Belgian newspaper issues 3D edition

A Belgian daily newspaper offered its readers a new perspective on the world on Tuesday with a 3D edition complete with special glasses.

All the photos and adverts in La Derniere Heure's special edition were treated to give them the three-dimensional effect when viewed through the different lenses of the kind well-known to 3D filmgoers.

"The goal was to make the whole paper 3D," said the French-language paper's chief editor Hubert Leclercq, who said it took two months to prepare the special edition, which had a higher than normal print run of 115,000 copies, for the newsstands.

"We hear about 3D cinema, television and video games, so we took up the challenge," said Leclercq, adding that he was unaware of any other paper in Europe producing such a paper, though there had been 3D images in the press before.

"This is a trial, there's no further (3D) plans for the time being," he said, admitting that the need for the special specs and the sheer costs involved made it difficult to popularise the technique.