Viewing stereo pairs on VR HMDs

From Brian Flint on another thread:

"The link below is for a side by side parallel-view stereo image, scaled in size to make it suitable for viewing on VR headset. I bought a Zeiss VR One headset to view my side by side stereo images on a smartphone. I wanted to see what my 3d side by side images would look like using the headset as a stereo viewer. The first thing I found was the images for left and right were far too large. My smart phone is a Sony Xperia Z5 premium and the display is 121 x 68mm in size. The centre of the two images need to be spaced apart by a distance slighty greater than the spacing of my eyes. I found the optimum distance to be 68mm. Also for best effect the images are better if they have some barrel type distortion applied as the lenses in the headset stretch the corners outwards to give a more immersive effect. This stereo image shown here is about right for my Xperia Z5 premium smartphone in the 'Zeiss VR One' headset. Notice how small the images are compared with the area of the display ( shown by a white line). Only about 30% of the pixels in the display are used, the rest are wasted.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/26973646@N05/34370957872/in/dateposted-public/

So, I checked your image on my phone with my VR device and is not "spaced"/divergent vs a normal stereo pair. Seems to be a little opposite/convergent (59 mm spaced on the same screen size as yours, 5,5" diagonal). The problem can be related to viewer's optical system (the lack of manual IPD adjustment). I have two different VR viewers with manual IPD adjustment and don't have any problems.

I prepared for you some images to do a test.
1. A "normal" image. On 5,5" screen is ~60,5 mm center separation = half of 5.5" screen width size.
2. The pair have a little convergence (as your image), ~59 mm center separation on 5.5" screen.
3. The pair have divergence, ~67 mm center separation on 5.5" screen.

I can see all 4 images (yours and my) without any problems (same for my wife). I have ~72 mm IPD, my wife have ~63 mm IPD, so you are in between.
If you can see comfortable one of them, please tell me and I will give you the image in high resolution (8000x3000 pixels) and some trick to navigate inside with head tracking function. This is "the big thing".

There are also software viewers which allow you to set the image size and IPD, and provide correction for optical distortions. .............................................................

Images are in parallel mode, to be viewed on HMD VR!

Something is wrong, but for now I will go on.
Image #2 is correspondent of your image with the mushroom, not image #3, as you can see:

I generated the demo image with normal 3D effect for large and very large screens, but the depth is reduced on small and normal screens. (below is the version - cropped area - for cross-eyes)

Next is another image with high 3D deep effect (cross-eyes).

This kind of images (with high 3D deep effect) are very difficult to be seen on large screens and with VR devices!

From this link: https://we.tl/t-6TZ4LOi6Rb you can download 3 high resolution images, intended to be viewed with a unique VR Player (for Android) which can be installed from here: VR Media Player - 360° Viewer

After installing the player, look for one of the high-resolution images uploaded to your phone:
- open it in this VR player,
- set the type of lens used (standard),
- set 3D image type - Side-by-Side,
- click on the image, then in the upper right click on the symbol for 3D glasses (to see the pair) and the symbol for the compass to activate the "head tracking" function,
- the pair of images appears on the screen and in the center there are two symbols with which the image is centered in the preferred position for viewing (spatial orientation, left-right, up-down).
The image does not appear in full screen, it can be without black stripes to complete the 16/9 format. You can see the image as it is in the HMD viewfinder.
The unique aspect of the player is the fact that it allows both pictures and videos to be greatly enlarged (zoom-in) and you can use the "head tracking" function to orient yourself inside the image, to observe different areas of interest!
High-resolution 3D images are recommended, preferably made to cover a much wider FOV than in the classic format.

Enjoy!

I think on Hi Res image named "normal" you can zoom more than in image named "divergent". The image named "deep" is too "deep" for VR, is for test/demo purpose only.

......................................

So, the point is:
- The spacing between centers of a stereo pair is determined by the size of smartphone screen.
- The people must see all available stereo pairs without additional intervention with more or less "spacing".
- Some manufacturers of VR devices expect to address the problem with "spacing" on different screen sizes, with some complex optical solutions, as in case of Zeiss VR One headset.

