Cheap and Easy 3D for Online Courses

Do you have an object that you would like to show students in 3-dimensions?

Too hard to mail the object out for viewing?

Here is a simple yet effective optical illusion that will work for you.

Make two scans of the object.

The first scan, the object will be to the left-most position on the scanner.

The second scan, the object will be to the right-most position on the scanner.

Open both images and copy them into a new third image. The "side-views" of the object (which were originally toward the middle of the scanner) still need to appropriately point toward the center in the final composition.

Leave some blank "white space" between the objects.

Have students stare at the whitespace between the objects and slowly cross their eyes. All of a sudden, they see the 3-dimensional object in the "negative space" left behind.

Light colored empty "negative" space works best. View the sample above of what is normally a very flat MP3 player (has little dimension to begin with - but with this process, you see it "lift off" the screen).

Have fun!