National Stereoscopic Association 2005 Convention is July 13 through 18 in Irving, Texas

Another full agenda awaits attendees to the annual National Stereoscopic Association (NSA) Convention being held July 13 through 18, 2005, in Irving, Texas. Many opportunities to shoot some great 3-D photos will be available to NSA members during the event.

The Trade fair will be held on Saturday and Sunday and will have all of the best Stereocard and Stereo 3-D vendors from all over the country. There will be thousands of stereocards, modern and vintage stereo camera equipment and other 3-D related items.

The Stereo Theater is the place to see stereo presentations by some of the best stereo photographers shooting today. There are traditional stereo slide presentations as well as a special digital stereo theater program.

Wednesday July 13
Registration
Room Hopping

10 a.m. to 1 p.m. IMAX 3-D Film Festival
The world's first Large Format 3-D Film Festival will be held on Wednesday, July 13, and registered convention participants can attend a free screening of several Large Format 3-D films to kick off The Large Format 3-D Film Festival. Free transportation will be provided. The IMAX Cinemark 17, 11819 Webb Chapel Rd. Dallas, TX, is about 12 miles from the Hotel.

The planned films are
Ocean Wonderland 3-D
NASCAR
Aliens of the Deep
A Better Mousetrap

Thursday July 14
Workshops:
11 a.m. Digital Stereo Slideshows - John Hart

Birds of a feather and organization meetings:
2 p.m. Medium Format enthusiasts.
4 p.m. View-Master meeting
4 p.m. APEC III Meeting
5:30 p.m. SSA Meeting

6 p.m. DeGolyer Library Reception
The DeGolyer Library will be hosting a special event for Stereo Card collectors on Thursday, July 14. The library has an excellent collection of stereocards and will be presenting the exhibit: Two x Two: the Stereograph Collections of Banks McLaurin, Jr. and Robin Stanford. Mrs. Stanford will be there to say a few words about her collection and to discuss the exhibit. Light hors d'oeuvres will be served.

7 p.m. SSA Dinner at Mercado Jaurez
Room Hopping

Friday July 15
Stereo Theater
Auction

Workshops:
10 a.m. Shooting Phantograms Outdoors in Nature
2 p.m. Slide Mounting for Projection 101 - Steve Hughes
3 p.m. Digital Stereo Cameras - Larry Heyda - Rob Crocket - Jon Golden
4 p.m. Shooting Phantograms Outdoors in Nature - Barry Rothstein
5 p.m. Miami is Hot! NSA 2006 Convention Planning - William Moll

Saturday July 16
Trade Fair
Stereo Theater
Awards Banquet at Austin Ranch

Workshops: 2 p.m. Making Modern Stereo Cards - Steve Hughes

Sunday July 17
Trade Fair
Stereo Theater
Workshops

Monday July 18
Tour of Dallas and Ft. Worth

Dallas
See part of the motorcade route, see the Rooming house where Oswald lived, the Texas Theater where Oswald was arrested and the site where officer Tippet was shot.

The tour includes a visit The Sixth Floor Museum which features nearly 400 historic photographs, six
documentary films and audio cassette tour and a range of artifacts and interpretive displays to document the life and, times, death and legacy of President John F. Kennedy and analyzes Kennedy’s lasting impact on American culture.

Fort Worth
On the way to Fort Worth the tour guide will prepare you for what you will be seeing while guests are having their box lunches. She will tell tales of yesteryear when over a century ago millions of Texas longhorns were driven to the Kansas rail heads along the Chisholm trail, stories of roundups and Indian lore.

The tour will drive through Sundance Square, the restored old city with its brick streets and architecture of the old west, shops and galleries of western art and gifts. Sundance Square was named after the infamous outlaw, the Sundance Kid.

Step out into the Water Gardens. Designed by nationally known architect, Philip Johnson the water gardens are designed to combine water, greenery and concrete. A spot used many times in the movies, such as Logan’s Run, it surprises even the most sophisticated visitor.

The tour goes to the stockyards area which shows the authentic heritage of the Old West. This is the home of the Cattleman’s Exchange, where cattle auctions are still held. A stop in the Stockyards Hotel, a moment in history that time forgot. Its walls are filled with stories of a rough and tumble age of real life pioneers and cowboys. Next door is Booger Reds Saloon, named after the famous broncobuster, it carries on the time honored tradition of a western watering hole.

For those who like to shop, right up the street is the Stockyard Station Market. Without destroying the architectural integrity of the original structure the Market offers visitors an opportunity to experience the Old West in an authentic but modern setting. The Market houses more than 20 new shops from the King Ranch Saddle shop to the Olde West Country Store.

Longhorn cattle drive at Fort Worth Stockyards
The "Fort Worth Herd" numbers 15 longhorn cattle, steers actually, not cows. A handful of them will be chosen each day to participate in the drive, which will leave just before lunch from the herd's pen in the Stockyards. The cattle travel from the Stockyards along the Trinity River to the pasture, where they graze for a few hours before returning to the Stockyards, between 4 and 4:30 p.m.

The city's cowboys, dressed in turn-of-the-century garb with period saddles and equipment, will explain Fort Worth's history and answer questions from the public.

The whole tour should last about nine hours.

Photo 3-D 303 Kit for Macintosh

On June 27, Mission3-D™ announced the launch of their Photo3-D™ 303 Kit for use on Macintosh computers running system OSX or above. Before now, the Photo3-D™ kit, which makes 3-D photography accessible to everyone, has only been available for Windows™. Now any inclined consumer, gadget lover or graphic designer can easily capture, create and share eye-popping 3-D photographs.

