RealD 3D Glasses
I had the priveledge of working on a styling and construction evolution of the RealD 3D glasses, used in 3D movie theaters all across North America and beyond. The client had received complaints from users that their glasses did not look stylish enough, that they did not fit well over top of existing prescription eyewear, and that the arms would sometimes break off at the joint, for a less than enjoyable movie-going experience. Since these glasses are made by the MILLIONS of units, and also designed to be cleaned and re-used by multiple movie goers, it was clear the design needed to be as low cost as possible without sacrificing robust structure to stand up to repeated abuse. The frames were designed with simple tooling in mind, and I added a snap-together hinge design specifically intended to disconnect before breaking.
After walking the client through our initial sketches, they made it clear that they wanted to emulate the look of sunglasses like the Rayban Wayfarer or the Oakley Holbrook. They also needed to fit over prescription eyewear, hence a protrusion along the top of each lens frame was added, to sit securely on top of existing prescription eyewear frames. Additionally, by increasing the overall width of our 3D glasses design, we could allow space for most large prescription eyewear.
Unfortunately, the final engineered design lost some of its pleasing organic curvature to save cost on polarized lens material and to maximize box count (smaller size). Either way, it was a pleasant surprise to find them “out in the world” while experiencing Avatar - The Way Of Water, in all of it’s immersive 3D glory!
