stereoHypercube
This applet is a conversion of a windows screensaver
I programmed in January '97, and is quite similar. However, this has a
feature I intended for the screensaver but did not implement - stereo vision
for 3D glasses. There are various keys you can press to change what's happening
- look below the applet for information. (Click once on the applet now
so that keypresses work though.)
To see the stereo effect, you're going to have to beg, steal or borrow
a pair of 3D glasses. I personally didn't have any, so I made some, which
is what you'd probably have to do: you'll need to go to an art materials
shop and buy some red and green acetate (i.e. see-thru plastic). You could
just hold them in front of your eyes, but I placed bits of plastic in an
old pair of cheap sunglasses that didn't have any 'glass' in them anymore.
Anyway, the idea is to have the green over your LEFT eye and the red over
your RIGHT eye. (Got a pair of 3D glasses the other way round? Then press
SPACE to switch the red/green side.) Press 's' to switch the applet to
stereo-mode (that has the white background). Now you'll need to 'tune'
the applet's red and green colours to match your own glasses, so do this:
look through only the green covered eye. Fiddle with the 'u' and 'h' keys
until some of the lines in the applet disappear, bingo! Then do the same
with the other eye, using the 'y' and 'g' keys. Once you've done both,
look through both eyes and the cube should look 3D-ish. I hope. (Note:
when you're adjusting the red and green colours, don't make either colour
so near white (or white even) that you can't see them with your normal
eyes!)
Rotation controls
|
Key
|
Action
|
|
r
|
Turn off/on automaic rotation of cube. Auto-rotation has to turned
off if you want to use the controls below this. |
|
i, j
|
These two keys control the x-y rotation of the cube (positive and negative
rotation). |
|
o, k
|
These two keys control the y-z rotation of the cube (positive and negative
rotation). |
|
p, l
|
These two keys control the z-A rotation of the cube (positive and negative
rotation). Note that the A dimension is the scary it-doesn't-exist dimension. |
|
c
|
Toggles the dimensional collapsing mode between perspective project
(default) and isometric projection. Perspective proj. is the standard way
of doing 3D graphics (images drawn thus have parallel lines converging
at infinity). Isometric proj. is a simpler method, where parallel lines
remain parallel. |
|
Stereoscopic scontrols
|
Key
|
Action
|
|
s
|
Turn on/off stereoscopic viewing mode. |
|
y, g
|
These two keys tweak how close the RED colour is to white. Don't make
it completely white or the cube will be decidely mono-scopic. |
|
u, h
|
These two keys tweak how close the GREEN colour is to white. See warning
above. |
|
n, m
|
These two keys change the binocular disparity, i.e. how different the
two images look. Try holding down 'n' until the two images are identical,
and while looking through your glasses, hold down 'm' - you should see
the cube go from flat to wonderous 3D, or something. (Technical note: I
have modeled binocular disparity by doing an x-z rotation.) |
|
<space>
|
Toggles the left/right order of the red/green. Press this once if your
glasses have green in the RIGHT eye. |
|
Disclaimer: looking through 3D glasses can mess with your
mind, especially after a long time. Use the above applet at your own risk.
If you suffer from epilepsy or a similar disorder, it might be best to
not use the stereo mode.
Get back to alex's java menu here.
Mail Alex <lard.ed.ac.kill-this-part.uk>
Document last changed 5-1-98.
Created 22-10-97.