Who's 3D in the what now?

Might have to change the name of the blog, this 3D stuff is sticking...

Since 3D cinema and 3DTV are being called a revolution in the entertainment industry (history does repeat itself), some people are getting mildly anxious. We all might have reasons why we do or don't believe that 3D will or won't take off, but there is a group of people that simply don't want 3D to happen. And I cannot believe it's a small group.

I'm talking about people who don't see 3D.

The problem can occur when one of your eyes is even slightly weaker then the other. As all 3D tech, old or new, is based on the fact that your two eyes each see different things, problems occur when one eye doesn't work as good as the other, with the consequence that the viewer doesn't see the effect. 

As 3D becomes increasingly popular and present in movie theaters and soon - probably - homes, people who can't enjoy the effect are becoming more vocal. Like with any grassroots movement these days, you can join a Facebook group to voice your support. What surprised me there was that the biggest group I could find only has about 100 members; I'm guessing many people out there must suffer from this in some form. Numbers aren't very clear, but apparently studies have estimated that between 5 and 12% of US citizens suffer from some form of stereoblindness, or problems with depth perception.

This article and the video below give some more insight (AHAHAHAhaaaaaaaaa...).

Some momentum is building up in Belgium as well, with at least one newspaper picking up on the story. I will update when more becomes available.

Want to test if you can see 3D? This website of the "Optometrists Network" has some explanation on seeing 3D (Holy guacamole, you'd think that people who work in the field of eye sight would spend a little more time making their websites visually tolerable...). This page (that has Comic Sans in caps!) has a little test you can do, involving your thumb and an on screen eye. However weird, it works, and according to it, I can see 3D, which, you know... I can, so... good. 

Lastly, don't feel bad about yourself if you can't see 3D. Apparently, even the rich and famous suffer from it: Johnny Depp doesn't see 3D. (I don't have to explain the irony of him starring in a major 3D-push movie, right? Good.)

Question does remain how the industry will deal with this. If 3D is going to become more pervasive in home entertainment, will 2D alternatives keep sticking around? Or are we going towards a dystopian future where we enslave people who can't enjoy entertainment anyway to do more useful tasks, while us Threedeities enjoy Final Fantasy XX on our PS5s? No wait, I said don't feel bad about yourself. :-)

Enslaving Johnny Depp... now I forgot what I was talking about.