A Macintosh version of the Photo3-D™ 303 Kit has been a common request to Mission3-D™, as the Mac world is heavily populated by visual artists, designers and digital photographers.

Photo3-D™ is the first affordable, user-friendly device that enables anyone to easily take 3-D photographs. Photo3-D™ works with any digital camera (with a standard tripod socket on the bottom), and the full product package includes everything needed to easily take, see and share 3-D photographs.

It takes just minutes to learn, and anyone who knows how to operate a digital camera and home computer can create their own incredible 3-D photographs with a few simple steps. Like a 3-D movie, you have to wear the included 3-D glasses to see the effects.

“It’s amazing to see how people react when they see a 3-D photo, especially children,” said Michael DesRochers, managing partner of Mission3-D™. “With Photo3-D™, your pictures will show real depth and dimension, become more life-like and you are finally able to see yourself the way the world sees you. Photo 3-D™ is a remarkable product. It’s fun to use for parties and events, and we are thrilled to deliver this simple-to-use technology to the Mac community.”

The reasonably priced Photo-3D™ 303 Kit is available via the Photo3-D™ online store at www.Photo3-D.com, or by phone at 1-800-531-3378. The manufacturer’s suggested retail price for the Photo3-D™ 303 Kit is $129.

Disney, Dolby and Digital Cinema - The Plan to Install 100 3-D Digital Systems in Theatres this Fall

What has 3-D's in it's names and could revolutionize the film industry? Disney...Dolby...and Digital Cinema.

At their own expense, Walt Disney and Dolby Laboratories plan to install 100 digital movie systems in the top 25 U.S. cities. Disney and Dolby's plan to install 100 digital movie systems in theatres this fall is the third recent major news about the return of 3-D to the mainstream movie going experience. Dolby Laboratories will provide the computer servers.

The systems should be in place in time for the Nov. 4 release of Disney's 3-D computer-animated movie Chicken Little. The film uses visual effects from George Lucas' Industrial Light and Magic.

The film industry has been buzzing about 3-D movie making since the Showest 3-D presentation last April in Las Vegas. 3-D movies were touted by film directors including George Lucas and James Cameron, who think the new 3-D technology that relies on digital filmmaking and projection could renew interest in movies, helping an industry worried over significantly lower ticket sales this year.

The 100 theatre locations chosen by Disney and Dolby will be announced at a later date. The plan marks another advancement in the process of bringing digital cinema to a wide number of movie theatres after years of development.

Digital cinema systems have been unveiled by Eastman Kodak and Belgian projector maker Barco. Access Integrated Technologies and digital projector maker Christie Digital Systems had already announced plans to to fund installations. Digital cinema offers audiences as good an image the first time a movie is shown as the 100th time.

For years, the question of who will pay for installations has delayed a rollout of digital cinema. Theatre owners have said that studios should pay while studios have argued that theater owners should pay.

With digital cinema offering studios savings in film distribution costs, the investment would pay off in the long run. Other entertainment venues such as satellite broadcasts of music concerts could be featured in theatres, offering owners a whole new attraction to audiences.

The Undead 3-D begins filming in L.A.

The Undead 3-D reaches out. View with the red lens over the right eye. Photo and 3-D by Daniel Symmes

On June 15, production commenced on The Undead 3-D in Los Angeles, a feature film that will be the first in several respects. The key aspect will be the maiden flight of the HD3Cam™, the latest 3-D camera system from Dimension 3 (D3)..

D3 is again ahead of the pack with the smallest, lightest, professionally-designed HD 3-D system. For the first time ever: HD on Steadicam, without cables, with variable interaxial (sometimes erroneously referred to as “interocular”), and REAL 3-D monitoring.

The production is The Undead 3-D (working title), and is produced and directed by Jeff Broadstreet. D3 has found Jeff to be great to work with, in that he has his specific ideas, but is open to the technical challenges of shooting a low budget in 3-D, and encourages input.

Director of Photography Andrew Parke has from the start grabbed on and won’t let go. He’s taken a very aggressive tact to addressing 3-D in relation to conventional filming. And to add to the weight, the ultimate venue is film for theatrical projection. As best we know, this is the first feature to be produced in this format and 3-D for output to film.

The HD3Cam™ was designed and built by Daniel Symmes (Director of Photography since 1972), who is the leading expert on film and video stereoscopy. Symmes ("Mr. 3-D") is also the head of Dimension 3. Also involved was Steadicam great, Jerry Hill, whose contributions made miracles fly.

Visit Dimension 3 for more behind the scenes images of the film.

In-Three Inc. Launches Expanded Web Site

An expanded Web site for In-Three Inc. is now online at www.in-three.com. The site features descriptions of In-Three's Dimensionalization® process, the first real process for converting motion pictures into fully-authentic, high quality 3-D.

The Web site includes a company profile, press links and testimonials, contact information, frequently asked questions and background on digital cinema and 3-D.

In-Three has developed the revolutionary patented process called Dimensionalization® that converts full-length mainstream 2-D motion pictures into fully realistic, engrossing 3-D motion pictures of the highest quality. After years of development, this is the first 3-D conversion process that results in completely believable 3-D images. In-Three’s Dimensionalized™ 3-D content is so convincing that many have said that it makes them feel as if they are in the film. Dimensionalization® is a resolution independent high quality depth-restoration process that results in 100 percent authentic 3-D. Dimensionalized™ 3-D content looks extremely realistic, typically better than if it had been originally photographed in 3-D. Every scene is dimensionally choreographed for complete believability. Dimensionalized™ movies can be comfortably watched for hours on end, just as is in the real world of 3-D vision. There is no visual discomfort or eye-fatigue.

