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Multi-view rendering from a stereo pair

It is known, that to produce full-quality lenticular 3D print, multi-view series of frames is required. But it is not always possible to take a whole series consisting of 10-18 frames, much easier and faster to take a stereo pair.

Therefore, Triaxes company has developed a special algorithm, which can process stereo pairs for further creating realistic 3D lenticular prints. The algorithm was added to the new version 3.5 of Triaxes StereoTracer software application. This is significant step in stereo technology, allowing lenticular 3D prints to be produced from a stereo pair using the method of depth-map.

Let us consider the way of lenticular 3D prints creation by the example of following stereo pair:

Step 1.

Launch Triaxes StereoTracer application and execute Project|New (hot key: Ctrl+N) menu command. Then choose “Stereo pair” project type in the appeared dialog and press “Next”.

Step 2.

Specify the left and right frames of a stereo pair in the “Open source images” dialog and press “Open”.

Step 3.

Match frames smoothly moving sliders below images – left one by the most distant object and the right one – opposite – by the closest object, thus, to obtain the maximal sharpness of the object, by which matching is being done.

Press “Next”>> The program will create 9 variants of the depth-map.

Step 4.

Choose the best variant of the depth-map

The program suggests the central variant by default, but for some scenes another choice can be the better one. Criterion for selection is the balance between detailing and smooth gradient filling of the objects.
Note: It is also possible to edit selected depth-map manually in the “Depth-map generation parameters” dialog, which opens by pressing the “Tune” button in the “Select depth-map” dialog.
Press “Next”.

Step 5.

The program creates full-sized depth-map.

After a depth-map is generated, it is possible to edit it. Edition is not always necessary, but sometimes allows better result to be gotten.

Open context menu by the left mouse button click on the thumbnail of the depth-map in the images list. Select “Edit depth-map” from the list of menu. The “Histogram” dialog will appear. Here we can increase contrast of depth-map and specify blur radius. For the most of pictures, blur of depth-map with the radius of 5-9 pixels, gives a good effect, making generated series of frames more realistic.

Step 6.

Generate series of frames (menu command: Frames|Generate frames; hot key Alt+G)

Step 7.

The result.
You can see the result of the generation in the anaglyph or animation mode.

Generated frames can be saved in separated files of BMP and TIFF formats.

Then, open resultant series of frames in any lenticular image generation software (3DMasterKit is recommended) and create 3D lenticular picture.

Besides, the program allows series of frames to be exported into animated files “avi” and “gif” with specified resolution and frame rate. This feature is useful for making preview images. Such previews are convenient to be posted on websites and used in demonstrating purposes.

Step 8.

Improve the result.

There are some cases, when manual editing of depth-map is desired. For this purpose you can use any universal graphical editor.
Open context menu by the right mouse button click on the depth-map thumbnail in the frames list. Depth-map will be saved into a file on disk. It may be opened in any graphic editor and perform manual edition.

Then, open again context menu and execute “Open image” menu command. After that generate a multi-view series of frames (step 6).

Release 3DMasterKit 3.5

We are glad to present new version of 3DMasterKit

The main subject for modifications was the graphical user interface of the program. Now, work with 3DMasterKit is even more convenient and initially understandable!

What’s New?

• A handy toolbar has been added on the “Navigator” window.
• Graphical user interface has been significantly changed. Work with images became elementary and very clear!
• The activation process was maximally simplified, “drag and drop” operation is available now. Activation is an easy task even for children!
• New formats – “tiff” and “psd” are available in the “Export” dialog.
• General reliability and stability of the program has been increased and imperfections improved.

Release StereoTracer 3.5

We are glad to present the release of a new version of StereoTracer 3.5

The main advantage of the version 3.5 is a new feature of automatic depth-map creation from a stereo pair. This feature considerably simplifies and accelerates the process of lenticular 3D images creation.

Main changes and updates in StereoTracer 3.5 are as follows:

• handy “wizard” for depth-map creation from stereo pair has been added
• the activation process has been significantly simplified and expedited
• “Images” window has been supplied with convenient context menu for quick access to the main operations with images
• Imperfections have been improved and general stability of the program has been increased.

StereoTracer Editions

Since version 3.5, StereoTracer program will have editions, which differ by their features. This novelty allows our users to select the program with such function package, which will satisfy their own requests.

The program is available in the following editions:

StereoTracer Home

• Multi-view rendering from one 2D original image.
  Automatic depth-map creation from a source 2D image based on Triaxes technology.
• Multi-view rendering from one 2D original image and a depth-map, created in an external graphic editor.

StereoTracer Professional

• Multi-view rendering from one 2D original image.
  Automatic depth-map creation from a source 2D image based on Triaxes technology .
• Multi-view rendering from one 2D original image and a depth-map, created in an external graphic editor.
• Multi-view rendering from a stereo pair.
  Automatic depth-map creation from a stereo pair based on Triaxes technology.

Triaxes Starts New Project

Triaxes in association of Elecard informs about start of the stereoscopic (3D) video encoding and data transmission system development

The project includes following activities:

• Creating 3D codecs based on MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 (AVC) standards.
• Creating systems of conversion “regular” 2D films into 3D and 2D+Z formats of stereoscopic visualization.
• System integration of 3D video content with IPTV system, VOD servers and players developed by Elecard.

Triaxes company has been developing software and technologies in the area of 3D visualization during 5 years. The main product of the company is 3DMasterKit (software package for creating 3D/Motion images)

The group of the Elecard companies has been working for 20 years in the area of software and hardware development for processing, encoding and transmitting digital video and audio data. Elecard is known in the industry sector, as a producer of one of the best codecs for digital video compression.

At Triaxes, we believe in active communication with our partners and customers.