Anaglyph image

Complementary color

Anaglyph images have seen a resurgence since the early 2000s because of the presentation of images on the Internet. Where traditionally, this has been a largely black & white format, recent digital camera and processing advances have brought very acceptable color images to the internet and DVD field. With the online availability of low cost paper glasses with improved red-cyan filters, and plastic framed glasses of increasing quality, the field of 3D imaging is growing quickly. Scientific images where depth perception is useful include, for instance, the presentation of complex multi-dimensional data sets and stereographic images of the surface of Mars. With the recent release of 3D DVDs, they are more commonly being used for entertainment. Anaglyph images are much easier to view than either parallel sighting or crossed eye stereograms, although these types offer more bright and accurate color rendering, especially in the red component, which is commonly muted or desaturated with even the best color anaglyphs. Also, extended use of the anaglyph glasses can cause discomfort, and the afterimage caused by the colors of the glasses may temporarily affect the viewer's visual perception of real-life objects. In the mid-2000s, cross-view prismatic glasses with adjustable masking have appeared, offering a wider image on modern HD video and computer monitors. A compensating technique, commonly known as Anachrome, uses a slightly more transparent cyan filter in the patented glasses associated with the technique. Processing reconfigures the typical anaglyph image to have less parallax to obtain a more useful image when viewed without filters.