In-Three has already completed a number of demonstrations and tests for nearly all the major studios and key filmmakers, Dimensionalizing™ motion picture content at HD, 2K and even 4K resolutions. The Dimensionalization® process has been winning accolades from George Lucas, Stephen Spielberg, Peter Jackson, James Cameron, Jeffrey Katzenberg, Kathleen Kennedy, Tom Cruise, Robert Zemekis, Randal Kleiser, Robert Rodriguez and many others. The Web site also includes photos of some of these industry professionals taken during the 3-D Digital Cinema presentation at the 2004 Showest Convention in Las Vegas.

Threshold of the Future: 3-D Cinema Comes of Age
by Ray Zone
Courtesy of www.worldentertactive.com and Ray Zone

“When all film is stereoscopic, and we have forgotten that we ever accepted the convention of the flat-image as real, it seems unlikely that we shall remark on the stereoscopic film’s appearance of reality, any more than at present we remark on the conventional flatness of the two-dimensional film.” – Ivor Montagu

A Future in the Past
In a visionary 1950 essay titled “The Third Dimension – Film of the Future?” cinema historian Ivor Montagu wrote about 3-D movies after visiting the Stereokino in Moscow and viewing an 80 minute program consisting of three motion pictures. The 3-D movies, comprised of a travelogue of the Crimea titled “Sunny Region," an instructional film called “Crystals” and a comedy, “Caran d’Ache on the Ice,” were all autostereoscopic; in other words, no 3-D glasses were required to see the third dimension in the films. Are you surprised?

Sounds a lot like the 3-D future to me and yet it happened over half a century ago. These 3-D movies used interlocked rear projection of dual left and right eye 70mm film prints on to glass with vertically etched lines. A printed notice on the ticket to the films pointed out a limitation of the autostereoscopic process. “Leaning to one side loses the stereoscopic effect, which can be recovered by a movement of from 4 to 8 inches.”

For our immediate future, however, as digital cinema begins to proliferate (as of May 2005 there were about 75 theatres in North America equipped with digital projectors), audiences viewing 3-D movies will be using the glasses. And, for the time being, they will be using either Liquid Crystal Shutter (LCS) glasses with left and right eye lenses alternating at 48 frames a second (96 hertz) or disposable glasses containing circular polarizing filters.

The strength of either process is that each requires only a single lens digital projector. The projector of choice for digital cinema appears to be the Christie CP2000 with 2k of resolution. A lower end model also projects 1.2K of resolution but both models are in use with the exhibitors who have installed digital projection in their theaters. Therein lies another strength in the digital 3-D process: exhibitors currently housing digital DLP projectors need not completely overhaul their system, they only need to procure the dual-stream server and the eyewear.

A Clarion Call for 3-D Cinema
The signal event, the clarion call announcing digital 3-D cinema, took place recently with Texas Instruments’ DLP 3-D cinema presentation March 17 at the ShoWest trade show in Las Vegas, Nevada. For that presentation digital 3-D was projected using the “page-flipping” function of the DLP projector, retrofitted for stereo projection, and the audience viewed the stereoscopic clips on a matte white screen using the Nu-Vision LCS glasses running at 48 frames a second. With high-powered filmmakers George Lucas, James Cameron, Robert Zemeckis, Robert Rodriguez and Randall Kleiser showing stereoscopic clips of their films and espousing the virtues of digital 3-D cinema, it was a 3-D wake-up call for motion picture producers and exhibitors.

Cameron and Rodriguez have been doing original dual-HD (high definition) photography for their stereoscopic efforts using the Reality Camera System (RCS) developed by Cameron and Vince Pace. Their 3-D films include Cameron’s “Ghosts of the Abyss” and, in 2005, “Aliens of the Deep” and Rodriguez’s “Spy Kids 3-D,” and, opening June 10, “Lava Girl and Shark Boy.” Both Rodriguez films are projected in a theatrical wide release with existing film and digital projectors as red/blue anaglyph, a process which Cameron characterizes as “horrendous in image quality,” and which, in his opinion, “has contributed to the ‘ghetto-ization’ of 3-D.”

At the March 17 ShoWest event, Rodriguez’s stereoscopic movies were projected in full color using the DLP alternating field platform. George Lucas presented 3-D clips from “Star Wars” with startling 3-D that had been produced as stereo conversions from the original 2-D versions by the company In-Three of Agoura Hills, California. He also announced that the entire series of “Star Wars” films would be repurposed to 3-D by In-Three with the first in the series to be released stereoscopically in 2007.

Stereo Repurposing of the Past
If the entire library of cinema’s history is thought of as the past, then that history can now potentially be seen in 3-D, after first being processed to a digital intermediate (DI) and converted to stereo by a company such as In-Three. Think of it, “The Wizard of Oz,” “Gone with the Wind” or “Casablanca” in 3-D. Will there be a new market for these films, despite total saturation on TV and DVDs? Or will more recent films such as “Star Wars” and “The Matrix” produce big box office returns in a 3-D re-release?

Joe Kleiman and I recently visited In-Three’s CEO Michael Kaye and VP Neil Feldman, who projected some stereo conversions in their screening room for us on a 15 foot matte white screen using a 1.2k projector running at 48 frames a second. We put on the Nu-Vision alternating field glasses and looked at stereoscopic clips of “Star Wars” (the first ten-minutes of the original film in the series), the ‘bullet time’ sequence from “The Matrix,” John Travolta hoofing it in “Grease,” and Tom Cruise racing in “Top Gun.” The closing sequence of Sam Raimi’s “Spiderman,” despite fast cutting and rapid camera moves, proved very well suited for 3-D.

