3D Optical Stereo viewer 9" Over / Under - Museum Quality

Description

This is a very high quality optical 3D viewer.  It is a fully functional working prototype.  I had it designed by USA's best visual optical Engineer, Bruce Walker.   Bruce is a renown author of many visual optics books used in Universities and one of the best visual optical designers in the USA.   I spent many years designing and building all kinds of 3D viewers.  I worked with Bruce on nearly all my designs.  We also had the benefits of using a CodeV optical design lab for final check.    I also have listed, two other working prototype viewers.
Included in this sale is the working prototype which you see in the pictures and all the design documents required to manufacture more of these viewers.   This viewer would be ideal in a museum environment whereas if they like the prototype, they can order more units as the design document package is "bid ready".    It will be sent in pdf file to the successful bidder.  No one else has a copy of these design documents.   The optical design documents include all information necessary to price quote and build the optics, including glass specifications, lens surface radius with tolerances, surface tolerances (Power, Irreg, Scratch, Dig) Coatings specified, etc.  Part of the design criteria was to design lenses that are relatively low cost to manufacturer, so the lens elements allowed for relatively loose tolerances (which is one of the key contributors to cost) while still maintaining the min. criteria we set forth for MTF, distortion, chromatic aberration, etc.
The premise of this 3D Optical viewer is to view two stereo images placed Over / Under each other, with their centers separated left / right by 60mm as seen in the diagram.  The viewer can view front lit prints with a lighting system you design,  transparencies with a back light system you design, or Digital displays.  The viewer can view images up to 9" square as seen in the diagram.  This size is ideal for small digital displays, such as tablets.
One of the benefits of back lit transparencies, is they hold an incredible amount of resolution vs. digital displays and with proper back lighting, they have tremendous tonal range.   This assumes, the original content was recorded in sufficient detail and it was successfully relayed to the transparency.
Although the viewer can be used as a single view application, such as in a museum, it can also be used as a multi image viewer.   An ideal set-up to accomplish this....print images on darkroom roll transparency film on a LED printer.   The images would be continuous, with maybe 1" dark area separation between images.   If the image count is under 5, they can be framed in a rigid frame.  The frame sits behind the viewer, and can be pushed left/right to see all the stereo pairs...or you can design a simple hand crank to move the rigid frame.  Crank is ideal, it intuitively moves the images left / right.
To view more images, you can also set up a roll system for transparency film.  Each roll would sit to the side of the viewer.  Think two rolls of Paper Towels.    The core would have to be wide, say 8-12" to allow the film to easily go flat when going through the viewer.  A hand crank system would be ideal again.
Based on how you set up the viewer, you might need to trim the back of the case to accommodate your set-up.   What I am selling here is fully designed and working optical 3d viewer.   How the images will be viewed is something the new owner will have to design and build, as the viewer has so many different applications.
This Viewer contains:
1)  a housing that holds all the optical components at the exact angles / location.
2)  2 custom design doublets viewing lenses using Schott Optical Glass.
3)  2 custom design prisms made with Schott BK7 to transfer image to the viewing lenses.
4)  2 Front surface mirrors made from Schott glass.
More technical information on this viewer.
The lenses are a focal length of 302.5mm.  At this long fl, viewing is much simpler than short fl lenses which would require many more elements to achieve the same high quality view.  This allows for low cost reproduction and exceptional ER (Eye Relief) for a visual optical system.  This VERY important for a device used by the general population.
By viewing the MTF curves in the diagrams, you can see this entire system has resolution capacity that exceeds nearly any type of capture you can put on the film.   Distortion is very minimal, thanks to the long fl lenses.
The IPD spacing of the lenses is fixed at 60mm.  The diagram shows the different IPD spacing of the general population, from kids to wide eyed adults, the MTF is consistent regardless of the IPD of the user.   This simplifies the viewer, as their is NO need for an IPD adjustment.  The diameter of the achromatic doublets is 44mm.
The entire viewer and image content can be built on a pedestal, so a person of any height can walk up the viewer and lower or raise it to their natural eye position when looking forward.  This can be behind a wall, or fully exposed.   Viewer weight is about 10 lbs, the housing is built from a very hard material, similar to backer board..it has a concrete like quality to it.  This is used for optical prototypes, as it's impervious to movement from changes in temp and humidity.  A decorative finish can be put over the viewer.  The actual height of the prototype is 28" vs. the 21" shown, as a result of the optical build house wanting more rigidity.  The depth is closer to 9".
The Wow Factor of 3d viewing is a result of the 3d effect, but even more WOW factor comes from a large FOV (Field Of View).    This viewer will display a 45 deg FOV on each 5" image axis.   To put this in perspective... View Master viewers show about 15 deg FOV, mid 50's 3d film viewers were in the 20-25 deg FOV range, and the KING of 3d film viewers, Medium Format is in the 35 deg range.   So, 45 deg is larger than anything ever experienced by an optical viewer.  A standard cinema sized screen being viewed from approx 2/3rd back in seat rows, is approx. 45 deg. FOV.    A large prism based viewer I have for sale, pushes the FOV to 60 deg.
The optics are set to view at infinity.  Anyone who can see clearly at infinity, with, or without spectacles, will be able to view these images in sharp focus.  The optics were designed with massive ER (Eye Relief) of 32mm, so even those with eyeglasses and deep set eyes will have NO issues with viewing.   This viewer was designed for the masses, walk up, and look in  - it's intuitive and simple.
There is no focus adjustment on this viewer.  To focus, the user would have to allow the images to move to and fro the viewer... it would be an inch or two in each direction based on how many diopters of correction u desire.  This is optional and the new owner can experiment based on their application.  The viewer design was based on the fact that general population can focus clearly at infinity.... we built in large ER so those who wear spectacles for infinity viewing, can do so with complete comfort.  A fixed focus viewer forces people to wear the corrective eyewear, which corrects for more than refractive errors.  (such as astigmatisms)
There is significant benefits to a 3d viewer of this size vs. a small handheld 3d viewer.  The most significant reason is the optics.  The long focal length lenses when viewing larger image sizes,  allow for a wide range of users from kids with very small IPD (Inter Pupil Distance, i.e distance between eye centers) and Adults.  Even within Adults, there is a wide range of IPD based on nationality, with women and Asians having significantly shorter IPD's vs. Westerners.   This system accommodates this wide range of IPD users, with NO mechanical adjustments required.  Just walk up, and look in.    The other benefits over small handheld viewers is... it is much easier to reproduce images on backlit transparencies vs. traditional photographic film (which is required for small hand held viewers)  Photolab around the world all print transparencies on Kodak and Fuji transparency media.
It is possible to display 3d imagery on TV screens as well....but they require the viewers to wear polarized glasses, and the image quality and FOV does not even compare to an optical viewer such as this.  There is glassless 3d displays on the market, called auto-stereoscopic displays..however, their image quality is poor and they have very limited viewing angle.   Not to mention, the cost is VERY high vs a system like this, specially if you need many of them...such as trade show vendors providing them for clients.
The cost to design a system like this, is in the K - k price range, based on the size of the optical design house and how much work you give them.  The cost to make a working prototype like this (lenses, prism and mirrors) is k - K based on the quality of the optical builder and what part of the world they reside.  In volume, the optical components of this viewer can be made for approx. 0 each.  The housing and assembly cost would be very dependent on how its designed and built.  About 0 - 0 is my best estimate based the type material used.
If you need ways to capture Hi Resolution 3d images, see my other auction for my custom designed and built Hi Rez 3d cameras.

