Last Sunday I participated in this event at Machine Project:

“A Practical Demonstration”

Part One: On Sunday July 6th at 6pm a stuntman will leap from Machine Project’s 2nd story window. We would like to invite folks to attend the leap, with a miniDV video camera (everyone’s got one nowadays, we can probably even supply you with one if you don’t). The videographers will be arranged in a large circle on the ground around the spot where the body will fall. They will document the leap and then turn over their video footage (tapes to be provided, unless you want to donate one). This footage will then be edited to create a very clumsy “Matrix” effect that suspends the stuntperson in mid-air with a 360 degree pan. We would like to get at least 40 people to film, so tell a friend.

This Friday is part two:

All day at the gallery we’ll be projecting continuous live broadcasts tracking the sun as it travels around the Earth, with help from camera-ready friends and volunteers worldwide. (We still need a volunteer cameraperson in Cape Verde if you know anyone.)

We’ll also be screening the final edited footage of our stunt jumper.

I cut together some of my own 3-D footage of the stunt jumping.

Stunts at Machine Project 3-D from Eric Kurland on Vimeo.

Siggraph meets Make:

I'll be exhibiting some of my 3-D video gear at tonight's Los Angeles Siggraph meeting. For details, click the image.

I'm Published!

Make: issue 14 has just hit the newstands, and I'm in it! I wrote an article all about my Homebrew 3-D video production tools.

You can check out the article HERE

Maker Faire wrap-up: Part 3 - My Photos

I've finally gotten all of my photos from Maker Faire aligned and uploaded. Here is a link to the collection of 3-D images from both days:

Maker Faire wrap-up: Part 2 - Workshop Photos

During Maker Faire, I did a few workshops at my booth, teaching attendees with digital cameras how to shoot stereoscopic still images with a single camera via the "cha-cha" method of taking one photo with your weight on your left foot, and one photo with your weight shifted to your right foot. This essentially gives you a matched stereo pair, as long as the subject isn't moving during the two shots. A more detailed tutorial can be found on the SCSC website.

What was really cool was that I challenged people at the booth to go out with their digital cameras and take a 3-D picture during Maker Faire, and if they brought their memory card back to my table, I would align their photo and make an anaglyph print for them to take home. Over the course of the event, I had 5 people come back with photos - one woman, who came by on Saturday with only a camera-phone, was so excited to try this that she returned on Sunday with a better camera.

So here are the efforts of some first time stereo photographers:

I'd like to add photo credits to these, so if you took one of these, please email me with your full name, and let me know which one is yours.

Maker Faire wrap-up: Part 1

Well, the Maker Faire is over now, and I'm back at home. I'm calling it a great success! Atendees seemed genuinely excited to see all of my and Perry's stereoscopic displays. My video phantogram worked perfectly!!! And I only completed it three days before the expo.

I'd like to thank everyone who came by the booth for all of the positive comments. We had a great time showing you our 3-D contraptions. I'll have a large album of 3-D photos uploaded soon. I'll also be adding links to the information and software downloads that I spoke about during the show.

And, to toot my own horn a little, Make: magazine's editor-in-chief Mark Frauenfelder awarded us an Editor's Choice Blue Ribbon!

Maker Faire Day Two

Yesterday was a blast! My video phantogram table consistently got people to react with a "Whoa!" - that's what I was going for - and I received many positive comments about the 3-D booth in general. I'm on my way over to day two now, and hope to post a wrap up with 3-D images later this week.

Maker Faire Day One

Maker Faire begins in a few hours - come by and check out the 3-D shenanigans at booth Expo Green 218. Live 3-D video projection, video Phantograms, stereo photography workshops, and some cool 3-D projects from my friend and fellow stereographer, Perry Hoberman.

Maker Day 2008

First report from San Mateo:

As a precursor to this year's Maker Faire, yesterday was Maker Day - a day of presentations and performances by some of the Makers at this years show. Today was also a day of set-up for many of the larger displays. A good time was had by all. Enjoy the photoset.

I'm an eccentric geek - Xeni Jardin said so!

Last October, Dorkbot Socal arranged a tour of Mister Jalopy's Garage, and I brought along my 3-D camera rig to shoot some stills and video there. boing boing TV shot some footage of me and my cameras, and included it in their 10/24/07 webcast. You can visit the original bbTV post here, or just watch the video below (I'm the second segment, after the interview with Mister Jalopy).

Wanderlust 3-D

Last night I attended the Culver City screening of the 3-D music video for Björk's Wanderlust.

