets eaten from the inside out over the next few months . . .

Swubird said...

Bob:

Great tutorial on how to make our own 3-D images. Who would have ever thunk it?

On he black hole machine. I just can't believe all of the people I've heard expressing their fear that the mad scientists are going to create a black hole that will suck the world down the drain. Pure idiocy!

It shocks me to hear stuff like that. It's like we live with one foot in the 21-century and one in the dark ages. Clearly, this stupidity underscores our desperate need for more science courses in both elementary school and high school. Which, by the way, also underscores our desperate need for enlightened teachers who can teach science subjects.

Great post as always. You are a man of many talents.

Happy stargazing.

Sherer said...

Bob,

Great sutff my friend. I espcially enjoyed the starwars characters in 3D! I felt the force with me like never before!

That is really cool how you make those photos like that. Did you come up with those methods all on your own? If you did thats amazing you truely are a scholar and a gentleman.

PS: Let me know if the higgs boson shows up in these photography experiments

Nature Nut /JJ Loch said...

Bob,

The 3D images sound like fun to do. Will have to add this to my list of things to do. Also will add...carry a magnet as per your post on my blog. :D

The blackhole activity discussion becomes more and more interesting.:D

Looove the images!!! You never fail to amaze and delight Jeff and I with your posts.

You are a great teacher. :D


Blessings! JJ

Bob Johnson said...

Lol Ruth we shall see, I for one can hardly wait till they actually discover something new and maybe even turn the physics world upside down, that would be cool.\m/\m/

Bob Johnson said...

Thanks swubird, it is too bad we have these doubters, this program was actually held up in court for quite awhile, just because of the black hole situation.\m/\m/

Bob Johnson said...

Thanks Jesse, and actually I did do most of the 3D without the tutorial, I was so close, what helped me was the fine tuning, had no idea how to do that.

Ahh, the Higgs particle, hey if they don't find it, it doesn't exist, and that is going to be quite the upset, they are going to have to find the field or particle that gives mass, very interesting, and very exciting, to say the least!!\m/\m/

Bob Johnson said...

Thanks a lot JJ, hey if you find a meteorite, call me, we'll do lunch,lol.\m/\m/

MYM said...

Cool! The moon photo rocks :)

lol@you having Liam Neeson action figure. I love Liam :)

kml said...

I look to you for the Cern info, Bob - and I figure if the Alps start disappearing into the black hole, we better hold on tight till we reach the other side - hopefully all in one piece!

I will have to try the 3D thing - sounds too cool!

Anonymous said...

aha! :greenalien: :S
I've been putting the 3D glasses to use, but now I can come back here and create some 3D's myself. Don't know what to convert though :P

The 'big event' didnt make big news, I tried to follow it until my enthusiasm lasted (a day) but then I gave up because there is a much easier source (your blog I mean... \m/)

Bob Johnson said...

Lol drowsey, I knew you'd like it. I saw a pic of him on your web site one time.\m/\m/

Bob Johnson said...

Lol Kathy, soon as I find out when they power it up enough to create a black hole I'll let you know, good luck with the 3D images.\m/\m/

Bob Johnson said...

Hey priyank, the 3D is perfect for you, with all the awesome images you take you should have lots of material.\m/\m/

Marvin said...

Now Bob, that's just crazy talk. ;-)

But now I have a headache.

Very cool stuff, though.

Max Coutinho said...

Hey Lord of the Astropics!

3D images? How interesting!!!
Your daughter is getting married next year: I wish her all the best in the world; there is nothing like getting married to the person one loves :D!
And you are going to get her a 3D image? Is the bride to be "Baby Bob"?

Yes, you guessed it right: you totally confused me LOL! I will drop by the link you provided!

Wow...what a gorgeous moon, Bob!!

Oh my Lord...Ruth took the words right out of my mouth: I also came hoping that you would talk about it!!! I actually read several articles (in newspapers) to follow the event and I thought "Ah, Bob will give us a nice article on this. Monday I am there on his blog!"....
Ah, ok...I got you now: so I will anxiously wait for your articles on this :D!

Beautiful sunset, Lord of the Astropics, just beautiful!!

Cheers

Bob Johnson said...

Thanks marvin, you probably should know all about the 3D stuff, since we are constantly taking 3D images of your planet,lol.\m/\m/

Bob Johnson said...

Thanks max, lol, we used to call her Baby Bob, we are cut from the same mold,lol.\m/\m/

myonlyphoto said...

This is so cool Bob, thanks for sharing. And now I got to go and find my 3D glasses, lol....Anna :)

Max Coutinho said...

Hey Bob,

You are welcome! And I wish all the happiness in the world to "Baby Bob"...:D!

Cheers

Anonymous said...

Great stuff Bob! Like moonshadow says...the moon images are way too cool.

Geesh, are you giving photo lessons now? I just can't keep up to you man.

~JD

Bob Johnson said...

Lol, thanks JD.\m/\m/

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Thanks,
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Thanks,
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Thanks,
Thomas

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