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Why Bad 3D, Not 3D Glasses, Gives You Headaches

Barence writes "The most common complaint about 3D is that the glasses give you a headache, but that's not actually true, according to the man who teaches the pros how to make better 3D. Speaking at the BBC in London, Buzz Hays, chief instructor for the Sony 3D Technology Center in Culver City, California, explained: 'It's not the technology's fault, it's really the content that can cause these problems. It's easy to make 3D but it's hard to make it good — and by "good" I mean taking care to make sure that this isn't going to cause eyestrain.' He went on to detail some of the mistakes made by inexperienced 3D film makers, from poor composition of shots, through uncomfortable convergence settings, to overuse of on-set monitors without viewing their content on a big screen. But the biggest admission Buzz made was that not even the 'experts' know all the tricks yet, which is why 3D should only get better from here. In the same seminar, Buzz also explained why 3D glasses are here to stay — at least for the next few years."

11 of 255 comments (clear)

  1. The glasses can do it too ... by damn_registrars · · Score: 4, Insightful

    At least, I'm pretty sure that the movie Avatar was not physically squeezing on the sides of my head and pushing down on my nose.

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    1. Re:The glasses can do it too ... by MBGMorden · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Well, that and the simple law of economics: something is worth what people will pay. People will pay more to see the 3d version, and so they charge more. Simple as that. If you don't want to pay the premium, then go to the 3d showing. Most theaters have 2d versions.

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  2. Cyclops, use your eyebeams! by Drakkenmensch · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Why do I hate 3D glasses? Because I'm near sighted and had to wear glasses every day of my life... now watching movies or television is going to require a SECOND pair on top of the first one? Go to hell, hollywood, for making my everyday life even more impractical than it already is.

  3. Give me black and white by SoupGuru · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I'd take a black and white movie/show with a decent story over Avatar and its ilk and damn day of the week.

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    What doesn't kill you only delays the inevitable
  4. Make the 3D fad go away by FrankSchwab · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I'm sorry, I have yet to see a movie in 3D where 3D provided anything additional to my movie experience other than a headache.

    I watched Avater, and was distracted from the movie by the places that the 3D effect broke up badly. Of course, I get distracted by the film reel change indicators also.

    Why do the movie companies believe that we want 3D? Heck, why do the television manufacturers believe that I'm willing to spend 2 grand more for it? Does anyone here feel that its a useful addition to a movie? /frank

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    1. Re:Make the 3D fad go away by brasselv · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Why do the movie companies believe that we want 3D?

      Because otherwise you have no reason to upgrade your Blue-Ray player.

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    2. Re:Make the 3D fad go away by GameMaster · · Score: 5, Insightful

      "I get distracted by the film reel change indicators also."

      That, right there, should be all the clue you should need to tell you that your are abnormally over critical.

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  5. Depth of Field by MBCook · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Call me back when they fix the depth of field issue. The whole scene needs to be in focus so that when my eyes aren't looking at precisely what the director wants, my eyes don't try to focus on something that can't be focused on.

    Then Ebert is really against 3D because of how much darker the picture is, when normal movies are already projected too darkly half the time.

    At this point, it still seems to be a gimmick. I remember reading that 3D ticket sales had fallen from 85% (or so) of ticket sales in some of the earlier 3D movies this year to ~40%. Clearly, people are realizing that it's usually a scam for an extra $5 from you.

    Cameron worked on it for 10+ years. Nolan explicitly fought against making Inception 3D because he didn't think it would work. There is no way the no-name director of American Pie 7: Bagpipe Retreat is going to do 3D well.

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  6. Of course its not the tech's fault. by Kitkoan · · Score: 5, Insightful

    He's the chief instructor for the Sony 3D Technology Center, so of course he'll tell you its not the tech's fault. Its his job to make sure people don't go against this technology. Its all about PR and the millions/billions of dollars invested and wanted to be made from this. Its like when a cellphone loses signal when you hold it in the wrong way, its not their products fault, it's the users fault because to admit "Hey, we screwed up" will cost much more money then to try to trivialize the problem and hope people will shift blame from the real issue (the tech itself).

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  7. Re:It is NOT 3d, you CANNOT get 3d from a 2d scree by Abcd1234 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Please, that's not remotely true.

    Watch Avatar. Now try to focus on something that's out-of-focus in the background.

    "WTF", your eyes say, "I know I'm *supposed* to be able to bring that tree into focus, but I can't!" That's because it's *not* 3D. At best, its a fragile optical illusion.

  8. Very close to my personal gripe by ebuck · · Score: 4, Informative

    Exactly. That's why I hate 3d movies, before I get the possible headache.

    With 3d movies, since the screen is still flat, only one item can be in focus at any given time. The items in focus are those in the plane where the action is typically taking place, but sometimes something interesting is happening in the background. Attempts to view the background have you focusing on something that will never come into focus. This causes eyestrain and an uncomfortable visual feeling.

    Most of the time people want to see what the director wants them to see; however, there were several scenes in Avatar where I wanted to look at the squad tactics in the background. It was quite disconcerting to know that they were permanently rendered out of focus.

    If there wasn't part of the screen being rendered with tricks to simulate depth, I doubt I would have been so put off by the other parts of the screen failing to simulate depth in the same way.