WHY YOU SHOULD WANT 3-D GLASSES

They've been telling you your whole life that "someday," all of our media will be three-dimensional. "Someday," they told you, you will enjoy movies and games and television shows and books that have real depth, that actually appear solid and close -- or distant -- instead of flat.

But of course these high-tech 3-D marvels of the future are not on the market yet. And when they are, you won't even want them, will you? I mean, do you see yourself shelling out $5,000 for a holographic Xbox or whatever? Nope.

The problem is, you were looking high-tech, when you should have been looking low-tech. You know those old 3-D glasses that were popular in 1950s movie houses? They still work! In fact, they work better than ever.

There is a whole world of books, movies, artwork, games, and websites (including this one) that can astound, entertain, and amaze you with the illusion of depth. And to think, all you need is a red lens over the left eye and a blue one over the right!

For little or no money, you can start living in the third dimension. Here's how to get your 3-D glasses.

PAPER GLASSES FOR FREE

If you really hate to part with your money, and if you don't mind waiting (it could take many days), you could send off for your free 3-D glasses from Rainbow Symphony. They're made of paper, but they work just fine, and they're free! You just pay the postage.

PRO-X GLASSES

When you're ready to graduate from paper glasses and get serious, you could wear the pair the professionals wear (well, I wear them, anyway): the comfortable, stylish Pro-X anaglyph glasses. They're only $10.50, and they ship pretty quick.

GET THEM AT YOUR LOCAL STORE:

If you're in such a hurry that you cannot wait for mail delivery, there is usually a way to get 3-D glasses from a local retail store. But it's not easy. I have searched extensively, and have never found one retailer that sells 3-D glasses as such. But if you know what you're looking for, you can find products such as movies, books, and games, that come packaged with 3-D glasses. For instance, the 2005 Barbie and the Magic of Pegasus DVD comes with four pairs of 3-D glasses, and it is not hard to find in video stores, bookstores, or department stores.

MAKE YOUR OWN

If you are feeling especially crafty (or just cheap), you could always make your own 3-D glasses. It's not difficult, and the materials are inexpensive: one letter-size page of card stock, red and blue cellophane, and tape.

BULK ORDERING 3-D GLASSES

If you need lots and lots of 3D glasses, to give away or re-sell, you'll want to place a bulk order. Movie Vision, Inc., sells plain white paper 3D glasses for only 17¢ each. They work, too.

The current issue of TV Guide -- the July 21 to August 3, 2008 issue, the one with Miley Cyrus on the cover -- comes with a free pair of Hannah Montana 3-D glasses bound into the pages of the magazine, ideally suited for watching the Best of Both Worlds Concert.

The free Hannah Montana 3-D glasses are bound between pages 38 and 39 -- between the full page Disney Hannah Montana concert advertisement and the article on Miley Cyrus. You can't miss it, really.

You have to punch the glasses out along the perforations, and assemble them. No scissors, glue, or tape is required, they just fit together like so.

TV Guide is sold at newsstands and grocery stores. The cover price is $3.99. Since this is a "Double Issue," with two weeks of listings, one hopes it will be available for at least awhile.

Planning to see the "Disney Hannah Montana and Miley Cyrus Best of Both Worlds Concert" in 3-D on the television? That's great.

WAL-MART IS RUNNING OUT

But if you haven't got your 3-D glasses yet, I'm afraid I have a spot of bad news for you. The Wal-Marts are running out of the free 3-D glasses. But don't panic, keep reading.

Two days ago, I stopped by my local Wal-Mart, and noticed their free Hannah Montana 3-D glasses display was empty. I thought perhaps they were keeping their stock in reserve, so I asked the store manager when he planned to put more glasses out. (I hasten to add that I didn't want to take any more for myself, I just needed to know so I could report on this.) He told me: never! The Hannah glasses were already gone, and they would not be getting any more.

I wasn't terribly concerned. Just because one store had run out, it didn't necessarily mean that the national supply of Hannah Montana glasses was in jeopardy. But then I read, on the 3-D Revolution blog, that Disney only distributed a paltry one million pairs of free glasses for this promotion!

A million? It might sound like a large number, but there are about 4,000 Wal-Mart stores in the United States. If that figure is correct, that means, on average, each store had about 250 pairs of Hannah glasses to offer. So, if you don't have your free Hannah Montana 3-D glasses yet, I would estimate your odds of finding them at your local Wal-Mart today to be about zero.

[CORRECTION: I have subsequently learned that Disney really gave away 25 million pairs of the glasses through Wal-Mart, not 1 million as "3D Revolution" wrongly reported.]