In each instance, the stereoscopic effects were easy to view and yet very dramatic. I detected no pseudoscopic anomalies, spurious edges or aliasing in the 3-D. Individual scenes each had a different 3-D arrangement and the placement of the stereo window, where the left eye and right eye images coincide, was handled with great sensitivity.

Now, the only questions are how long does it take to convert a feature film to 3-D and how much does it cost? The answers depend on the visual complexity of the movie, but a general estimate right now for a feature film is about $5 million, a drop in the bucket by most Hollywood standards.

Interestingly, artistic advantages exist for stereo conversion over live-action and original stereoscopic photography. They are the same advantages had by a stereoscopic filmmaker working with computer generated imagery (CGI). Because the 3-D image is digital, a measure of control over the picture is provided to the stereoscopic filmmaker that is absent with original 3-D photography. Different elements in a scene, for example, can be rendered separately in one visual space. One stereo conversion at the In-Three demo, a scene from “Tuck Everlasting,” showcased this digital flexibility. The background, middleground and extreme foreground elements were each given a different 3-D treatment that produced powerful three dimension effects which would have been impossible with original 3-D photography of the same scene.

The Two Digital 3-D Cinema Platforms
In an illuminating question-and-answer session at ShoWest, James Cameron discussed the two digital 3-D platforms available now. “Very little change to the DCI (Digital Cinema Initiative) specification is required to achieve viable digital 3-D projection using the existing technology for the digital cinema rollout,” said Cameron. “Each digital projection ‘screen’ will have a DLP Cinema projector and a server. For 3-D, that server will need to be upgraded to a dual channel server. In addition, that theater will need either a silver screen and LCD fitter for the projector, or a set of reusable LCD glasses. This overall upgrade should cost between 10 and 15 thousand dollars over the base cost of the digital projection unit.” Upgrade cost for both digital 3-D cinema platforms are about the same.

The Real D company, based in Beverly Hills, has been perfecting a digital 3-D cinema platform that uses disposable glasses with circular polarizer filters. The conventional polarizing 3-D glasses used to date have linear transmission of light through the lenses so that if an audience member tilts their head left or right, ‘ghosting’ or breakdown of the stereoscopic image starts to occur as the left eye begins to see a remnant of the right eye image and vice versa. This drawback is eliminated with circular polarizing filters which are more expensive but in quantity can be manufactured at minimal cost. An additional advantage to the exhibitor is that there is no necessity to collect the circular polarizing, “passive,” glasses back from the audience and clean them before each reuse as with LCS glasses.

With the Real D platform, the left and right eye frames are alternating out of the 2k digital projector 72 times a second (144 hertz) and projected through the polarizers. This makes a silver screen necessary to prevent depolarizing and ghosting of left and right eye images. Real D has developed a combination silver/matte white screen with high gain reflectivity and a wide viewing angle so that the screen is compatible for both 2-D and 3-D projection.

Joe and I viewed some stereoscopic footage of “The Polar Express” along with the Real D demo reel that includes clips from Cobalt Entertainment’s NFL footage, Cameron’s “Ghost of the Abyss” and some custom CGI 3-D clips demonstrating the potential for digital 3-D cinema exhibition with applications such as 3-D pay-per-view or local stereoscopic advertising. The three dimension effects with the Real D platform are striking and the images very bright on a twenty foot screen.

On March 14 during ShoWest, Mann Theatres announced that they had selected REAL D as the exclusive delivery system for digital 3-D entertainment for its theater chain. The Chinese theater complex located in Hollywood will host the first REAL D flagship 3-D cinema. Mann Theatres is the first theater chain to embrace the exhibition of digital 3-D cinema and the REAL D flagship theater at the Chinese will mark the first time the 78-year-old theater or any of its adjoining six auditoriums has been equipped to show 3-D movies. Real D hopes to have 1,000 digital 3-D cinemas in operation by the end of 2005 and three times that in 2007.

Alternating Eyes for New Cinema Grammar
With both the Real D and Nu-Vision LCS digital 3-D cinema platforms, the left and right eye images alternate sequentially at a high rate during projection. This technology allows stereoscopic movies, running in simultaneous dual streams with separate left and right eye information, to play on one projector through a single lens.

On March 4, 2005, Real D acquired the Stereographics Corporation based in San Rafael and founded in 1980 by Lenny Lipton, an author and 3-D cinema historian. Lipton holds 20 patents for field sequential stereoscopic displays and with a September 2001article in the SMPTE Journal titled “The Stereoscopic Cinema: From Film to Digital Projection” wrote that “The deterrents to the widespread acceptance of the stereoscopic theatrical medium have, in principle, been solved by digital projection. The same projector can be used for showing planar content as well as stereo content with the flip of the switch.”

Neil Feldman at In-Three pointed out that a single digital cinema server can deliver a 2-D and 3-D version of a movie to two different auditoriums simultaneously. That raises an important question which has both economic and artistic ramifications: Should movies be released simultaneously in “flat” and stereoscopic versions? This was the case with “The Polar Express” which played in a wide release (3,000 screens) flat in 35mm and a handful of Large Format theaters (about 70) exclusively in 15/70mm 3-D. Despite the huge difference in numbers, the 3-D version, playing in 2 percent of the theaters, pulled in 30 percent of the box-office.

