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The Secret to Avoiding an 'Avatar' Headache

by Tim Stevens on December 22, 2009 at 11:01 AM

The Secret to Avoiding an Avatar 3D Headache
Haven't seen James Cameron's $300 million epic film 'Avatar' yet? Many would argue that if you haven't seen it in 3-D -- particularly IMAX 3-D -- you haven't seen it at all. The film, after all, was shot with the third dimension in mind. Cameron used a series of cameras designed to capture multiple perspectives simultaneously, giving you, the viewer, an unparalleled sense of depth -- if you don't mind wearing goofy glasses, that is. Wearing those goofy glasses gives some folks a headache, but Shadow Locked has the simple solution: obedience.

The problem that faces many folks when watching a 3-D film rears its head when one portion of the image is in focus and the other is intentionally blurred. The 3-D effect can trick your eyes into thinking they're looking at something with actual depth, when in reality you're simply looking at two flat images. So, when you look at something that's blurry onscreen, your eyes try to bring it into focus -- and fail because it was filmed that way. The trick is to simply be obedient and look at the focused areas. It's something of a bummer (There's usually lots of good stuff going on in the blurry areas.), but if it means avoiding a splitting headache and making it through all two and a half hours of those glorious visual effects, it's worth it. [From: Shadow Locked]

Tags: 3d, avatar, imax 3d, Imax3d, james cameron, JamesCameron, movies, top

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