AN IMPORTANT WARNING

The good news is, you can still make your own 3-D glasses in time for the concert. But I'm begging you, girls, please, please, do not use Sharpie markers and plastic wrap for the lenses, the way the Starz channel instructs you to do! The colors will be uneven and will not filter properly; the plastic will wrinkle and pucker; the concert will stink. And for days afterward, you will look like this:

So instead of that stupid markers idea, at least run out to Hobby Lobby or some other craft store, and get yourself some real red and blue cellophane or acetate. Use that for the lenses. Please.

UPDATE: TV Guide to the rescue! The current issue of TV Guide, with Miley Cyrus on the cover, comes with a free pair of Hannah Montana 3D glasses.

See Hannah Montana in 3-D!

The "Disney Hannah Montana and Miley Cyrus Best of Both Worlds Concert" is being broadcast in three-dimensional anaglyph, one night only July 26 at 8:00 p.m. Eastern, on the Disney Channel. And then, if you missed it (or not), the Starz channel is re-broadcasting it the next day.

You need 3-D glasses to see this concert in 3D. But you can get them free. My good friend Hannah Montana and I have teamed up to give free Hannah Montana 3-D glasses to anyone who goes to Wal-Mart and snatches them.

They are your basic red/cyan anaglyph glasses, made by American Paper Optics, except the stems are a bit shorter, to accommodate younger, smaller heads. Even if you don't plan to watch the Hannah Montana concert, you might want to pick these glasses up for the kids.

They're only free while supplies last, so get on out to a Wal-Mart as as soon as you possibly can. I got mine today, and they were not easy to find. I had to ask four employees before I found one who knew anything about them. And when I got to the register, the clerk left her post to wander around the store asking her bosses if they were really free. They were. (The wig costs extra, though.)

So, if you go to Wal-Mart, and the first few people you talk to don't know anything about any free Hannah Montana 3D glasses, don't give up!

UPDATE 1: It looks as though the supply of Hannah Montana glasses at Wal-Mart is running out. You may have to make your own 3-D glasses.

UPDATE 2: The current issue of TV Guide, the one with Miley Cyrus on the cover, comes with a free pair of Hannah Montana 3-D glasses. Find it at newsstands and grocery stores this week.

UPDATE 3: Disney is releasing the movie on DVD and Blu-ray on August 19. The discs will be excellent high-definition quality, and packed with bonus features.

People sometimes complain that the news media have no depth. This complaint cannot be applied to 3D Science News, the only video newscast in three dimensions. Say what you will about them, but you cannot say they lack depth.

Covering science-related news stories, 3D Science News posts videos of about three minutes in length, about six times a month. The footage is shot in 3-D, and often includes 3D animation or renderings to illustrate the topic being covered. You can view the anaglyph videos at low resolution in a Flash-powered player on the website, or you can download high-resolution MPEG files in three different formats: anaglyphic, interlaced, or separate left and right views.

I wish I could show you a still from the hi-res download, but I couldn't get Quicktime or any other software to crack it open. All I can show you is my error message. Oh, well. Presumably, it works just fine on Windows machines.

[EDIT: I got the MPEG file to open in VLC. Here is a full size still (720 x 540 pixels) to show the quality.]

The service -- including all the hi-res downloads -- is free, for now. ("We hope to keep this site free," they say somewhat ominously on their "About Us" page.)

Also free for now are 3-D glasses!

The 3D Science News sidebar says, "No Red/Blue Glasses? Contact Us and we'll send you a free pair. If you live outside the United States, we may request a small donation to cover postage."

As long as you are in the U.S.A., they're paying the postage to send you free glasses! I had never heard of such a generous offer, and could scarcely believe it.

But it's for real. On the evening of June 29, I used their comment form to request a free pair. The next morning, the 30th, I got an email reply from Elaine, saying she would mail the glasses that very day. Three days later, July 3, I had them in my hands. The glasses they sent me were identical to the ones sent by Rainbow Symphony with their free offer. But this free offer is so much better than that one -- I never had to address an envelope or use a stamp, and it came in three days instead of nine!

Obviously, this offer is intended for people who lack 3D glasses, so they can start enjoying the website, not for people like me who already have a hundred pairs just looking for a freebie. I requested mine to verify that the offer was genuine so I could report it to you, but now I will send them a couple bucks to compensate them for their trouble. (If I can figure out how to donate; their site says, "please consider making a donation in the box to the left." What box to the left?)

[EDIT: The donation link is back up in the sidebar on the site now. I sent them a little something.]

I hope 3D Science News becomes a huge success.

Happy Independence Day, America!

My two top models, Abby and Faith, are ready for the fireworks tonight, with their Movie Vision Fireworks Glasses.

Of course, these are not 3-D glasses (no matter what the catalog calls them). There's nothing 3D about them. They just add a prismatic star effect to any light source. If you wear them in daylight, they make everything hazy and give you a headache. But if you wear them at night and watch fireworks, they look something like this video.