What u are getting here, is fully designed, reproducible and working optical viewer.  The timeline to produce such, if all goes well, takes an average of 8 - 10 months from conception to working prototype.  I am selling this working prototype and the design documents for less than it would cost for the design documents.  Hopefully someone will have a great public application that I will visit one day.  Many prototypes fail.  This one is already proven.  So if this application is right for you, it's a rare opportunity.
Since this viewer is so heavy, and the first surface mirrors are so large and heavy, I removed the mirrors which were glued to the surface of the housing.  If the box was dropped face down, the mirrors might break loose and possibly get damaged.  So I put the two first suface mirrors in a separate box to insure their safe arrival.  The box listed for shipping is the big box u see in the pix, which contains the viewer.  The mirror box will be shipped No charge in the Continuous 48 US states.
A common question people have asked is, why use this viewer over the 5" viewer I have for sale... two primary reasons.   The first is, if you plan to use digital displays, the 5" viewer is simply too small to see a high enough resolution display, such as a full size tablet.   If you use prints or transparency film, this larger viewer is almost 2x the size square, so the images will have almost 2x the resolution.  This assumes the original content had enough resolution to support such.   Considering both viewers see 45 deg FOV, this viewer will deliver twice the image resolution to the eye and even more "real world" look, as the image itself is less magnified, i.e.  this 2x larger image is being compressed down to the same retinal image size as the smaller 5" image, since the FOV is equal in both viewers.
It is boxed very well, loads of bubble wrap and Styrofoam lined interior of the box, this created a huge box, but should easily handle international travel.   Box is 200lb test box.