Page flipped stereoscopic images use a special feature of some video hardware to rapidly switch the monitor between the right and left images. A special pair of glasses must be used to view these images. The glasses have high-speed electronic shutters (typically made with Liquid Crystal material) which open and close in sync with the images on the monitor.

When the left image is on the screen the left shutter is open and the right shutter is closed which allows the image to be viewed by your left eye only. When the right image is on the screen the right shutter is open and the left shutter is closed. If this process happens at a very rapid rate, your brain thinks it is seeing a true stereoscopic image. If this shuttering speed is not fast enough, you can still see a stereoscopic image, but you may also see some flickering.

Page flipping methods allow you to see full color 3D stereoscopic image in high resolutions. The draw back is that typical video systems will exhibit some flicker. Special purpose video boards which support high-speed page flipping are available.

Shutter glasses come in many forms. Some have wires which connect to your video card. Some connect to your serial port or parallel printer port. Some are wire-less and use special transmitters which send out infra-red pulses to the glasses. The VR Surfer from VRex is an example of a wireless pair of shutter glasses.