I didn't order the fireworks glasses, but Movie Vision just slipped in two free pairs along with my bulk order of anaglyph glasses. That was nice of them.

Most of my advice regarding the procurement of 3-D glasses is aimed at those who only need one or two pairs. But some people need 50 pairs, or a hundred, or a thousand. Perhaps you are one of them.

I, for instance, needed a whole bunch of 3-D glasses. I wanted to give them away to my kids, to my friends, to my clients, and to my students at the college where I teach. So I shopped around for the best bulk deal on paper 3-D glasses.

I found it at Movie Vision, Inc. Their plain white 3D glasses are only 17¢ apiece. This price is substantially lower than other suppliers charge for plain white anaglyph glasses. I mean, it's less than half the price of the next best deal I could find! (Naturally, if you know of a better deal from some other company, please let me know in the comments.)

There is no minimum order; you could theoretically order just one pair, and pay 17¢ for it. But you won't, because there is a minimum shipping charge of $12.00, and $12.17 for a pair of paper glasses is not a bargain. This source only makes sense for people who need at least 50 pairs.

For example, if you buy 50 pairs at 17¢, that's $8.50, plus $12 shipping, for a total of $20.50. So your glasses will cost 41¢ apiece, including the shipping, and that's not bad. But if you buy 100 pairs at 17¢ plus $12 shipping, they're only 29¢ apiece. If you buy 1,000, they're about 18¢ apiece. So big orders save more.

And the shipping was quick. I placed my order online at 8:42 a.m., and just 24 minutes later, at 9:06, I got an email saying my order had been shipped! With a tracking number and everything. The package arrived two days later.

I should mention that I have no relationship at all with this company, I am not being paid to promote them, and I have no dealings with them other than having placed this order I'm blogging about. If anyone knows of a better deal on bulk 3D glasses from any other supplier, just let me know by commenting on this post, and I'll look into it.

UPDATE AUGUST 12, 2008: For at least the past five days, it has been impossible to place an order with MovieVision. Their website is up, but their shopping cart functions are all disabled. Nobody answers the phone, or returns my calls. Emails get no reply.

I also sent an email to their shopping-cart host, Website Forge, LLC, asking about the issue. My reply from them said, "This page has been restricted by the site administrator." That means it is not some technical glitch, but a decision by MovieVision to pull down their shopping cart.

I am not happy to see such a good source of 3-D glasses disappear, and I hope they come back soon. For now, if you need 3D glasses, I recommend buying from Rainbow Symphony, whose bulk prices are higher than MovieVision's, but a little lower than American Paper Optics.

These Pro-X glasses are what I wear. I actually chose them for their style -- they just look the least dorky of all anaglyph glasses I've seen. But they are also made to exacting standards for comfort and the best 3-D viewing for computers and television monitors. The blue lens is actually a cross between cyan and true blue, for best viewing of both monochrome and color 3-D images.

The plastic frame is amazing. It's hard and rigid, except somehow they made it soft and squishy where it would press on your nose and temples. I wish all glasses were this comfortable.

The price won't break you, either. Only $10.50, plus about $3 shipping. If you want to know more, or even buy a pair, go have a look at the Amazon page for these glasses.

A company in California named Rainbow Symphony offers a wide array of novelties, including many 3-D products. They sell paper 3-D glasses at pretty low prices, about 40¢ apiece... but the minimum order is 50, and then they hit you with shipping charges, so you can't buy any without spending at least 30 bucks!

But what if you only want one pair? Well, then, they're free. That's right, totally free 3-D glasses. The instructions are here on their Web page. Other than paying for two 42¢ postage stamps, you're not out any money at all.

To get the free glasses, you'll just need to mail a self-addressed stamped envelope to:

Rainbow Symphony, Inc.
ATTN: FREE 3D GLASSES
6860 Canby Avenue, Suite 120
Reseda, CA 91335

Also -- and this is important -- you should include a cover letter specifying exactly what sort of glasses you want! They offer different sorts of paper glasses, so you have to tell them you want the "Red/Blue Anaglyph" glasses!

I sent them a SASE on June 24, 2008, and my free glasses arrived in the mail on July 3, so it took nine days.

I should mention that I have nothing to do with this company, no connection or dealings with them at all. I just found them doing a Google search for "free anaglyphic glasses."

I should also mention that the U.S. First Class postage rate is not 41¢, as their website claims; it rose to 42¢ in May of 2008. Be sure to use 42¢ stamps (or whatever the current rate is when you read this; the Postal Service raises rates annually every May).

If you know of any other free anaglyph 3D glasses offers out there that I should post about, please leave a comment on this post and let me know.

More options for getting 3D glasses can be found on my "How to Get Your 3-D Glasses" page.