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Making 3D anaglyph games in Scratch

04 October 2016

The print edition of my new book Cool Scratch Projects in Easy Steps comes with a free pair of 3D red/cyan glasses and shows you how to make 3D games with them. The glasses make it possible to show a different image to each eye, so you can create real 3D effects, where things appear to pop out of the screen, or sink back into it.

There are three 3D projects in the book:

12 Angry Aliens, in which aliens surge towards you from the distance, and you have to click them with your sights to shoot them.
3D Artist, which enables you to position shapes in three dimensions so you can create images with depth. There's a random option too, which you can use to watch abstract designs appear before you.
Space Mine 3D, where you have to catch energy balls that fly out of a tunnel towards your ship.

The book also includes a simple demo that you can use to experiment with depth, and work out the comfortable distances for viewing.

For best results, you should face the screen flat-on. The effect can be reduced if you tilt your head, or view the screen from an angle.

Extra pairs of glasses are easily available online from a wide range of vendors on Amazon and eBay (search for anaglyph glasses and make sure you get the red/cyan ones). You can even upgrade to plastic-framed ones if you want for a couple of pounds or dollars.

If you don't already have a pair of the glasses around, you won't be able to see the 3D effect in these, but below is a taster of what the projects look like. Note that there has been some colour distortion in the video screengrabbing.

Find out more about the book here, and find links to buy it here.

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