Video: Glasses-free 3D using iOS accelerometer and camera

Kevlar says, "what you call 'REAL' 3D isn't. It's simply stereoscopy, a trick that makes the eye think it's seeing a 3D image."

Stereoscopy is no more a "trick" than stereo audio is a trick. The essence of 3D perception is that each eye sees a different image, and the brain processes those images to extract depth information from them. It doesn't matter whether the eyes see the images firsthand, or presented as a pair of stills; the perception of depth is exactly the same.

Of course you can't walk around the object--we're not talking about holograms here. There are other ways to infer depth, such as parallax shift. But stereopsis is the method your brain relies most heavily upon, and a good stereogram reproduces it perfectly.

For more information, check out the National Stereoscopic Association's website, or read the Wikipedia entry on stereopsis. I've been an active stereographer for forty years, and have studied theory and practice pretty extensively... and I don't use cheap tricks. (Wanna talk about 3D tricks? Look up the Pulfrich Effect.)

This looks kinda' similar to the 'Tilt' option on the Zune HD does.

My HoloBlog app does this: http://www.pushypixels.com/home/HoloBlog.html

Holotoy

This game on the iPod touch 4th gen and iPhone 4 makes use of the Gyroscope, Avvelerometer and the Front-facing camera for tracking positioning. You can also use a variety of 3D glasses with tinted lenses.

The Nintendo 3DS isn't out until February 26th in Japan, March for everyone else.

Holotoy anyone?

The iOS app "Labyrinth" has had accelerometer-based pseudo-3D as an option for a year or more, and I know it's not the only app to play with this method.

But frankly, any pseudo-3D system is fairly lame when compared to the real thing. For example, Hasbro's forthcoming My3D viewer will offer true 3D in full color via a plastic housing that fits over an iPhone.

For those who can't wait, or who don't feel like spending $30, I've published free, printable plans for building an under-$2.00 3D viewer that works with any iPhone or iPod Touch:

http://www.andybaird.com/travels/skylarking/3d/viewer.htm

Included are instructions for taking 3D photos with any camera, using the same technique employed by Apollo astronauts on the moon. It's really pretty cool... and you can't beat the cost!

I don't think you understand what 3D is.

Seems like there was a dice app that already does this with just the accelerometer. You can tilt the phone and the effect is that you see the side of the dice like they were 3D.