The invention of the stereoscopic microscope was a major step forward. This led to the instrument we call a surgical microscope as well as classroom microscopes used by our children for viewing insects and plant material. A stereoscopic microscope is actually two microscopes in one. Each eye is presented with a separate optical view (angle) of the sample and the human brain creates what is called "stereopsis"....3D viewing with DEPTH CUES. S3D is important to surgeons when they are performing their skills while viewing from the oculars of the microscope. A single camera mounted on a surgical microscope presents a nice 2D image...no depth cues. About 25 years ago Microstereopsis Corporation came up with a dual camera arrangement for stereo microscopes that permitted both ocular S3D as well as digital video 3D...two Sony Firewire cameras and synch doubling software running in Windows. A modified CRT displayer was required and we used active S3D shuttered eyewear for viewing....WITH depth cues for the viewer! This was all replaced by the introduction of high performance digital cameras and displayers using terms such as 1080, 2K, 4K, 8K.....you have such displayers in your home and computer workstations.
This digital stereo 3D (S3D) system was called Retro-OPSIS.
We began seeing S3D movies in our cinemas....think "Avatar". Hollywood got excited about 3D feature films and the display makers got in line with their S3D ready products. Active or passive eyewear was required. Hollywood made their films in 2D and 3D versions and charge you an extra $5.00 per ticket to return to 3D movies (think "House of Wax" ca. late '50s)...remember those red/cyan cardboard glasses we put on for the show? This is called "anaglyph 3D". Still used today by those involved with S3D imaging. Contact us regarding S3D anaglyph viewing of stacked images using Helicon Focus 3D Viewer. Today 3D movies have left the cinema and home theaters are back to very nice 4K 2D video ...NO S3D CONTENT is easily available. BUT, James Cameron is coming out with FOUR AVATAR SEQUELS over the next five years. New high intensity laser projectors will present these films to viewers without the need for 3D eyewear. AVATAR - WAY OF THE WATER was fantastic in the IMAX 3D theater! Only the serious gamers are in need of S3D visualization. HMDs (head-mounted displays) such as Oculus (owned by Mark Zuckerberg aka "META")).....3D fun and games. Enter VR, AR and AI......these new technologies are going to play a big role in all future microscopy. S3D will be a key requirement for the coming metaverse. The technology advances we have seen just in the past five years has been amazing. Get ready for the next big step. Ask any "gamer" about what is coming and they will fill you in. GAFAM is already spending billions on their metaverse gameplan....stay tuned!
Terms such as WSI (whole slide imaging) and interaction with VIRTUAL IMAGES has become the norm in many areas of microscopy. The virtual image has replaced 2D digital snapshots. Virtual images have fantastic resolution as a result of STITCHING that is performed with high aperture (resolution) optics. EDF (extended depth of FOCUS) as a result of STACKING multiple focal planes.
So, today stereo 3D full motion microscopy is offered by firms such as Sony...very expensive and way beyond the budgets of the consumer or educational department. Makers of surgical microscopes all tried S3D...Leica and Zeiss are the big players in this arena. Ask them about their products for S3D surgical microscopy. S3D is still offered by a few makers....for ENDODONTIC DENTISTRY and certain OPHTHALMIC procedures. Industrial MEMS device inspection and circuit board repairs (solder joints and SMD replacements).
Stereo 3D requires TWO CAMERAS and TWO ANGLES OF VIEW. A stereo microscope (aka "surgical microscope) offers a central main objective with TWO OPTICAL CHANNELS....ONE FOR EACH EYEBALL. An optical system to allow superimposition of two digital images is then integrated with synch-doubling and software (TriD) loaded to a modern PC. The images are then aligned very carefully for proper vertical alignment and slight horizontal displacement of the LEFT and RIGHT camera views. When viewed with ACTIVE (LC shuttered) eyewear the viewer is presented with a true S3D realtime visualization with DEPTH CUES.
Adding a single digital camera to a STEREO MICROSCOPE does not result in S3D. The viewer will be seeing only one of the two optical channel views....NO DEPTH CUES and one has a hard time performing manual manipulations in the Z-axis with such single channel visualizations.
There are all kinds of solutions for increasing depth of focus and pseudo-3D visualization. Many will involve enhanced 2D images with colors and even MOTION PARALLAX. Very few systems on the market today offer an affordable TRUE STEREO 3D view of 3D samples in REAL TIME. Bunton Instrument and MICROSTEREOPSIS have put together a system that is less than $18,000.00 complete....read on.
WE HAVE JUST COMPLETED A WILD M600 SURGICAL MICROSCOPE WITH TABLE TOP BOOM STAND (TABLE CLAMP) AND THE LATEST LEICA DUAL PORT BEAMSPLITTER. THE PHOTOS (ABOVE) OF THIS EXACT TRAINING SYSTEM ALSO INCLUDES OUR OWN OPTICAL C-MOUNT COUPLERS AND TWO OLDER SONY FIREWIRE VGA CCD CAMERAS. THIS SYSTEM ONLY WORKS WITH OLDER 120HZ CRT DISPLAYS AND WE INCLUDE A NICE SONY TRINITRON AND TWO SETS OF ACTIVE 3D EYEWEAR. THE SOFTWARE FOR SYNCH-DOUBLING IS FROM NEOTEK AND IS CALLED TRI-D. MOVE THE MICROSCOPE TO MULTIPLE WORK TABLES OR BENCHES. THE HEAVY DUTY CLAMP WILL SECURE IT TO ANY TABLE TOP UP TO ABOUT TWO INCHES THICK. THE COMPUTER WITH WINDOWS XP IS IN A RUGGED ALUMINUM HOUSING. THE SONY TRINITRON 21" IS REQUIRED WITH THIS SYSTEM. THE MONITOR CAN BE PLACED ON A MOBILE CART FOR TRANSPORT TO VARIOUS LOCATIONS. THIS WOULD BE A GREAT SYSTEM FOR TRAINING CIRCUIT BOARD SMD REPAIRS. MICROSURGICAL APPLICATIONS RANGING FROM SUTURING TO DISSECTION. ONLY ONE DEMO SYSTEM IS AVAILABLE SUBJECT TO PRIOR SALE...CONTACT US FOR DETAILS OR A QUOTATION FOR ORDERING. THE PRICE IS LESS THAN THE PRICE OF A NEW SURGICAL MICROSCOPE! RRR
