Motion Picture Herald (Jan-Mar 1954)

In the Nord single-strip system the optical device which rotates the two images is mounted in front of the projection port. The drawings indicate the frame transfer scheme by which the standard image (upper sketch) is placed head-to-toe with its mate in a 1.75-to-l ratio. was the first to bring 3D projection with one film into close prospect. Developed by Roy Clapp, this method prints the disparate images on one 35mm film, with the dual frames turned longitudinally and placed head-to-toe — that is, in direct series, the bottom of one opposite the top of the other (see accompanying drawing) . This is a distinction between the Nord system and the Moropticon. Another difference between those two methods lies in the reduction of the standard negative frame in transferring it to the dual film. The Nord system prints the two images in proportions of 1.75-to-l, extending the frame area (width in this case) beyond the four sprocket holes. The result is a single frame (any one of the disparate pair) that is seven-eighths the size that a standard frame would have if it were printed in the same aspect ratio. In projection, the dual frames are beamed into an optical device placed in front of the port, where a prism arrangement rotates the two images to upright position and superimposes them. The Moropticon functions according to comparable principles, with the optical device attached, however, to the projector immediately in front of the lens (see accompanying illustrations) . The Moropticon takes its name from Boris Morros, Hollywood producer, who developed it in association with Vienna technicians. The equipment is manufactured in Rome and Vienna. In transferring the related images to a single print, the frames are placed toe to toe, or bottom adjoining bottom. THE VECTOCRAPH In the vectographic method of printing two disparate images for stereoscopic projection, the pictures are placed one over the other. Work in this field has been con ducted bv the Polaroid Corporation for many years, and it has produced vectographic prints in black-and-white for military and other purposes. T he Polaroid Corporation now has in prospect an arrangement with the Technicolor Corporation for processing vectograph motion picture film in color. As to the practical possibility of 3D motion pictures by the vectographic method, Edwin H. Land, president of Polaroid and a pioneer in this field of research, has advised the writer that the work already done "Alertness and Checking Assure Good 3-D Projection," by Gio Gagliardi, begins on page 48. The Moropticon projection device is attached by a bracket to the projector with the optical system immediately in front of the lens. The standard images (exemplified in the upper drawing at left) are placed toe-to-toe in the dual print. “has confirmed our confidence in the commercial feasibility of the process.” “Our recent work has also given us abundant evidence of the picture quality that can be expected. Since the basic research has been completed for a long time, we have been able to devote our year’s effort to the systematic exploration of the problems involved in large-scale commercial processing of the film.” The progress already made, plus the simplifications and refinements in prospect, substantiate the place of 3D in the scheme of the motion picture, at least technically. What the industry can do with it to give interest to the entertainment supplied by theatres would seem to depend largely on the kind of creative effort it puts into 3D productions, and the showmanship it employs to exploit them. — George Scliutz. 14 MOTION PICTURE HERALD, JANUARY 9, 1954