Photos: Technology of 3D movies

Artificially created 3D images all share a basic design: sending two slightly different views to each eye. With the images, your brain can reconstruct depth, just as it does in real-world sight, from the two slightly different vantage points.

The Dolby 3D system relies on a spinning filter wheel to alternate rapidly between two slightly different sets of primary colours. Corresponding filters on 3D glasses only let the appropriate light into the left or right eye after the light reflects off the screen. The filter wheel is synchronised with the digital projector, which switches back and forth between the images for the left and right eyes six times per frame, or 144 times per second. The equipment costs about $26,000 (£13,000), Dolby said.

Credit: Dolby Laboratories