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Mars in 3D, 1979
Sep. 14th, 2011 10:53 pmA half-hour film about the Viking 1 and 2 Mars missions, made in 3D in 1979 with stereoscopic Viking images and (newly remastered) eerie synthesized music. It uses YouTube's 3D mode, which allows display in a variety of 3D formats; the film works pretty well with red/cyan glasses.
I have a hard time fusing the landers' surface images, just because the optical scanners on the Viking landers had such a large distance between them that the stereo separation of the images is extreme, and the edges of the video image get in the way. I find it's useful to not use fullscreen mode, and to sit well back from the screen.
Just about every mission that's gone to Mars since Viking sent back stereoscopic pictures of higher quality than these, many of which are available as 3D anaglyph images online (the ones from ESA's Mars Express and the MER rovers are particularly impressive). But there's an old-school charm to this film, with the combination of the spooky music and Elliot C. Levinthal's deadpan narration.
I have a hard time fusing the landers' surface images, just because the optical scanners on the Viking landers had such a large distance between them that the stereo separation of the images is extreme, and the edges of the video image get in the way. I find it's useful to not use fullscreen mode, and to sit well back from the screen.
Just about every mission that's gone to Mars since Viking sent back stereoscopic pictures of higher quality than these, many of which are available as 3D anaglyph images online (the ones from ESA's Mars Express and the MER rovers are particularly impressive). But there's an old-school charm to this film, with the combination of the spooky music and Elliot C. Levinthal's deadpan narration.