3D Vision Blog » 3d stereo mode

Stereoscopic 3D Nature Video from Hungary in HD Dualstream Format

Bloody — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 19:21:29 +0000

Here is another stereoscopic 3D video in HD quality made by relaxvideo.hu showing the forests, waterfalls, caves and beautiful views from mountain Bükk in Hungary. It is not completely new, but it is quite nice and I’ve kind of missed to post it here, so if you still haven’t seen it then you should download and include in your collection of 3D videos. The video is in HD quality and encoded in dualstream WMV format so you need to view it with a player that supports this like the 3D Vision player or the Stereoscopic player. And don’t forget to leave your thoughts about the video in the comments below…

- To download the S3D nature video from Hungary – mirror 1 – mirror 2

Bioshock 2 Custom Convergence Settings for 3D Vision Users

Bloody — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 15:50:54 +0000

The game Bioshock 2 that was released a few days ago was one of the eagerly awaited titles for this year and that was not only because of the big expectations after the first BioShock game, but also because the sequel was supposed to be stereoscopic 3D-ready game (still quite a few of these are available). Supposedly one of the 3D Vision optimized games, but interestingly enough there was nothing mentioning Nvidia 3D Vision readiness about the game, although there is a 3D mode option available inside the game. Bioshock 2 is based on Unreal engine and we all know that this is not the perfect game engine to offer best stereoscopic 3D compatibility, but it seems that the developers did put some effort into making it perform good in S3D mode.

One very important thing you should be aware of is the fact that Bioshock 2 is indeed a 3D Vision-ready title (it has a built-in control over 3D Vision!) and that brings one specific to the activation of the stereoscopic 3D mode in the game. The first time you run Bioshock you won’t be able to enable the stereo 3D mode by pushing the button on the Nvidia IR transmitter or pressing CTRL+T, you’ll need to first go into the game’s Graphic Options menu and enable the 3D Stereo Vision, then restart the game and after doing that you should be able to freely activate and deactivate the S3D mode. It seems that some people are unaware of that requirement or at least just enable the 3D Stereo Vision mode and do not restart the game and complain that the S3D mode is actually not working in Bioshock 2, which is clearly not the case…

When you activate the 3D Vision stereoscopic 3D mode in Bioshock 2 it looks Ok, but you might notice some issues with lighting and shadows, especially if you increase the depth level a bit more. So playing a bit with convergence is something that needs to be done in order to minimize the negative effects you might experience otherwise and here are my preferred custom convergence settings that I found to give me best results. Just import the right Reg file from the archive below depending on your OS type (32-bit/64-bit) run the game and set the depth level to minimum, then after a bit you can try increasing it a few steps to see if it is Ok with you prefer to leave it at the lowest setting. My custom convergence settings are optimized to provide a bit of pop-out effect of the objects very close to you like for example your drill or when you are next to something on the wall that sticks out. Also the 2D crosshair which might be a problem for some people fits better with these convergence settings as you are not distracted by it seeming double or something like that when it passes over objects with more depth. With these settings you should also have less ghosting and issues with the rendering of lights and shadows like you normally might have. As usual please share your comments on how the custom convergence settings worked for you and if you liked them or not…

- Download my custom 3D Vision convergence settings for the game Bioshock 2…

Samsung 2233RZ Locks Brightness in 3D Stereo Mode

Bloody — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 22:09:38 +0000

When you are using the Samsung 2233RZ monitor in normal mode (2D) you can change its parameters without any problems, but when you switch in 3D mode some of the settings are being locked. It doesn’t matter what refresh rate has been set for the display at the moment – 60 Hz or even 120 Hz, you retain full control over the settings in the OSD menu of the display. As you can see in the image above I’ve set the brightness to 99 and the contrast to 60, but when I got in to 3D mode the settings change automatically to a preset value…

When you start a game in 3D Stereo mode with the 3D Vision glasses on and try to change the brightness and contrast of the monitor you can see that this function has been disabled. The brightness is set to 100 (maximum) and the contrast is set to 75 and you are not allowed to change these values. When you are back into a normal 2D mode of the display your previous brightness and contrast settings are being restored.

The good thing is that Samsung 2233RZ performs very well at these settings and there are no problems with color reproduction, and the same thing probably applies to the ViewSonic VX2265wm FuHzion 3D monitor. Maybe someone who actually owns a ViewSonic monitor can verify that, but I’m pretty sure that the same limit in the brightness also applies when 3D Stereo mode is activated.

The 3D Vision IR Transmitter – Up Close and Personal

Bloody — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 21:51:39 +0000

Here comes the black box a.k.a. the IR transmitter that is the other major part of GeForce 3D Vision. This small black box allows you to start and stop the 3D Stereo mode by just pressing the front button with nVidia’s logo on it. This device sends an infrared signal to the glasses that is being used to synchronize the image displayed on the screen and the shutters of the glasses so that each eye sees just half of the frames displayed on the monitor.

On the back side of the transmitter you’ll find a mini USB connector that is used to connect the device to the computer, along with the scroll wheel used to set the level of depth when you tun on a 3D stereo mode. The scroll wheel is very convenient, because you can change the depth in every 3D application when you turn the 3D Stereo mode in real time. The level of depth is also controllable from the Stereo Drivers, but you need to go to the control panel of the video drivers in order to be able to modify it (the default value is 15%).
The connector on the right you see is only needed for synchronization when using a compatible DLP TV set as a display in combination with GeForce 3D Vision.

And now for the fun part. The image above is shot in infrared mode and thus the camera actually sees below the normally visible as black external surface of the transmitter. This is possible, because the cover of the transmitter has been made from a special type of plastic that blocks only visible light (appearing black in color), but at the same time passes all infrared (IR) light. This is done, because the transmitter sends infrared signals to the glasses and this type of light rays needs to pass through the external walls of the device. And all the bright lights you see inside the transmitter are actually infrared LEDs that are used to send the synchronization signal to the glasses. As you can see they are placed all over the inside of the transmitter which is needed to provide the best “connection” between the glasses and the transmitter, because infrared light transmission requires direct line of sight. With this design you don’t need to place the transmitter in a special location to get the best results, you can simply place it somewhere around the monitor and everything should be fine. Just be wary of some other devices transmitting infrared signals that may be active around you and the computer, because that might bring some interferences and break the synchronization of the glasses and the transmitter.

3D Vision Blog » 3d stereo mode

Stereoscopic 3D Nature Video from Hungary in HD Dualstream Format

Related posts you might be interested in:

Bioshock 2 Custom Convergence Settings for 3D Vision Users

Related posts you might be interested in:

Samsung 2233RZ Locks Brightness in 3D Stereo Mode

Related posts you might be interested in:

The 3D Vision IR Transmitter – Up Close and Personal

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