To be able to see spatial, human beings have binocular vision. Each eye sees the environment with a slight difference in perspective; the so called parallax. The brain uses these two slight different views to generate a spatial impression

To deliver the two views with that slight difference in perspective, a scene must be recorded with two cameras instead of the eyes. These cameras are synchronized and record that scene from two different perspectives; the distance between these positions is called interaxial. To be able to see a movie in 3D, the left eye needs to get the view of the left camera and the right eye the view of the right camera. The brain is then able to combine these two images to a single three dimensional image.

How does a 3D-rig work?


Side-by-side Rigs carry two cameras next to each other. To create a three dimensional effect in a very wide shot you need the wide interaxial distance they can provide. Side-by-side rigs are ideal for panoramic and aerial shots, but close-up and detail shots can hardly be achieved as most high resolution cameras are too large to be setup very close together.

Mirror Rigs like the Standard Rig and the freestyle Rig from P+S TECHNIK allow overlapping the images of both cameras regardless the size of cameras to achieve very narrow interaxial distances for perfectly beautiful close-up and detail shots. The mirror box setup is the base for the Universal Mirror Rig as well as for the very lightweight and easy-to-balance P+S TECHNIK Freestyle Rig.

Basic techniques to influence a 3d-picture

By variatio n of the interaxial, the depth of the 3D-picture can be adopted. This is necessary, to prevent too large interaxials. These would cause headaches and discomfort to the viewers.