Interesting Diversion....

[Mapfiend]

I have been messing with anaglyph photography lately, you know, the 3D images that require the red/blue glasses, and after I discovered how very easy it is to make the images, I decided I would try it on some of the EQ maps.
I wrote an algorithym that determines the amount of left/right seperation based on the z value of each point, and I must say, the results are pretty impressive.
I did this just as an excercise for myself, and don't plan on pursuing it much further, since the 3D maps are of little to no practical use whatsoever. It was an interesting afternoon diversion, though.

If you want to check them out, see:
http://www.mapfiend.net/in3d.php

You'll need a pair of red/blue glasses to view the maps.

[Freakyuno]

This is very cool stuff, I actually did some of this a while back, but really didnt like the color distortion I got with RB glasses. I purchased an Asus V7700 Geforce3 that had a hotplug for a set of LCD 3d glasses.

I was using Lightwave 3d and a custom importer script I wrote to import SOE version maps into it point by point, then I was texturing surfaces with variable transparrency and depth and creating a stereoscopic image of them.

The results were absolutly amazing, but the glasses were cumbersome at best to wear, and as you said, had no praticle use whatsoever.

I thought about getting a freeware version of the unreal engine and using it to create a 3d ShowEQ where you could actually spin and rotate your enviorment and see mobs, and walls and such on the Z axis also, but decided I wasnt entirely that motivated.