January 27, 2014

My senior project has begun! I am designing a collection of fabrics that make use of red-cyan anaglyphic technology. Here are my goals for this project:

• Every design needs to be visually appealing both with and without 3D glasses. I am excited about incorporating 3D into my work, but it should complement the aesthetic instead of detract from it.
• Every design needs to be attractive on its own as well as alongside the other designs in the collection. This may mean that I will choose to include a few designs without 3D elements that coordinate well with the fabrics that do have 3D elements.
• I'm going to have to stick to a strict time table in order to finish the project and prepare for the show in time. I need to finish the collection and order the fabric for the show between March 29th and April 5th. March 29th is my intended order date, but I have given myself a week of extra time in case something comes up.

I've been reading about stereoscopic 3D and experimenting with techniques in Photoshop and Illustrator. Here's what I've learned so far!

There is a little bit of wiggle room to play with depth. If you look at the image below while wearing 3D glasses, the bottom-right slice of lemon comes forward the most and the top-left slice is further back than the rest. This has to do with the placement of the red and cyan filters.  

I've discovered that there is a limit to how far you can push this effect; the slice in the bottom-left should appear to be the closest, but it's distorted because the distance between the filters is too much. It is an interesting visual effect, though, both with and without 3D glasses.

Here are those same lemon slices arranged in a potential pattern for a design:

I have also learned that I need to pay very close attention to contrast. The right amount of contrast can really help a 3D element to pop, but too little or too much can flatten it. The roses below are a good example of this.

Also, objects that have very small, intricate details are hard to get right with 3D. A lot of detail has been lost on the pendant above. It still looks nice in 3D, but it would be smarter to choose slightly less complex elements in the future. (Or maybe I will find a better way to preserve detail...?)

I really, really like the combination of vector and photographic elements in these images. I want to experiment a little more with adding 3D effects to background elements, but in my experimentation so far it's been a bit visually overwhelming.