Photos: The technology behind 3D movies

by ZDNet Author | October 8, 2007 4:00am PDT | Image 1 of 9

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Artificially created 3D images all share a basic design: sending two slightly different views to each eye. With the images, your brain can reconstruct depth, just as it does in real-world sight, from the two slightly different vantage points.

The Dolby 3D system relies on a spinning filter wheel to alternate rapidly between two slightly different sets of primary colors. Corresponding filters on 3D glasses only let the appropriate light into the left or right eyes after the light reflects off the screen. The filter wheel is synchronized with the digital projector, which switches back and forth between the images for the left and right eyes six times per frame, or 144 times per second.

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