Artistically, however, stereoscopic motion pictures might necessitate a new grammar for cinematic storytelling. 3-D movies like “Spy Kids 3-D” incorporating z-axis information within and in front of the screen can only work artistically in stereo. With the reality that any existing film can be converted to stereo, this aesthetic issue for stereoscopic cinema will acquire importance in filmmaking.

Now that the technology for production and exhibition of 3-D movies has, at last, become transparent, we can ask some pertinent questions. What new kind of story can be told using the motion picture screen as a stereoscopic window on another world? How can 3-D be used as an inherent element of the narrative? What can 3-D filmmakers do to incorporate audience space into their storytelling?

In his visionary essay, Ivor Montagu asked similar questions. The “apparent pictorial reality” of 3-D film was only the most obvious aspect of this new cinema language. “But, in respect to compositions and movements in the third dimension itself, that is, towards and away from the spectator,” he observed, “we have here a gigantic, a tremendous, an immeasurable new power.”

This artistic power can also generate a monetary engine. As with 3-D movies in Hollywood in 1952, the power of stereoscopic digital cinema can be an effective form of “differentiation” for exhibitors to lure people out of their homes, away from their increasingly sophisticated home theater systems, and back into motion picture theaters.

Montagu acknowledged that the Stereokino films were limited in their achievements. “However,” he added, “one’s fingers itch to mould and sculpt in this new medium. What a fascinating task it must be to explore its ranges. All that has been contrived in it so far is no more than lisping baby-language, compared to the roaring eloquence or pregnant whisper it may one day add to our vocabulary.”

With digital 3-D cinema a reality, our vocabulary has indeed expanded, and we will watch, and listen, with both eyes open.

References
Lipton, Lenny. “The Stereoscopic Cinema: From Film to Digital Projection,” SMPTE Journal, September 2001, p. 586-593.

Montagu, Ivor. “The Third Dimension – Film of the Future?” The Cinema 1950, ed. Roger Manvell, A Pelican Book (Great Britain: 1950), p. 132-139.

Ray "3-D" Zone is an award-winning 3-D artist, speaker, and author whose writing has appeared in the “Los Angeles Times,” “American Cinematographer,” and “The Hollywood Reporter.” An internationally recognized expert in all things 3-D, Zone has a special interest in film history and Large Format filmmaking. Since 1983, Zone has produced stereoscopic images for a wide variety of clients in publishing, education, advertising, television, and motion pictures. His newest publication is the book “3-D Filmmakers: Conversations with Creators of Stereoscopic Motion Pictures.” Zone’s Web site is viewable in anaglyphic 3-D.

LINKS: www.ray3dzone.com, www.reald.com, www.in-three.com, www.stereographics.com, www.nuvision3d.com

Article © 2005 Joseph L. Kleiman/Amanda Gardner
This article may not be reproduced in whole or in part without expressed written permission of the owners.

Landmark View-Master® water tower to be torn down

The former View-Master® water tower and Powell's Books store will be torn down to double the size of Cascade Plaza in Beaverton, Oregon.

The shopping center expansion will add 138,500 square feet of retail stores, which is nearly the size of a proposed Wal-Mart in Beaverton.

In the process, the developer is demolishing what's left of the former View-Master® plant, which has been vacant since Mattel closed it in 2001. The property is contaminated with industrial solvent from decades of manufacturing and is undergoing a cleanup of groundwater that's expected to take another 25 years. The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality has approved the expansion.

View-Master® water tower coming down soon
"The 100,000-gallon water tower in front of the property will probably be torn down within the next couple of weeks," Pate said. The tower has become associated with pollution because it held contaminated drinking water.

In March 1998, the site was found to have 320 times the federal allowable amount of trichloroethylene, or TCE, in its well water. TCE, which was used as a degreaser at the plant from 1952 to 1980, was disposed of there until 1982 by being dumped on the ground, which is now illegal.

A well at the plant provided drinking water for employees as well as cooking water in the cafeteria. Mattel closed the plant in May 2001 after starting an employee health-screening program and a cleanup that continue today.

TCE has been linked to liver and kidney cancers in laboratory animals, and the Environmental Protection Agency classifies it as a "probable carcinogen" for humans.

Even though it will take another 25 years or so to clean the groundwater on the property, Harsch Investment can build, "because it's not disturbing the surface soil," said Henning Larsen, project manager for the state environmental agency. In some cases, Harsch will use the concrete floors from existing Mattel buildings.

"The construction will require shutting down the cleanup for about six months," Larsen said. There was some concern that could cause the contamination to spread. But "a similar shutdown last year did not result in any problems," Larsen said.

The Adventures of Shark Boy and Lava Girl in 3-D

In June, The Adventures of Shark Boy and Lava Girl in 3-D opened in theatres. The Web site for The Adventures of Shark Boy and Lava Girl in 3-D allows you to convert the site into 3-D.

Sometimes the most amazing superheroes are the ones inside your dreams. So discovers 10-year-old Max (Cayden Boyd), an outcast little boy who has become lost in his own fantasy world in an attempt to escape the everyday worries of dealing with parents (David Arquette and Kristin Davis), school bullies and no-fun summer vacations.

When Max realizes the cool characters, high-flying adventures and incredible secret powers that dwell in his imagination might be far more real than anyone is willing to believe, his whole world changes. Now, Max is blasting off on a mission to Planet Drool where Shark Boy (Taylor Lautner), a kid once lost at sea and raised under the watchful fins of sharks only to become half-shark and Lava Girl (Taylor Dooley) a volcanic beauty who emits leaping flames and red-hot rocks live in a realm of astonishing wonders, one in which the Train of Thought can whisk you off to the mouth-watering Land of Milk and Cookies.

