• Joe Heitzeberg and Ethan Lowry designed Poppy to transform the iPhone into a camera that can capture and display 3D photographs and videos
• It uses mirrors to capture two images using the iPhone's camera
• When you look through the device's viewfinder, the lenses combine the two videos to a create a single, sharp, 3D video or photograph
  
• Gadget also allows people to watch 3D films from the internet on their phone
  

By Emma Innes

PUBLISHED: 10:35 EST, 28 June 2013 | UPDATED: 12:40 EST, 28 June 2013

Two American inventors have created a gadget that transforms an iPhone into a camera capable of capturing and displaying 3D photographs and videos.

Joe Heitzeberg and Ethan Lowry, from Seattle, made Poppy to enable people to record and share their experiences in 3D.

Users can insert their phone into the device, which supports iPhone 4, 4S, 5 and iPod Touch, and then start filming.

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Poppy uses mirrors to capture two images using the iPhone’s single camera.

When you look through the device’s viewfinder, the lenses combine the two video streams to create a single, sharp, 3D video.

It works because the mirrors are positioned eye-width apart so that the images represent what is seen by the left and right eye, independently. 

The viewer built into Poppy isolates the images so your right eye sees the image taken by the right mirror, and the left eye sees the left image.

The brain fuses the two images into a single, three dimensional scene.

Mr Heitzeberg said: ‘As kids, we loved those old toy Viewmasters, and how they gave you the feeling of stepping into another world.

‘We wanted to let anyone create and share their own immersive 3D scenes too. That’s why we made Poppy.’

The gadget also works with 3D content that is already online meaning that people with an ordinary iPhone can watch 3D films and video clips through the device.

The device will go on sale for about £30.

Mr Lowry said: ‘iPhone is the world’s most popular camera, and Poppy is the first product that lets the iPhone capture, view, and share the world as it is actually experienced — in 3D. We can’t wait to get it in people’s hands and see what they do with it.’

The device does not rely upon batteries or electronics – it just uses optics, the branch of physics which involves studying the behaviour and properties of light.

The researchers believe that their invention could be used for everything from filming weddings to creating architectural walk-throughs.

The inventors hope that Poppy will be on sale by Christmas.

For more information, visit http://poppy3d.com/kickstarter