Stereo View your spatial data
Stereo is a very old method of visualizing three dimensional data, dating
back as far as the Civil War and Thomas Edison (as proven by this "stereoptican" view of this "Most Famous Inventor of
the Age"). As binocular animals, humans have an amazing ability to
perceive three space dimensions, which would be lacking if we were
one-eyed animals, or if both eyes couldn't focus on the same point in
space.
Here are some stereo views which demonstrate how it can be used to turn a
pair of two dimensional views into a single 3-d view. The views are
produced by taking an image from two different perspectives, corresponding
to the right and left eyes: if you alternately open and close your two eyes,
you'll notice that certain objects (especially in the foreground) "jump
around": that's because your eyes are slightly apart. (Not everyone can
trick their minds into seeing these views in stereo, so don't feel bad if
you don't!) There are two ways of doing it:
- cross your eyes, so that the left eye focuses on the right image of the
view, and vice versa; or
- relax your eyes and let each eye focus on the image on its side of the
view (considered more difficult). Some people say that you should "look out to
infinity" (far, far away), then slip the view in front of your eyes, and your
brain will do the rest. Try it out!
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Here are the views:
The first two are from the chemistry book I used as an undergrad: Brady and
Humiston, General Chemistry. 2nd Edition. Wiley, 1978.
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Links:
Website maintained by Andy
Long. Comments appreciated.
aelon@sph.umich.edu