So, i would recommend you to buy a cheaper headset with manual IPD and focus controls. BOBO VR Z4 is a very good one, with some negative aspects, like peripheral chromatic aberrations and the headphones are of poor sound quality (but are useful for balancing the device on the head).
I have one and I am very satisfied. With head tracking , the peripheral areas of images can be observed without chromatic aberrations (you can turn your head to see peripheral areas, not only eyes).
I also have VeeR OASIS VR device. This device have better optics, less chromatic aberrations, but requires very strict eye positioning, with low tolerance to the position of the lens. I don't like that.

I have presented 3D materials to many people, using the BOBO VR Z4 device, and no one has complained to have visualization problems. I can zoom-in or zoom-out on any normal 3D pair, without having to change the original axial distance (manually setting the IPD provided by the VR device solves any problem).

Your photo with the mushrooms have a very good depth, including the maximum zoom-in, I think that your problems come exclusively from the Zeiss VR One device.
.....................................................
You have a lot of 3D images/pairs, check some of them with 360* VR Player (without any modifications/distancing), including zoom-in.
......................................................
One more image for cross-eyes viewing.

High resolution for VR Player here: https://we.tl/t-DSKIMI3OVJ

Hi Brian / Gunner

That's a real interesting and useful info being discussed by you.

I am a great fan of 3D Stereo since long and also own a 3D Sony TV. Pity that they are getting out of use. I am very keen to view these parallel 3D image in my Quest2.

Thanks a lot for sharing very helpful video.

Can you please share a fresh link to some stereo images that I can view using the Android App VR 360 media Player.

Since you guys are truly hooked to 3D Media, I wonder if you have attended 3D New York Stereoscopy Association weekly show. They have a VR show on AltspaceVR platform which we view in Quest2 etc and we see high quality stereo images.

I can give you a link to download some 3D pairs in over-under (left over right) format, 4K resolution, different thematic, if you are interested.🙂

Android app VR Media Player - 360° Viewer can play them without problems, even with zoom-in and head tracking for a little more immersion.

Hi, 3D Gunner

Thanks. I'd love to explore various themes.

I tried creating an MPO file using  software STPHMKRE, hoping that it would open up in web based VR program but failed. I will also appreciate, if you could include some MPO format.

Thanks a lot

ShafqatMAK wrote:

Can you please share a fresh link to some stereo images that I can view using the Android App VR 360 media Player.

I assume you know that you need VR devices with high resolution screens (at least 1440x2560 pixels for both eyes) to be able to properly appreciate large 3D images.

I have prepared some images in different 3D formats for you to experiment with. You can download them here in the next 48 hours:

https://we.tl/t-cnGjX51hl0

Thanks a lot for all the support. These images are quite stunning and really project the power of Stereoscopic photography.

Any suggestions on the type of 3D camera to be used for amateur / hobby category. Currently, I just take 2 snaps and fuse them with software.

I hope you and Brian and other like minded pro will come on the NY Stereoscopic show in AltspaceVR.

Thanks a lot

Regards

Thanks for your appreciation! 🙂

I use two identical cameras (with identical lenses) to get good quality 3D images, plus a custom beam splitter and a custom dual-lens device for close-up/macro 3D photo/video.

Thanks for sharing the details.

Its quite a painstaking efforts to capture good quality 3D. I hope , it is OK to remain in touch and ask more guidance and assistance in this domain.

Thanks

Hi Brian.

Thanks for your reply and sharing the details of DIY. Creating a video using 2 cameras must be laborious because for different scene depths, results could be different.

I have opened your Youtube videos and got following results.

1) On a Laptop, The Youtube opens an Anaglyph video.

2) Inside Quest2, I opened the Link in Youtube and got an Anaglyph video. I might experiment more to get a Stereo effect in Quest2

Finally some success

3) I downloaded your video in LowRes.

4) I have a wonderful App called BIGSCREEN. I copied the downloaded video and transferred it to my Quest2 folder. I launched BIGSCREEN App and opened this Video using the Video PLayer Option. The video opened as a 2D SBS, and after I changed the setting to 3D SBS, I got good Stereo effects.

BRAVO

The capture in the attachment is from a 4K video clip, undistorted (full SBS, not half SBS for settings). You can test it on your Quest2 device.

Thanks, 3D Gunner. The quality of image is really great. Such images would really standout in Light Field Displays and Lumen Pad.

If your player supports viewing large images, 50MP or more without resizing, in 360* 3D VR, I can prepare one for you. 🙂

360* 3D images for VR needs to be very large and full of details to be impressive.