Content

• Steps
• Method 1 of 2: DIY Anaglyph Glasses
• Method 2 of 2: Using other types of 3D glasses
• Tips
• Warnings
• What do you need

Making 3D glasses is so easy that you can do it right before the start of the movie, and just in time if the glasses that should have come with your 3D player are missing! Make sure your movie is in traditional anaglyph format before starting work. More modern approaches to 3D technology are either much more difficult to recreate on your own, or they will cost you several times more than buying ready-made glasses on the Internet.

Steps

Method 1 of 2: DIY Anaglyph Glasses

1. 1 Make your own or use an old eyeglass frame. If you want your 3D glasses to be durable, buy a cheap pair of glasses or sunglasses from the drugstore or dollar store and squeeze out the plastic lenses. However, compared to buying ready-made 3D glasses, this does not save you much money, so most people prefer to use billboard, cardstock or plain paper folded in half.
   • Durable oak billboard will last longer than other paper options.
   • Cutting and folding the eyeglass frame is intuitive, but you can print, cut and transfer this template to sturdier material if you like.
2. 2 Cut out the lenses from clear plastic. Any transparent plastic is suitable for this. Whichever you choose, cut out the lenses slightly larger than the holes in the frames of the glasses so they can be glued together later. The following are the most common options:
   • Cellophane. It is a thin, flexible film sometimes used as food packaging material or as a wrapper for CD boxes.
   • Overhead transparencies for overhead scopes. They are sold at office supply stores.
   • Jewel packaging for CDs. Entrust the cutting process to a more agile adult, as this material cracks easily. Using a stationery knife, carefully trace the outline over the plastic until the slot is deep enough, and then bend the plastic to break off the parts.
   • Acetate film. You can buy this type of film at art or theater supply stores. You can buy ready-made films in red and blue-green and skip the painting step.
3. 3 Color one lens red and the other blue. Use some permanent markers to paint on one side of the lenses. Glasses will come out more successfully if you use blue-green instead of blue. Since blue markers are more common, you can use it as well, it will work fine too.
   • If the color looks uneven, smudge it with your finger.
   • If you look at a room through the lenses, it will appear darker than it actually is. If the room is still light enough, recolor the lenses on the other side as well.
4. 4 Stick the lenses on the holes. The red lens is for the left eye, and the blue one is for the right.Glue the lenses to the frame, but so that there is no adhesive tape on them, otherwise the image will be blurry.
5. 5 Adjust the tone and hue of your monitor. Put on your glasses and look at the 3D image. If you cannot see the 3D effect on your TV or computer screen, adjust the monitor's hue and tint settings until the blue on the screen is invisible to your right eye. You will know when this happens, as the image will suddenly become three-dimensional.
6. 6 Use these glasses to view red and blue 3D images. Anaglyph glasses are the oldest method of viewing 3D images. The same image is split into two colors, red and blue-green, and superimposed next to a slight offset. When viewed through glasses with lenses of the same color, the eyes perceive only the image of the opposite color. Since your eyes see the same image, but from different angles, your brain interprets it as a real 3D object.
   • With these glasses you can check out some 3D DVD movies (but not BluRay) and games in anaglyph or stereoscopic mode. Search the Internet for videos and images marked "anaglyph" to find more 3D content.
   • Most modern 3D TVs and cinemas use a different technology. If the 3D screen or image contains colors other than red and blue, these glasses will not work.

Method 2 of 2: Using other types of 3D glasses

1. 1 Learn about polarized glasses. In cinemas, 3D glasses with polarizing filters are often used, as well as special projectors that polarize light. A polarizing filter is like a barred window: light rotated (polarized) vertically passes between the gratings and reaches your eyes, while light rotated horizontally cannot pass through the grating and is reflected. By directing the "gratings" above each eye in different directions, each eye will receive an image only with its own polarization, and your brain will be able to interpret these two images as a single 3D image. Unlike anaglyph glasses, this image can contain any number of shades.
2. 2 Make your own polarized glasses. Making such glasses at home is likely to be much more expensive than buying a ready-made pair, especially since they must come with every session or TV that uses this technology. If you are interested in the glasses making process itself, buy plastic film with “linear” or “circular” polarization. Rotate the film 45º vertically and then cut out the lens. Rotate the film 90º in either direction and cut out the second lens. This is the simplest solution, but you may need to rotate the lens while looking at the 3D image to find the correct angle. The main thing is to rotate both lenses at the same time, as they must necessarily diverge exactly 90º from each other.
   • The actual definition of polarizing light is much cleverer than described above. Modern 3D glasses usually use circular polarization of light, so that the viewer does not need to keep his head straight while watching. To make these lenses at home, you need one sheet of anti-clockwise circularly polarized plastic and another sheet of clockwise circularly polarized plastic (also called right and left polarized). And they are many times more expensive than linear filters.
3. 3 Become familiar with the concept of “synchronized glasses”. The technology, which is also called "Active 3D", is based on advanced developments that cannot be recreated at home. To send different images to each eye (which is a fundamental principle of all 3D technologies), the TV monitor switches between two different images at a very high speed.Special glasses synchronize with the TV, alternately dimming and brightening each lens using tiny liquid crystals and an electrical signal. These 3D glasses are considered one of the most effective for comfortable and long-term use, but making them at home is impossible, let alone programming the TV to sync with them.

Tips

• If you're looking for PC games that support anaglyph glasses, download Bioshock, King's Bounty: Armored Princess or Minecraft.
• Decorate glasses with scrap materials to make them unique.
• If you want more durable 3D glasses, buy a pair of safety glasses from the hardware store and repaint your lenses.
• IMAX cinemas use linear polarization and RealD use circular polarization, although this may still change as progress does not stand still. Glasses for one format will not work in a theater that uses a different format.

Warnings

• Do not wear glasses all the time, as they can give you headaches.
• Do not wear these glasses while driving.

What do you need

• Plastic glasses, billboard or thick paper
• Transparency film, cellophane or acetate film
• Scissors
• Scotch
• Indelible markers in blue and red