Viewing Old Stereograms with My Hasbro MY3D Viewer

bgibson
Community Champion
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I can't technically tie this to Canvas, but it has been so much fun that I wanted to share it with you.  I've been playing with Google Cardboard and Cardboard Camera over the last few months.  With Cardboard Camera (a free app for Android), you can create your own 360 degrees images.  I wasn't that happy with the Cardboard Viewer I bought, because the lenses were distorted, and the edge of the cardboard cut into my nose while wearing the device.  But, at some point, I saw the Hasbro MY3D Viewer, which was a little reminiscent of the old Vue-Masters.  The toy came out in 2011, to be used with the iPhone & iPod touches of the time.  I think it is well designed, but I don't have either iOS device.  I do have an old Samsung Galaxy SIII.   Still I ordered it from Amazon.com for about $12.

stereograph-mckinley.pngWhen the MY3D Viewer arrived, I could see that my Android phone was a little too big to fit in one of the provided device trays, so I just held the phone up to the viewer.  I was very happy because the lenses provided good images.  It wasn't too long before I found that someone on eBay had provided a modification so that other phones could be used.  It looked like they had used velcro strips in a cross pattern to hold your odd sized phone to the viewer.  I happened to have some Scotch Fasteners (two rolls of velcro tape with a strong adhesive backing).  I measured a couple of short strips and attached them to the top & bottom of the Viewer.  I then held my phone to the back while I measured out a long velcro strip to hold vertically.  To my surprise, the one strip held the phone very securely.  I can easily peel the velcro from the top, place my phone in and press the velcro back locking my phone into the MY3D Viewer.  *The Viewer has a couple of large holes in the bottom through which you can put a finger to slide between images.  This viewer also works well with 360 movies.  But then I came across some old stereographs online.  You recall, the photos, placed beside each other on a card, that appear to be the the same image, but in actuality are of slightly different perspectives.  And, when placed in a viewer, the displayed image appears to be three dimensional.  I thought I might have to get some converter app, but none was needed.  I just downloaded the stereoscopic images onto my phone and let the phone resize them.  I placed the phone in the viewer and it worked great!  I could easily use my finger to advance to another image.

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So, this might be a good device for a library or class and making 360 images with Google Cardboard Camera, or viewing 360 videos, or  bringing old stereograms to life once more might be fun for your students.

Google Cardboard & Cardboard Camera – Web Tools

Hasbro MY3D Viewer – Web Tools