So "print resolution" is meaningless apparently

[andrew_barrette]

That is an resolution you won't get with typical inkjet printers , the question is how much a degradation to 300 pixels per inch is still accepable or terribly looking already - is there any test about all this ? Are there other lenticular films available with a lower lens count - e.g. 40 / inch?

Films with lower lines per inch (LPI) are available, but they are obviously more granular. However they are fine for viewing further back. Maybe my strategy then will be to find films with lower LPI and make larger prints: I can't make the print resolution smaller but I can make everything else bigger

As far as tests, I've done pretty well so far with 50LPI and 4 cameras, but the you can see the frame jump from one to the next when you rotate the lenticular print. Using more cameras results in smoother transitions, but then I am squeezing the printer for resolution apparently. What I've done so far is fine for phase 1. I'll just have to live with that, moving forward with commercializing what I've done, making a 3D photobooth at the local flea market and using the funds to upgrade what I've currently done. That's the idea anyway

What do the commercial labs use equipment wise?
Do they quote in PPI or LPI (Lines per inch). If LPI then a rough guide is that LPI is roughly half the PPI of an image

I don't know, nor do I know anyone at a commercial lab. I haven't tried looking at the academic literature yet but I'm sure there are specialty (very expensive) printers that go down to micron scales. I think I've ruled out the hopeful possibility that I will find something small that is as powerful as what I want.

 

[Tony4597]

Films with lower lines per inch (LPI) are available, but they are obviously more granular. However they are fine for viewing further back. Maybe my strategy then will be to find films with lower LPI and make larger prints: I can't make the print resolution smaller but I can make everything else bigger

As far as tests, I've done pretty well so far with 50LPI and 4 cameras, but the you can see the frame jump from one to the next when you rotate the lenticular print. Using more cameras results in smoother transitions, but then I am squeezing the printer for resolution apparently. What I've done so far is fine for phase 1. I'll just have to live with that, moving forward with commercializing what I've done, making a 3D photobooth at the local flea market and using the funds to upgrade what I've currently done. That's the idea anyway


I don't know, nor do I know anyone at a commercial lab. I haven't tried looking at the academic literature yet but I'm sure there are specialty (very expensive) printers that go down to micron scales. I think I've ruled out the hopeful possibility that I will find something small that is as powerful as what I want.

I believe that your printer should have enough in the way of resolution to enable lenticular prints i.e. resolution capability of 360ppi or 720ppi!

Just a final thought from me as being curious I did a quick search on requirements for image resolution for lenticular printing. Most seem to suggest 300ppi (although substituting dpi!) up to A1 size where 150ppi is suggested for the 'Art files' required. In your case substitute your native resolutions of 360 or 720 ppi.

FWIW Sources:
https://www.tribal3d.com/lenticular-printing/#How-to-design-for-lenticular-printing
2 way flip
Resolution: 300dpi (150dpi for A1 and above)
Animation/motion
Resolution: 300dpi (150dpi for A1 and above)
Holographic 3D with motion parallax
Resolution: 300dpi (150dpi for A1 and above)

https://www.dimension-corp.com/len_guide.php
Art files for these effects need not be layered but should be the right resolution and must be editable. All images are converted to Photoshop TIFF files before being processed. Image resolution should be 300 ppi or higher.

 

[andrew_barrette]

I believe that your printer should have enough in the way of resolution to enable lenticular prints i.e. resolution capability of 360ppi or 720ppi!

Just a final thought from me as being curious I did a quick search on requirements for image resolution for lenticular printing. Most seem to suggest 300ppi (although substituting dpi!) up to A1 size where 150ppi is suggested for the 'Art files' required. In your case substitute your native resolutions of 360 or 720 ppi.

FWIW Sources:
https://www.tribal3d.com/lenticular-printing/#How-to-design-for-lenticular-printing
2 way flip
Resolution: 300dpi (150dpi for A1 and above)
Animation/motion
Resolution: 300dpi (150dpi for A1 and above)
Holographic 3D with motion parallax
Resolution: 300dpi (150dpi for A1 and above)

https://www.dimension-corp.com/len_guide.php
Art files for these effects need not be layered but should be the right resolution and must be editable. All images are converted to Photoshop TIFF files before being processed. Image resolution should be 300 ppi or higher.

Thank you! Yes even 300ppi is okay if you only want to transition between 2 frames, but for 3D views consisting of a dozen frames 300ppi is insufficient.

Thank you for the sources!

 

[Tony4597]

Thank you! Yes even 300ppi is okay if you only want to transition between 2 frames, but for 3D views consisting of a dozen frames 300ppi is insufficient.

Thank you for the sources!

Isn't the PPI dependent on and calculated on the Lenticular lens count?

You have 720 ppi to play with on an Epson printer! Your image source (camera) may not contain enough pixels to print at your final size without upsampling; this may not be a bad thing as these types of prints are not high resolving images like Fine Art prints.

You are using 10 cameras so what are they and what is the pixel resolution per camera?

What size of print are you aiming for?

What software are you using and what does it recommend?

 

[andrew_barrette]

Isn't the PPI dependent on and calculated on the Lenticular lens count?

You have 720 ppi to play with on an Epson printer! Your image source (camera) may not contain enough pixels to print at your final size without upsampling; this may not be a bad thing as these types of prints are not high resolving images like Fine Art prints.

Within each lens, there is room for only so many frames. If the lens count is 50 per inch, then at 100ppi printing I could cram 2 frames. True, I don't have to care too much about resolution here. For 50 line/inch lenticular sheet, I resolution along one axis is fixed at 50ppi

You are using 10 cameras so what are they and what is the pixel resolution per camera?

I'm using 2MP (1920x1080) camera boards, like this one. However I plan to upgrade the cameras to a similar 5MP version. Actually my real problem is that I don't have access to some of the settings on the camera that I would like to control. It's a real mess requiring lots of bandages. I may have to find special cameras

What size of print are you aiming for?

What software are you using and what does it recommend?

I was wanting to do 7x5" prints (because a supplier has this size of lenticular sheet premade with adhesive backing on it), but now that I'm concerned about resolution, I'm going to aim for larger: Letter size ~8x10"

I wrote the software in Python. I'm using opencv to talk to the cameras.

 

[Tony4597]

Within each lens, there is room for only so many frames. If the lens count is 50 per inch, then at 100ppi printing I could cram 2 frames. True, I don't have to care too much about resolution here. For 50 line/inch lenticular sheet, I resolution along one axis is fixed at 50ppi

I'm using 2MP (1920x1080) camera boards, like this one. However I plan to upgrade the cameras to a similar 5MP version. Actually my real problem is that I don't have access to some of the settings on the camera that I would like to control. It's a real mess requiring lots of bandages. I may have to find special cameras

I was wanting to do 7x5" prints (because a supplier has this size of lenticular sheet premade with adhesive backing on it), but now that I'm concerned about resolution, I'm going to aim for larger: Letter size ~8x10"

I wrote the software in Python. I'm using opencv to talk to the cameras.

View attachment 14993

Thanks for the update. Without fully understanding the requirements for your chosen print method it seems to me your biggest obstacle may be the existing camera pixel count - of course I could be wrong but.. Obviously a higher MP camera will gain you the added resolution @7"x5" and if you really need a native file with 500ppi then your going to need about 9MP camera and for a 10"x8" about 20MP.

Good luck with this project and let us know how you progress