Talk:Vectograph

Latest comment: 5 years ago by FreeFlow99 in topic anti-camouflage

Nomenclature

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I have just reverted nearly all of a recent good-faith edit which added "vectogram" as an alternative term for a vectograph.

As far as I am aware, the Polaroid Corp., which developed and commercialized the technology, always referred to the process as "vectography" and to the images as "vectographs". It is not surprising that instances of "vectogram" can be found in post-1962 literature, as the "-gram" suffix is strongly suggested by the "holography-hologram" nomenclature paradigm, but generically referring to a vectograph as a vectogram is, for legal reasons, an even greater error than calling a hologram a holograph. I am not sure if Polaroid registered "vectograph" as a trademark, but my impression is that they simply launched it as a useful new generic term for a new and fully patent-protected image medium, intending it to propagate, and advertise, as freely and widely as possible. "Vectogram", on the other hand, was registered as a trademark on June 16, 1992 (application filed August 12, 1991) by the Stereo Optical Company, Inc., the current makers of the various vectographic products for optometrists and ophthalmologists, including what is now apparently called simply the Stereo Fly. They also make the current line of vision training aids, including the quoit and spirangle images, which have superseded the old Bausch & Lomb Ortho-Fusor booklets.

The thefreedictionary.com "Vectogram" article, cited to support a supposed distinction depending on the application, refers to the images as vectographs in the first two mentions in the body of its text and as vectograms in the subsequent two, but its inconsistency only serves to make it unfit to cite. Therefore it has been deleted, but not without regret, as the included pic of the Titmus Fly Test being used is a good image. The same thefreedictionary.com also offers an alternative and entirely different "Vectograph" article, which it duly acknowledges to be a copy of the WP article; in fact, it is a copy of a pre-June 2011 version of the WP article that included a jaw-dropping misidentification of a large lenticular ad in Grand Central Station as a vectograph. AVarchaeologist (talk) 11:00, 17 August 2013 (UTC)Reply

anti-camouflage

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In the WP article on Edwin Land we learn that vectographs were used in WWII aerial photography to enable camouflaged objects to be seen more clearly. Wishing to understand how this could work I looked at this vectograph article, but there is no mention of an anti-camouflage ability. If it did have such an ability, could someone in the know add this information to the article? If it did not have this ability can someone add to the article to explain what advantages vectrographs had/have over normal photography? Thanks. FreeFlow99 (talk) 10:44, 28 November 2018 (UTC)Reply