Teeming with mountainous roller coasters and violet skies, Planet Drool looks like the perfect kid paradise until Max meets up with the shocking Mr. Electric (George Lopez) and his sidekick Minus (Jacob Davich) who are trying to do away with all dreams forever. With Shark Boy and Lava Girl in trouble, only Max can guide them by imagining every clever move of their wily escape from Mr. Electric's Lair. Speedily conjuring up an incredible array of gadgets, gizmos, contraptions and cool ideas, Max learns the power of turning his dreams into reality.

More Star Wars III-D Collectibles

The third chapter in George Lucas' Star Wars saga, Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith brings with it many 3-D related collectibles. Here are more of the Star Wars 3-D items available.
Editor's Note: All Star Wars images are © Lucasfilm 2005. All rights reserved. Check out our past issues to see more Star Wars III-D items.

Star Wars Episode III Revenge of the Sith (Hobby Edition) Movie trading Cards Darth Vader Lenticular Morphing Card (Rare "Bonus" Case Loader card)	Star Wars Episode III Revenge of the Sith Celebration 3 lenticular 12" x 18" poster First image features Anakin Skywalker	Star Wars Episode III Revenge of the Sith Celebration 3 lenticular 12" x 18 "poster Second image features Darth Vader

Comic book colorist claims to have invented View-Master®

Jack Adler was DC Comics' premiere colorist from the early 50's through the mid 80's and was head of the art department for much of his tenure, doing much of the hiring and training. He graduated from high school at the age of fifteen and quickly got a degree in fine art. He became proficient at sculpting, pencilling, inking, painting and photography. He pioneered the washtone/graytone effect that became so popular on the DC "Big Five" war titles. Plus, he inked many 50's, 60's and 70's comic covers as well. He also developed the 3-D process used on the Batman 3-D and Superman 3-D comics in 1953.

In summer 2004, Adler, thought by some to have passed away years ago, at the urgings of his family, made his very first public appearance at the San Diego Comic-Con. He was honored Thursday afternoon at the massive annual convention with the Inkpot Award For Excellence for Outstanding Achievement In Comic Art. He received a standing ovation from the many onlookers at the panel of Golden-Age and Silver-Age Greats, hosted by Mark Evanier. Besides Adler, noteworthy members on the panel were Tom Gill, Sid Jacobson, Gene Colan, Frank Springer, Harry Harrison and Frank Bolle.

On Friday at the Comic Con, there was a one-on-one panel with Mark Evanier and Jack Adler, titled "Spotlight On Jack Adler", and many questions were answered for the crowd by the comic book legend.

Adler also explained how he invented the 3-D image technology popularly used by View-Master®, but was unable to get the patent, as the film itself had been patented, but not in a similar 3-D format, and (according to Adler), he got burned, as View-Master® was able to capitalize on his invention freely.

Factoid - DC production artist Jack Adler is the uncle of the infamous "King Of All Media" Howard Stern!

Ray Zone's 3-D Slide Shows is in its 10th year at Los Angeles Public Libraries

For 10 years, Ray "3-D" Zone has been presenting 3-D slide shows on the history of 3-D in photography, motion pictures, art, science and popular culture at different branches of the Los Angeles Public Library system. The 2005 show is The World of 3-D Comics. The first show of 2005 was held on June 14 at the Panorama City Branch Library.

Each program is projected on a large silver screen and the audience, consisting of children, teenagers and adults, views the three-dimensional images wearing polarizing glasses similar to those used for 3-D movies. Below are dates and locations for Ray Zone's Library 3-D Slide Programs for 2005.

Wednesday, July 6, 4 p.m.
Jefferson Branch Library
2211 W. Jefferson Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA, 90018
(323) 734-8573

Saturday, July 23, 2 p.m.
Will and Ariel Durant Branch Library
7140 W. Sunset Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA
(323) 876-2741

Tuesday, July 26, 3:30 p.m.
Mark Twain Branch Library
9621 So. Figueroa St.
Los Angeles, CA
(323) 755-4088

Thursday, August 11, 3:30 p.m.
Porter Ranch Branch Library
11371 Tampa Avenue
Northridge, CA, 91326
(818) 360-3106

Wednesday, August 17, 4 p.m.
Jefferson Branch Library
2211 W. Jefferson Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA, 90018
(323) 734-8573

Cascade Stereoscopic Club of Portland, Oregon

The Cascade Stereoscopic Club (CSC) in Portland, Oregon, U.S.A. is a non-profit 501(c)(3) public corporation devoted to all aspects of stereo photography. The CSC is a forum where one can share ideas and learn new techniques from fellow stereoscopic enthusiasts. Monthly meetings are open to the public.

The CSC publishes an excellent newsletter featuring information about club activities and 3-D in its many forms. The online newsletter is in Adobe Acrobat PDF format.

Monthly meetings
CSC hosts a monthly meeting open to the public. Meetings include projection of stereo images, discussion of techniques and projects related to stereo imagery, viewing of stereo cards, information concerning equipment and processes used in rendering stereo images. Meetings are open to the public and anyone interested is encouraged to attend.

Public Demonstrations
Throughout the year, CSC presents free public showings and demonstrations of stereo imagery in public forums. These range from libraries, museums, clubs and schools. Forums include slide projections, viewing of stereo cards, information concerning the history of stereoscopy and the present day use of stereo imagery and technical discussion of the process of rendering stereo images.

Workshops
CSC sponsors various workshops during the year which relate to specific areas of stereo photography or image making. The workshops are open to the public and are discussions and hands-on opportunities to learn some particular aspect or technique.

