Animated Stereo "Wiggle" GIF
Anaglyph stills provide an inexpensive way of visualizing two images simultaneously. But, you need glasses to view the combined image correctly, and there are constraints on the colors that are shown. There are other ways of providing a 3D immersive view without these limitations. For example, another way to provide the viewer with a stereo experience is to show them both images, one at a time. The easiest way to do this is to flip the viewer's scene back and forth between the left and right images. This must be done quick enough to encourage a 3D effect and yet slow enough for the viewer to examine the details of the two images separately.
Animated GIFs have been around for a long time. A GIF image is just a simple format for storing image data. An Animated GIF is just an extension of the format which provides a way of storing more than one image in a single file. Software that provides a way of combining two separate stereo photos into a single Anaglyph still often have a way of exporting the same stereo image as an Animated GIF. A free software called Stereo Photo Maker is an example of an application can that export an Animated GIF from two stereo photos. During export process, Stereo Photo Maker lets the user choose how many milliseconds are spent before switching the image to its alternate.
The result is what is sometimes referred to as a "Wiggle" Anaglyph. An example of a stereo pair "Wiggle" Anaglyph created by Stereo Photo Maker is shown on the next page.