It was BRILLIANT! Filmmakers Sean Hellfritsch, Isaiah Saxon and Mark De Pace were present and hosted a Q&A session featuring behind-the-scenes 3-D photos taken by stereographer Greg Dinkins. All I can say is - if you have an opportunity to see this short film projected on a large screen, GO! It will be released eventually online and on DVD in anaglyph, but the full color, large screen version is not to be missed. For more on the filmmakers, visit their website Encyclopedia Pictura and for more info on the making of the video, click here.

The video is viewable online at wired.com!

V For Vintage Stereo Card

Last week, I found an auction on Ebay that I just had to bid on. It's a vintage stereocard of a group of British children holding up an effigy of Guy Fawkes. Yes, Guy Fawkes - England's 17th century terrorist who attempted to blow up the Houses of Parliament, was caught and executed, and went on to inspire the titular character in the graphic novel and movie "V For Vendetta".

“Remember, remember
the fifth of November,
The gunpowder, treason and plot,
I know of no reason
Why gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot.”

November 5th, the anniversary of the Gunpowder Plot, marked the traditional British celebration of "Guy Fawkes Night". The evening typically included festive bonfires, fireworks, and children going door-to-door with an effigy of Fawkes.

I thought the card was really cool, and now I own it. Here it is in anaglyph for your viewing pleasure.

Boba Fett - Rocketman

Boba Fett - Rocketman from Eric Kurland on Vimeo.


At last May's 30th Anniversary Star Wars Celebration in Los Angeles, I captured this 3-D video of Boba Fett flying with a real live jetpack!

The sound from the rockets was unbearably loud, but the crowd didn't seem to mind because - hey, Boba Fett with a jetpack!

red on the left/cyan on the right...enjoy.

Last year, while touring the Heritage Square museum in Los Angeles, I learned that the stereoscope was the TV of the Victorian era. In the 1890s, it was common for people to retire to the parlor after dinner and pull out the stereocards in order to watch an African safari or a trip to Moscow.

I have a large collection of devices for viewing 3-D images and videos, both high-tech and low-tech, but until recently, I didn't have a vintage "Holmes-style" stereoscope card viewer. That changed in 2006 when I purchased a nice century-old viewer at the annual Stereo Club of Southern California auction. Only problem now is that stereocards are large and bulky, and lugging around a collection of images requires a large box. I figured that there had to be a digital solution.

I had already been playing around with transferring 3-D movies to my Sony PSP in side-by-side format for freeviewing, and had picked up the "Metal Gear Acid" game that comes with a cardboard 3-D attachment for the PSP, so it seemed that the PSP would be the answer. After all, the PSP has a nice wide screen with pretty good resolution, and can hold hundreds of JPEGs on it's internal memory stick. It even has a built-in slideshow function. And also, I thought it would be cool, and somewhat "steampunk" to mount a PSP on a vintage stereoscope.

As luck would have it, the PSP fits almost perfectly between the two wire card-holders on either end of the slidebar. Now, I didn't want to do anything to alter the viewer, as it is an antique, and I wanted the PSP to be removable, so i turned to my old friend Velcro to attach the PSP. I cut two loops of thin Velcro strapping, just long enough to go around the PSP, and slidebar, and fasten to itself. That's really all it takes to hold the PSP firmly in place.

The whole setup works perfectly. I'm currently carrying around some 400 jpegs of stereocards and a bunch of 3-D movies on a 2G memory stick. Converting movies to parallel side-by-side format for the PSP is pretty easy, and gives me a portable method to show my work to people. And I've discovered that the PSPscope is a great way to view digital stereo photos shot with my Loreo Lens-in-a-cap attachment, as I can just eject the memstick from my DSLR and insert it into the PSP. I'll write up some tutorials on this stuff in the future.

So now I can carry my whole stereocard collection around at once, instantly access any image, watch a slideshow, 3-D movie, or play a 3-D videogame on this marriage of 19th century and 21st century tech.

MakerFaire 3-D Video

MakerFaire 3-D from Eric Kurland on Vimeo.


One hour of stereoscopic 3-D footage from the 2007 Bay Area MakerFaire, compressed into two minutes.

I had a stereoscopic camera rig at my booth, running live 3D projection onto a silver screen. Watch as people reach out to touch themselves.

Grab your Red-Cyan Anaglyph glasses and enjoy!

I have two eyes!

Welcome to the blog! I'll be posting all kinds of cool 3D things made possible through binocular vision...and despite the blog's title, I'll try not to hurt your eyes.