3D Wobble Gifs

I saw some very good 3D wobble GIFs made from old American Civil War stereograph images on the Civil War blog Dead Confederates, and decided to try my hand at it.

How To Create 3D-Wobble GIFs

  1. Color pictures were taken on 35mm film with a Canon Elan 7e and a Loreo Lens In A Cap.
  2. The film was developed, and the scanned JPG images were brightened and slightly modified with Photoshop.
  3. The dual-image was then split in two, with the left and right images being cropped out of the file and being saved individually.
  4. After this, the left and right images were brought into two separate layers in Photoshop.
  5. The transparency of the top image layer was set to 50% (this was usually the right image, but it didn't really matter).
  6. Then, part of the top image was shifted to overlap the bottom image, and the top image's transparency was reset back to 100%.
  7. Once this was done, WINDOW > ANIMATION was clicked, and then MAKE FRAMES FROM LAYERS from the ANIMATION panel menu. (This brought the images from the two layers (left and right images) onto the animation panel.)
  8. By default, each animation frame was initially set to 0 seconds; this was usually changed to 0.1 second for the left and right image frames. (But for nausea-inducing GIFs, this was slowed down to 0.2 seconds).
  9. The resulting Photoshop PSD file was saved.
  10. Finally, the animated GIF was generated by clicking FILE > SAVE FOR WEB & DEVICES.

UPDATE (March 8, 2021): Styles on this page were converted to a responsive layout. GIF sizes reduced from 448 px X 640 px to 312 px X 427 px for better visibility on desktop screens.

Have noticed that the wobble GIF animation is much faster on my cell phone than on my current desktop.

Elbow Falls, Alberta (Jan 2013)

The first few turned out pretty well...

Picnic table by Elbow River in January (3D wobble gif). Elbow Falls, Alberta Uprooted tree by Elbow River in January (3D wobble gif). Elbow Falls, Alberta Picnic table by Elbow River in January (3D wobble gif). Elbow Falls, Alberta Trees by Elbow River in January (3D wobble gif). Elbow Falls, Alberta Roots and embankment by Elbow River in January (3D wobble gif). Elbow Falls, Alberta Bench by Elbow River in January (3D wobble gif). Elbow Falls, Alberta

I'm less happy with the next couple taken at the top of the falls...

Top of Elbow Falls, Alberta in January (3D wobble gif). Top of Elbow Falls, Alberta in January (3D wobble gif).

This wasn't bad, but the strobe effect on the pine trees is distracting.

Top of Elbow Falls, Alberta in January (3D wobble gif).

This one's not great.

Cave by Elbow Falls, Alberta in January (3D wobble gif).

A bit of strobing on the trees, but the waterfall looks good.

Elbow Falls, Alberta in January (3D wobble gif). Elbow Falls, Alberta in January (3D wobble gif).

One of the best ones here. Animation set to 0.2 seconds to reduce viewing nausea.

Rock ledges at Elbow Falls, Alberta in January (3D wobble gif).

A few more.

Elbow Falls, Alberta in January (3D wobble gif). Grassy rock ledge at Elbow Falls, Alberta in January (3D wobble gif). Elbow Falls, Alberta in January (3D wobble gif). Elbow River downstream from Elbow Falls, Alberta in January (3D wobble gif). Elbow Falls, Alberta

One of my favorites.

Elbow Falls, Alberta in January (3D wobble gif).

Edworthy Park. Calgary, Alberta (Jan 2013)

Bridge to Edworthy Park, Calgary, Alberta in January (3D wobble gif). Bridge to Edworthy Park, Calgary, Alberta in January (3D wobble gif). Bridge to Edworthy Park, Calgary, Alberta in January (3D wobble gif).

Puerto Vallarta, Mexico (Jan 2013)

Unfortunately, the film-loading canister at the developer's had a small crack, allowing light to leak onto the first exposure of each roll.

Mermaid & merman statues (3D wobble gif). Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.

The best one here, IMO. Not sure who the living statue is supposed to be, though.

Winged gladiator living statue (3D wobble gif). Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.

This one demonstrates that more of a background is needed for these to work.

Dolphins statue (3D wobble gif). Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.

Next time: use flash to reduce noise in underexposed areas.

Mexican dancers statue (3D wobble gif). Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. Mexican dancers statue (3D wobble gif). Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.

Bronze arms furiously scrubbing laundry.

Mexican washerwoman statue (3D wobble gif). Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.

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