PSA Traveling Show Hosting
Once a year, CSC hosts the Photographic Society of America, Stereo Divison (PSA) Traveling Show, a slide exhibition sponsored by PSA. Photographers from all over the world enter in July. A panel of judges selects approximately 50 percent of the entries to travel for a year from one club to another. Historically this amounts to approximately 100 to120 slides. The various clubs judge the accepted slides to choose the top awards. At the end of the year, the results from all of the judgings are combined to provide a final result. CSC views and judges the traveling show in June at the regular club meeting.

Club Competitions
CSC offers several competitions within the club each year in both stereo slides and stereo cards. The entries are publicly viewed by all present at a scheduled meeting and are judged. There are usually two slide and two card competitions which may or may not have a specific theme.

International Stereo Exhibition
The Cascade International Stereo Exhibition is held annually in June and is open to all participants anywhere in the world. The exhibition has sections for stereo cards, slides and stereo electronic images, both photographically based and non-photographic. The images are judged and awards given for excellence in each section of the exhibition. The accepted images in the electronic section are available for viewing on the World Wide Web. In addition, the accepted images are publicly displayed in at least two free public forums in the Portland and Vancouver area.

National Organization Activities
CSC is a member of the Photographic Society of America, the National Stereoscopic Association and the International Stereoscopic Union. As a member of these organizations, CSC promotes and participates in activities sponsored by them.

3-D Center of Art and Photography
The club operates the 3-D Center of Art and Photography, a non-profit museum/gallery, features the best in antique and contemporary 3-D imagery. The Center houses everything from antique stereocards to View-Master®, contemporary 3-D photography, lenticulars, anaglyphs, and computer generated 3-D art.

Fruit by the Foot features 3-D Promotion

Food companies have used 3-D over the years to help move items off the shelves including tiny 3-D comic books inserted inside the package to special order 3-D premiums. The latest food product to feature a 3-D promotion is Betty Crocker Fruit by the Foot.

Specially marked packages of Betty Crocker Fruit by the Foot contain 3-D anaglyphic glasses on each box. The glasses can be used to see 3-D images printed on the paper wrappers rolled around the Fruit by the Foot snack in each box. There are also 3-D X-treme trading cards printed on the box.

Using 3-D to promote products goes back to the days of the stereoscope. Universal Pictures used stereocards sold as a movie souvenir item at showings of Lon Chaney's The Phantom of the Opera and The Hunchback of Norte Dame. Trading card companies use lenticular 3-D for special limited editions at conventions. You can read about many of these classic 3-D premiums in our archives.

Fruit by the Foot snacks are produced by General Mills.

Adventures in 3 Dimensions at the Science Museum of Virginia

Have you ever wondered how 3-D movies are made, or how artists can create incredibly realistic 3-D images with paint and canvas? At Adventures in 3 Dimensions, explore how your eyes and brain work together to operate in a three-dimensional world. Get an in-depth look at illusions, perspective, and 3-D technology and applications. Don’t miss the 3-D and hologram galleries, and a fantastic 3-D slideshow featuring polarized 3-D technology.

The Adventures in 3 Dimensions exhibit showcases an in-depth look at living in a three-dimensional world with illusions, perspectives and applications.

Visitors can look at paintings that demonstrate a "one point perspective" in which a 3-D image is drawn using straight lines that come together at a single point, called a vanishing point.

A 3-D computer tour of the human body allows you to use real-world technology, such as medical imaging and virtual reality, as you look at images from scanned and digitized slices of human cadavers. Adventures in 3 Dimensions was developed by the Pacific Science Center, Seattle

Do you think seeing is believing?

Take a stereo-vision test to see if you have stereo perception. Here, you can look through various special tubes and lenses that will make you think your eyes are playing tricks on your mind. And it's not just for kids.

Parents, revisit the inventions of the Stereo Realist Camera, marketed in 1947, or the View-Master® stereoscope, the popular 3-D viewing device that last summer celebrated its 65th birthday.

And while you're testing your eyes, don't miss the museum's newest IMAX film, Aliens of the Deep, presented by Walt Disney Pictures and Walden Media. The film follows a team of marine biologists and NASA researchers as they discover some of the strangest animals on Earth in hopes of shedding light on discovering life on other planets.

It was certainly a day of exploration last week when Mary Ann Merritt's third-grade class visited the museum. The Elijah House Academy students had been studying oceanography and came to the museum to experience firsthand the discoveries of the deep sea. "I want them to grasp the concept of creation," Merritt said. "They know some, but there's so much to discover." The students watched as the film's real-life explorers dared to get personal with some of the ocean's most exotic creatures.

The explorers secure themselves and an underwater robot in a submersible to visit some of the sea's most exotic locations southwest of Mexico, the Lost City and the Snake Pit, to name a few. There are acres of blind shrimp defying scientists, and cooks, by swimming in boiling hot water trying to get nutrients that pour out from the Earth in what looks like volcanoes or smokestacks. And, you can't miss the six-foot-tall tubeworms attached to the bottom of the ocean in freezing water. Their open ends, called plumes, reach into water that is 150 degrees.

"It enlarged their understanding of what's out there," Merritt said. "It was cool," said nine-year-old Kaelah McClaine about the film. "My favorite part was seeing the squid and volcano erupting." Student Harlan Grantum said he learned much about the ocean from the film. "It's real big and has lots of animals," he said. "It was pretty interesting," student Jamie Ledwell added. After he saw the movie, Jamie said he wants to become an astronaut when he grows up.

