2011 Software releases
Learn about the 2011 versions of some of Autodesk’s Digital Entertainment Creation tools.
Theme color:
  • 1/2
You are here: Homepage /  Blogs /  Louis Marcoux Blog / Stereoscopy in 3ds Max with StereoCam Modifier
Stereoscopy in 3ds Max with StereoCam Modifier
Posted: Dec 08, 2009
Category:
Social Media:
Bookmark and Share
 

This week, i am posting the videos that i have prepared for the 3December event. The blog post covers a wide range of knowledge on making stereoscopic CG with 3ds Max. And, most of all, you will learn the basics of making comfortable CG Stereoscopic images by taking the projection setup into consideration. 

3December Event

The 3December Online event was held last week and 6 master classes were made available for your viewing. You can find very interesting presentations visiting the dedicated page on The area:

http://area.autodesk.com/3december

There is a couple of 3ds max presentations including one from Liquid Development on the assets development for The Beatles : Rock Band game. My colleague Eddie Perlberg also does a presentation from the show floor at AU.

3December happens every year on that date and you can find tons of new material on the Area and you can attend live events in various cities around the world.

Stereoscopy videos

In order to make everybody aware of the videos i have produced for 3December, i decided to include them in this blog post. This way, long after the event will be over, you'll be able to refer back to those videos and use them for your stereo production. Also, because there is a comment section at the bottom of the page, we'll be able to continue the discussion about stereo and how to achieve great results within 3ds Max.

The videos are the most recent ones i have produced on stereoscopy. They contain new learning and concepts that i have never covered before. So, i hope you will be able to learn something new from them. I know that there are a lot of Power Point slides but those videos were intended to be a master class and it was the appropriate format for this presentation. I hope you won't mind... But don't worry, there are 3ds Max examples in there too...
At the end, you'll see that i use a Max Script that i wrote to make stereoscopic shots. The script is included below and you can use it/modify it as you wish.

Basics

Overview f the basics concepts related to stereoscopy. It's a good refresher before getting into the technicality of producing stereoscopic images.

Projection Technologies

A very brief overview of some of the technologies available today for viewing stereoscopic images.

Comfortable Stereoscopy

In this video, i review all the considerations that needs to be made to produce comfortable stereoscopic content.

Comfortable Stereoscopy | Practical Example

In this video, you'll use the rules of comfortable stereoscopy to produce a stereo image for a given setup: my office...

Stereoscopy as a Story Tool

Here, we'll see how stereoscopy can be used as a tool to better tell stories because, like many other camera effects, stereoscopy can generate emotional responses with the audience.
 

Stereo Camera Modifier in 3ds Max

This is the instruction manual of the 3ds Max modifier called "Stereo Camera". I wrote this modifier for my own use but you can download and use it in its current version by following what is explained in this video.

You can download the Max Script here:

userdata/fckdata/4952/StereoCamModifier_V1_3.rar

Please note that this script is not supported by Autodesk. If you find issues and limitations, you can let me know in the comments section and if i have time, i'll try to improve it. But, there is no guarantee that i will respond to every wishes that are made. If anybody else wants to work on the script and improve it, you are more than welcome to do so and share with us!
 

Viewing Stereoscopic Animations

This videos covers a few techniques to produce content for stereo viewers.

Conclusion

Few conclusion notes.


 

In order to post any comments, you must be logged in!
Newest users comments View All 30 Comments
Posted by kaczorefx on Mar 12, 2010 at 12:30 PM
OK, I check it and in Max 2010 x64 the Skew modifier on a camera doesn't render.
It affects the camera view in vieports but not in renders.
That's what everyone is experiencing.
If you turn of skew modifiers on the left an right cameras the anaglyph preview looks like the renders.

Does anyone have an idea why this happens?
Posted by puddyman on Mar 12, 2010 at 11:25 AM
Louis, thanks for taking the time to go into so much detail about the whole process, i know there are countless people who will find this useful!

Regarding the script: I have the same problem as some others have posted - The convergence of the renders is in a different place to how it appears in the max viewport, am i missing something? do i need to trim the edges of the render to compensate for the asymmetric camera frustum?

Here is an example of what i get in the viewport vs render window:

Viewport (converges on the sphere at the front):
puddyman.co.uk/upload/viewport2.jpg

Rendered (converges elsewhere):
puddyman.co.uk/upload/rendered2.jpg

Camera settings:
puddyman.co.uk/upload/perspective.jpg

If anyone could help me i'd be very greatful!
Thanks,
Steve


Posted by kaczorefx on Mar 11, 2010 at 12:24 PM
Hi,
I have a workflow problem with this script.
First thing we should do is set the screeen size and distance para,eters, right?
This way the first thing we get is a different FOV for our camera!!
We loose the framing that most ceratinly was approved by the director.
The only way I found to get the framing back is play with the screen size and distance to get the previous FOV but this way those two parameters become irrelevant to the whole process.
Changing FOV of the camera below the modifier gets canceled as soon as I change anything in the modifier again :(

Do you have any suggestion for the workflow with this? After all framing should come first - the stereo rendering is just the last step in the process, right?
Posted by JIHAD KMAIL on Mar 07, 2010 at 07:03 PM
THanks Mr Lous...But you dont talke about how to make polarized images....we have a system like this in my university from eon company....
second what the video extention we have to save the video with in oder to play it in such system
thNKS A LOT FOR HELP
Posted by intergalactic on Mar 02, 2010 at 06:33 PM
great work, but im having a problem. its seems to be previewing correctly but rendering too far apart, do you have any ideas why, are you aware of this?

many thanks

www.flashwerks.net/stereo_render.jpg