Making One Out of Many

Once you have done the field work, you can continue processing the image series on the computer. Download the images with an FTP client; then, StereoPhoto Maker (for example) will give you all the functions you need for downstream processing. Triaxes [8] is also a good choice for lenticular images. With just two exposures, you can create an anaglyph image for red and cyan glasses or a simple wiggle image. More uniform motion and lenticular images will always require a series of images.

To begin, get a series of eight images for a spatial image. The images must be aligned uniformly; even slight skew and small vertical differences will make the images unusable. In StereoPhoto Maker, select File | Multiple Images | Auto rotation adjustment and select the images to be adjusted. In the second step, you need a common reference point in each image. The function for this can be found in File | Multiple Images | X-Y adjustment and cropping.

Now you can print the image by selecting Edit | Create Lenticular Image. Set the Lenticular Lens Pitch and the printer resolution to match the lenticular film. Finally, print the image with File | Print preview. Lenticular film of 15x10cm is available with different lens spacings with vertical and horizontal alignment. You need to align the self-adhesive films over the printout and then carefully press them on. A laminator is useful for larger formats.

If you want to process the image series as a wigglegram, use the ImageMagick convert function. The following command adds all JPEGs with the image prefix in the current directory to the animated GIF:

$ convert -delay 10 -loop 0 image*.jpg <Wiggle>.gif

The playback is in an infinite loop at 10fps. The procedure depends on the size and number of images. Instead of a GIF, you can use the MP4 format. A wiggle cannot be printed, of course, so check out the examples online [9] if you need a visual reference.

The Triaxes 3DMasterKit, which is a commercial product, is a good choice for lenticular images. The license will not cost you much, and the investment is definitely worthwhile. After you upload the frames, you can reorder them and orient them alternately before cropping the images and computing the lenticular image. The kit also has other useful features, such as animations and layered 3D.

Conclusions

Lenticular images as analog 3D representations, and animations and wiggles for the Internet, give photographers a creative tool. Even with a conventional camera, you can achieve presentable results with a little practice.

The Camarray HAT by ArduCam lets you use a multisensor system in single, dual, or quadro mode and construct a DIY camera that suits your ideas. This hardware opens up a wide field of experimentation for amateur photographers, ranging from high-quality stereo images to low-resolution shaky images.

All you need for the build is a Raspberry Pi, a multicamera system, and a power pack. On the local WiFi network, a smartphone or tablet gives you a graphical user interface, and Python, Libcamera, and Guizero form the software underpinnings. StereoPhoto Maker and Triaxes take care of downstream processing.

The Author

Dr. Guenter Pomaska worked for many years in the fields of photogrammetry, application software development and support. He was teaching computer graphics and related topics in higher education institutes. After retirement he directed his activities to 3D imaging.