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How have 3D glasses been used for computer gaming?

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Only a few years ago, seeing in 3-D meant peering through a pair of red-and-blue glasses. It was a different, fun thing do to, but 3-D technology has moved on.

Scientists know more about how our vision works now than ever before, and our computers are more powerful than ever before. Most of us have components in our computer that are dedicated to producing realistic graphics.

Most computer users are familiar with 3-D games. Back in the '90s, computer enthusiasts were stunned by the game Castle Wolfenstein 3D, which took place in a maze-like castle. It may have been constructed from blocky tiles, but the castle existed in three dimensions – you could move forward and backward, or hold down the appropriate key and see your viewpoint spin through 360 degrees. Back then, it was revolutionary and quite amazing.

Today, gamers enjoy ever more complicated graphics – smooth, three-dimensional environments complete with realistic lighting and complex simulations of real-life physics grace our screens. The only thing holding a gamer back from a full 3D experience is the screen. The game itself may be in three dimensions, and the player may be able to look wherever he wants with complete freedom, but the picture is displayed on a computer monitor – a flat surface.

That's where PC 3-D glasses come in.

The first generation of PC 3-D glasses modified the games themselves to make them compatible with stereoscopic 3-D. The games' creators had to specifically support each type of LCD glasses – hardly an ideal situation. There was no guarantee that your glasses would work with your favorite game. As you can imagine, that didn't appeal to many people; so a second solution was developed.

This second solution was to override the game, actually taking over the computer's screen and altering what was displayed. As far as the game was concerned, it functioned normally, except, of course, that some of the computer's time was taken up processing the image to make it 3-D. The result was a much slower computer performance and low-resolution, blocky images. It did work with hundreds of games, though, which was a definite improvement.

The third generation worked in a similar way, modifying the graphics driver but also maintaining the resolution of the images – dpomg away with blocky graphics. Unfortunately, it wasn't compatible with many games, though it was a definite forerunner to the 3-D glasses we have now.

In the fourth-generation models, which is what is on the market now, game compatibility is high, the complicated work is done by the graphics card and the lightweight LCD glasses flick so rapidly between the two images that all the gamer sees is crystal-clear, 3-D images.

Next Page: What kind of 3D glasses should I get for computer use?

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