Dave’s Cool Toys Blog

We recently purchased the Crayola 3-D Sidewalk Chalk set. Crayola has been coming up with some very cool products lately and this is no exception. The packaging is very clever, letting you look through the glasses and view the art on other packages in 3-D (this is probably what sold me on buying it).

But would it work on our patio? My youngest son did some drawings and I went out to look at them with the glasses and they were very cool. He didn’t make his lines very heavy, so the effect was limited.

Since I haven’t really grown up yet, I had to try it myself. I started with my name, which you can see a picture of here. The concrete came out a little dark in the picture. The cool thing is if you have a set of the glasses you can click on the picture for a larger version and, with the glasses on, it will appear in 3-D as well. I made a spiral version with the colors blending so it looks like it’s sort-of cone-shaped. I didn’t get a good photo before my son’s scootering mostly erased it, though.

To see a cool video that truly does capture the effect, visit this link.

To plan your artwork you need to remember that cool colors (blue, green) will appear farther away and warm colors (red, orange) will appear closer and lift up from the surface when viewed with the glasses.

Does the 3-D work? Yes! Very well. My Wife and Sister-in-Law both tried to put their foot under the "A" in "DAVE", since it appears to be hovering high above the other letters.

The effect works through a process called Chromadepth 3D. The special glasses pull any warm colors like red, toward the viewer, and cool colors like blue away from the viewer. All the other colors are sorted by their position in the rainbow, or ROY G. BIV. Other than the glasses, you don’t need anything special to create 3-D art. Any good sidwalk chalk will work just fine. For this reason, you can take photos of your kids (or your) artwork and the photos will be able to be viewed in 3-D long after the art has washed away in the rain. Chromadepth glasses are available online from cheap ones to nice plastic ones (like those that come in the Crayola sets). Once your chalk is gone, you can even create more 3-D art with markers, crayons, or even on your computer. Just remember the order to create the 3-D effect in. I had limited success with crayons using the Crayola glasses. You can also find lots of artwork online that uses this effect. A quick search on Google Images found hundreds. Supposedly some movies also have inadvertently been created in Chromadepht 3-D just through the use of their color pallete including Mulan, Pocahantas, and Batman and Robin (although I haven’t tried this). I also found some cool 3-D videos online (although many of them are just video slide-shows). Try this 3-D flythrough or this Blacklight Maze.

If you’re looking for more chalk, check out the Chalk Fun kit at Dave’s Cool Toys (shameless plug). You can make your own sidewalk chalk, then use your own chalk creations to make art on your sidewalk. Not only is it fun, but it’s on sale!

Dave’s Cool Toys