With the 3D Vision drivers you get a nice bonus, or at least you may call it like that, because apart you’ll also get free support for anaglyph 3D stereo mode. Or said with simpler words you’ll be able to play with a depth perception using your normal computer system and a pair of anaglyph (those plain old red/cyan paper or plastic) glasses. Of course using the anaglyph mode will not provide the same impressive and great looking depth perception in games and 3D applications, but will give you a nice upgrade when gaming, because you’ll be able to at least have some 3D effect. The requirements that the anaglyph mode has to you is to own a pair of anaglyph glasses and it seems Nvidia will start offering some of these very soon, but you can also get them from other places pretty cheap. The only other thing you’ll need is an Nvidia-based videocard, preferably a faster one that can provide enough frames for comfortable playing. There is no limit to the supported GPUs as when using the 3D Vision shutter glasses, and also there is no need to have a special 120Hz display, because anaglyph mode can work just fine with your normal CRT or LCD monitor. Just have in mind that the 3D Vision drivers require you to be using Windows Vista or Windows 7 in order to function, because they are not available for Windows XP! So why don’t you install the latest video drivers version 186.18 and the 3D Vision drivers included in the package and try the anaglyph 3D mode…
Here is a quick setup guide:
1. Open “Nvidia Control Panel” in Standard or Advanced mode.
2. Select “Stereoscopic 3D” and choose “Set up stereoscopic 3D”.
3. Click on the checkbox called “Enable stereoscopic 3D” in the main panel.
4. A new window will open, where you need to click on the button labeled Next.
5. Put a tick in the checkbox celled “Enable 3D Vision Discover” and click on the Next.
6. You’ll see a message saying no compatible 3D display is found, again click on Next.
7. Now you have to put on your anaglyph glasses and pass the test you’ll be provided with.
8. A new test is being displayed to verify if you are actually seeing depth on a special image.
9. Finally you can see some 3D stereo demo images if everything is fine, but you can as well skip this step.
10. If you’ve passed the two tests everything is ok and you can start playing games in 3D Stereo using your anaglyph glasses.
By default you have set a depth value of 15% which should be Ok for a start, but you’ll probably want to be able to adjust it during gameplay to achieve the best possible perception of depth. If you’ve had GeForce 3D Vision there is a hardware button to easily change the depth percentage, but here you’ll have to do it with a key combination. Another thing that you should know is how to activate and deactivate the anaglyph 3D mode with a key combination, because by default when you run a 3D application it will be automatically activated. If you don’t want that check the Hide stereoscopic 3D effects when game stars in drivers’ control panel. Then when you want the 3D mode turned on you need to just press CTRL + T and then a second time to disable the anaglyph mode so your game will be back to normal. The other useful key combinations are CTRL + F3 to decrease level of depth and CTRL + F4 to increase it, of course there are more kay combinations, but I’ll discuss them later on in a separate topic. This should be just enough to get you started in playing games with anaglyph glasses with a pretty nice 3D effect, although you’ll notice that you have some problems with color reproduction, but that is normal when using anaglyph glasses so don’t worry…
Aside from the color reproduction and perception you might notice one other thing that is also completely normal after using anaglyph glasses so don’t freak out if/when that happens. If you haven’t used anaglyph glasses up until now when you wear them for some time and take them off your vision will be a bit strange for a while. And if you close one of your eyes you’ll either see a hotter image (more reddish) or a colder one (more bluish)… as I told you it is normal and a few minutes later everything will be back to normal. This happens because your eyes adjust with the different color filters the anaglyph glasses use and even when you take them off there is some time needed for them to revert to normal. ;)