After all, the point of the film's exploration of deep sea is meant to provide clues for astrobiologists -- scientists who study the possibility of extraterrestrial life through what is known about life on Earth.

Merritt said the film and the exhibit should stick in her students' minds throughout their educational journey. "It's made their world a lot better," she said. "And deeper."

3-D Center of Art and Photography takes you to Lenticular Heaven on July 1

Starting July 1, two new 3-D presentations are coming to The 3-D Center of Art and Photography in Portland, Oregon.

Lenticular Heaven July 1 through Aug. 14
3-D without the special glasses becomes reality on July 1 when Elliott Swanson takes you to Lenticular Heaven. Covering a wide variety of subjects, these images are printed on a special medium that allows the viewer to see depth without the customary eyewear.

Swanson shares his world of lenticular images from the fanciful to the sublime. The lenticulars are created from computer generated images or from photographic images, and some use a combination of both.

Swanson has built several stereo cameras and also rebuilds vintage 1950's stereo cameras, although he says he had to sell most of his antique cameras to afford more modern gear. Over the years he has worked in almost all 3-D formats, but his most recent ventures have been in lenticulars.

Island Apart: Only in Madagascar July 1 through Aug. 14
Beautiful immersive slides of Marlin Peterson's travels will be shown in the stereo theatre on the hour, concurrent with the gallery show. Island Apart: Only in Madagascar documents just one of Marlin's many excursions. He is currently hiking and photographing in Kazakhstan.

This stereo slideshow documents Marlin's three month "mountain-bike-packing" odyssey through this unknown island-continent. Despite being situated relatively near to Africa, Madagascar has been isolated as a landmass for 165 million years! Perhaps even more striking is that the first inhabitants to this remote land sailed all the way from present day Indonesia! These factors give Madagascar 's natural and cultural history an astonishingly unparalleled uniqueness. From the "spiny forest" and arid deserts, to the steamy rainforests, we will camp and pedal the whole way, discovering myriad landscapes, close up facial portraits, spiders, chameleons and rural markets! This is a must see for anyone with at least two eyes.

The 3-D Center of Art and Photography is located at 1928 NW Lovejoy in Portland, Oregon. Call (503) 227-6667. Hours: Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 1 to 5 p.m. and every first Thursday from 6 to 9 p.m.

1950s Coin-Op Bettie Page 3-D Peepshow Viewer

This outstanding coin-operated viewer came right out one of the gentleman’s clubs in London’s Soho during the naughty, but discreet, 1950s. This Cabaret machine is hung on a wall and has a viewer for you to look into.

The metal front is all-white and has the look of an old time coin-op cigarette machine. Lettering is figural metal and in painted gold. There are “windows” on the front, the main one features art with a Vargas-style girl in slinky garb with the text “3-D Beauty Parade.” The top window reads, “Glamour Beauties” and “10 Beautiful Models in Color 3-D Only…Insert Coin On Side 4…Different Series.” The viewer operates on a European electrical set-up. The viewer measures 27" x 24" x 6”.

After you dispense the coin, a giant wheel inside shows you a three-dimensional image, using a full color slide, of a lovely nude of the period. Inside are many of the most famous glamour girls of the era (those that did nude work) including three images of that 50s brunette bombshell, Bettie Page.

Style of the machine and its use is reminiscent of the 1960 British film Peeping Tom that destroyed filmmaker Michael Powell’s career.

IMAX 3-D Screen Opens July 14 at Pittsburg Mills Mall

On June 23, an IMAX movie screen was installed to join the other 17 traditional movie screens at the Cinemark Theater in the Pittsburgh Mills mall off Route 28 in Frazer. The 45-by-66 screen will be able to show 3-D films as well as two-dimensional movies, according to Amanda Kengersky, with Jack Horner Communications, representing Mills.

The Cinemark Imax is the second such theater in the region after Rangos Omnimax Theater at the Carnegie Science Center in Pittsburgh.

"One difference is that in our theater you can see 3-D and traditional 2-D," said Terrell Falk, Cinemark's vice president of marketing and communications. "It's really a different experience. The 3-D is so realistic it's incredible. You have people trying to reach out to catch things or something looks like it's falling and you have the entire audience ducking."

Falk said Cinemark's Imax will be a flat screen, as opposed to the dome screen at the science center.

At its grand opening, the IMAX will feature three movies in 3-D: Aliens of the Deep, Sharks and NASCAR and The film Fighter Pilot will be shown in two-dimension.

The mall is scheduled to open July 14.

Shrek 3-D Screen Grabs

Several 3-D screen grabs from the Shrek 3-D DVD are available to view online. The rest of the site is in Russian but has loads of other 3-D images are that are easy to navigate.

Recent 3-D Auction Results

Several online auctions brought some interesting prices for 3-D items. Here is a sampling of a few auction results from the past month.

Paramount Pictures Beam Splitter 3-D Projector Lens with case brought $88.77 with 7 bidders
Paramount Pictures 3-D Lens with case brought $51 with four bidders
40 Stereo 3-D Nude Risque Slides 1950s brought $299 from one bidder
1940's One Cent Stereoscopic Peep Show brought $361.71 with six bidders
Pristine 1883 Antonio Quirolo Rosewood Stereoscope brought $383.55 with 20 bidders
Luxury Mahogany Wood Graphoscope Stereoscope Viewer brought $473.95 with 18 bidders
Lietz StereoScope MS27 Stereo Aerial Photo Viewer brought $380.07 with three bidders
GAF View-Master with 147 reels brought $405 with 19 bidders
Five Edsel View-Master reels with viewer brought $290 with one bidder