THE GAMES THE THING

It seems that many software games developers took the opportunity to build into their software accessible stereo games information right from the start. By taking advantage of this in-built facility you can achieve the almost impossible - true, on-screen, 3-D.

In fact I can honestly say that you won’t believe your eyes. You’ll experience the most realistic, intense and downright stunning gaming graphics ever. And you will find out just how this true 3D not only looks incredible, but improves the quality of your gameplay. And if you’re into Flight Simulation then this will definitely be a case of ‘seeing is believing’.

THE GLASSES

The first pieces of equipment you will need is what is usually described as ‘shutter glasses’. These consist of a special pair of glasses where, instead of optical elements, you look through two small transparent LCD (liquid crystal) screens. Each of these LCD’s can be, and are, activated by an incoming signal from your games console which, alternatively, switches each left and right element on and off in synchronization with the images being generated on your monitor screen. Of course, it does this so quickly that you don’t even notice it and feel that you are seeing a constant viewing system (in the cinema this is known as ‘persistence of vision’). Hence the term SHUTTER GLASSES where each lens blanks out alternatively like a closing shutter.

The second gizmo is what we all fondly term ‘a dongle’ (mainly because nobody has ever agreed a name for it!). This is a small black box which interfaces BETWEEN the outgoing, emerging, video signal from your computer, and your monitor screen. This box of tricks is at the heart of the system. There’s usually a long lead from the Shutter Glasses that plugs into this with a mini jack socket at the back of the ‘dongle’; other sockets being available for your monitor (above), and additional one for an infrared sender if you decide to use WireLESS shutter glasses.

And lastly, there’s some very important and specialized driver software that you install within your computer that controls the whole affair. This software is an essential part of the whole setup and cannot be ignored – which is why, in my book ‘GAMING IN 3D’ (part of my 3D ToolKit) I do spend a fair bit of time explaining how to set it up. I do this because I feel it is important to get it right the first time. For example, software that will produce stereo on a CRT screen (those older screens using a cathode tube) will not necessarily work with TFT (LCD) screens.

So, those are your basic elements. A very simple setup that opens up a whole new ball game(!). Once you have this in place, and have it activated, you’ll find that images jump right out from the screen; in racing games cars go by you on the left and right side of the screen, in Microsoft Flight Simulator - 2002 and later - using the Virtual Reality mode, you can actually stand up and look over the front of the aircraft and see and feel the distance to the ground before taking off, or look out of the window in flight and get a more accurate impression of the height at which you are flying. As they say in the adverts ‘ it’s like being there!’.

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