You can use your iPhone, iPod Touch or any smart phone or similar device to look at 3D photos without any funny glasses or extra hardware. What we’re talking about here is free viewing, a simple technique of seeing 3D in a left-right pair of properly-prepared images.
You can free view 3D stereoscopic images on any type of display such as a computer monitor or on paper. However, using an iPhone or similar device makes it much easier. The combination of a flat display surface, back-lit display and small size in a hand-held device makes the process unusually easy.
Many attempts to free view fail because the image is published or presented too large. Unlike 2D photos, you can’t make a stereo pair an arbitrary size and still be able to view it properly.
While viewing 3D on your phone, you can easily hold it at the angle and distance that works best for you. So, even if you have had trouble free-viewing 3D before, give it a try. It doesn’t get any easier than this. The only problem is that the images end up being rather small.
Here are some more 3D photos for your viewing pleasure in a Flickr set, and as a Picassa album. Use whichever one your device browses most easily. These images are pre-sized to 480 x 320 pixels, which is the resolution of the iPhone, iPod Touch, the HTC Eris, and probably the same or close enough for other smart phones as well.
Hope you enjoyed turning your expensive electronic toy into a View-Master for a while.
-Jamie
