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3D Video of Asteroid Vesta
TheNextCorner writes "Glide over the giant asteroid Vesta with NASA's Dawn spacecraft in a new 3-D video. Dawn has been orbiting Vesta since July 15, obtaining high-resolution images of its bumpy, cratered surface and making other scientific measurements." You'll need some red/green or red/blue glasses for the 3D effect.
Having just woken up, at first glance I thought the headline said, "3D Video of Android Vista," and my immediate thought was "when are these guys goong to learn that just because you CAN port Android to something doesn't mean you should? And making something 3D doesn't make it any more impressive!"
Each time NASA releases images from some distant planet or asteroid, I'm floored. The number of things that have to go right, that have to not fail, millions of miles away, is immense. Kudos to the scientists and engineers who worked on imaging Vesta. Fantastic results!
Put my fist through my alarm clock with its ding-dong death inside my ear. - The Blackjacks.
It's stereoscopic, not 3D. While the difference might be considered nitpicking by some, for me it's an important distinction. I can look at 3D all day long, whereas stereoscopic imagery will give me (almost) instant headaches.
(Something to do with the 3D "depth" of stereoscopic images always being on the same focal plane, unlike true 3D where objects at different distances require focal adjustments. My poor tiny shriveled up brain is painfully aware that stereoscopic images are actually flat in terms of focus. Maybe I need a new brain.)
This was a cool video, so why did they choose such a terrible narrator for it? I think my favorite part was around 1:05 when the narrator says, "It's a cratered? Mound? And also shows many features where ... material has slumped? Revealing ... pressure material underneath? And here we can see one of those slumps. And the scarp. In the distance."
Honestly NASA, you'd impress more people with your work if you avoided this kind of "let's just throw some shit together" production. Yes, I saw the introduction, so I know the narrator is the "Deputy Principal Investigator" of the project. But you can't tell me there wasn't someone else on the team that actually had some decent skills as a public speaker. Just because someone is an excellent "investigator" doesn't mean they're an excellent narrator, or ballet dancer, or cardiologist. Does that really have to be explained to you?
Oh, and at about 0:10 in, part of the closed caption reads "oblique" when, remarkably, it's clear the narrator says "oblate." (There's a difference between those two words, NASA. Maybe you can find a scientist somewhere to explain it to you.) Likewise at 1:20, there's a difference between "lineations" and "limitations".
Maybe the libertarians are right. With a pile of tax dollars guaranteed to be shoveled into your organization every year, maybe you have no incentive to deliver a stellar performance every time you attempt to engage with the public.
For my 3ds. I mean those color glasses are ok but the 3ds is better for viewing stereoscopic images than a pair of 3d glasses.
Did you know 80 to 90% of the moderators on slashdot wouldn't recognize a troll even if one dragged them under a bridge.
I'm dissapointed they aren't using yt3d or at least something else where it lets you choose how you want to see the 3D effect. I love looking at side-by-side crosseye videos, and really dislike the red/green or red/blue glasses for they make the colors look crappy and make my head hurt. On the other hand, I've watched whole Cameron's Avatar in crosseye without troubles.
...and don't care about the headache anymore, don't ya? ^^
http://xkcd.com/941/