3DMasterKit User guide

The essence of 3DMasterKit program is that it creates a stereo image from a set of frames for various viewing methods.

A combination of settings (links between the files of source images, the method of image superimposing and their relative orientation, as well as the encoding parameters) is called "3DMasterKit project".

The 3DMasterKit project can be saved to a file which can be opened later to continue working with. The extension of 3DMasterKit project files is .mtp.

Note, that only program settings and links between source images are saved in the 3DMasterKit project. The source images themselves are neither saved nor modified in any way. Paths to files with source images are saved according to the location of the project file. That is why when you move (or copy) a project file to a new location on the disk, you should also move its source images.

It is convenient to store source images and project files together in the same directory (folder).

Creating a new project

Menu command: Project >> New Project

Hot keys: Ctrl+N

Toolbar button:

Saving a project

Menu command: Project >> Save Project

Hot keys: Ctrl+S

Toolbar button:

Opening a project

Menu command: Project >> Open Project

Hot keys: Ctrl+O

Toolbar button:

Opens the project saved previously.

Adding frames into a project

Menu command: Project >> Add frames

Hot keys: Alt+Shift+O

Toolbar button:

The Add frames command opens the Open Source Images dialog. This dialog allows  to select one or several image files that should be added to the project. The left part of the dialog box contains the group of control elements from the standard Windows Open file dialog. The right part of the dialog box contains the list of selected files. To choose a file, select its name in the left list and click the arrow button . Holding down the Shift (or Ctrl) key, you can select several files at once.

Fig. 3.1.1. Open source images dialog

To delete a file or several files from the right list, select it/them with the mouse and click the arrow button . A double left-click also removes file names from the list.

To load the selected files to the project and add them to the frame sequence, click Open. If you checked the Auto-align option, the images being loaded will be aligned relative to the first image of the existing frame sequence, or relative to the first image being loaded.

The auto-alignment process can take a lot of time. The Auto-alignment progress dialog will show how the process is advancing. You can interrupt the process of adding frames by clicking Cancel in the Auto-alignment progress dialog.

Fig. 3.1.2. Auto-alignment progress dialog

The program supports frames in the RGB and CMYK color model. In this case, all added frames should be in the same color model, using both RGB and CMYK frames in the same project is not allowed.

Formats supported for opening:

Tab. 3.1.1. Formats supported for opening

Adding layers to a project

Menu command: Layers >> Add

Hot keys: Ctrl+Shift+O

Toolbar button:

The Add command opens the Open Layers dialog. You can find more detailed description of this dialog in the previous section.

Formats supported for opening are given in the previous section (Adding frames to a project). Also the RGB and CMYK color models for the layers are supported, provided you use one color model for all layers.

Deleting a current image from a project

Menu command for frames: Edit >> Delete

Hot keys: Del

Toolbar button:

To delete an image (either a source frame or a layer) from the project, click on it and press Delete or execute the corresponding menu command. Besides, you can delete the current layer using a special button on the Layers window that is used (see section 2.5).

Using Shift and Ctrl you can select and delete the set of images from the project.

Saving images

Saving generated image

Saving the generated images out of the Stereoscope, Anaglyph, Direct view and Interlace tabs.

You can save generated image to a PC.

Menu command: Project >> Save image

Hot keys: Ctrl+Shift+S

You can save images in the following formats:

Tab. 3.1.2. Formats supported for saving source frames

Encoding to a file

If you choose the To file encoding option in the Lenticular tab, the following image-saving options will be available in the Save dialog.

Images with the size of up to 2 Gb with width and/or height under 30 000 pixels:

Images larger than 2 Gb with width and/or height over 30 000 pixels:

Note*: Known issues and specifics while saving big files

Obviously, there is not yet complete agreement among software developers about file formats for big-size images. Therefore, keep in mind the following features:

CMYK:  

Photoshop: everything is good with TIFF, PSD, and PSB of any supported size.

GIMP: doesn't support CMYK.

RGB Below 30 000 pixels in width and/or height.

Photoshop: everything is good with BMP, PSD, TIF.

GIMP: everything is good with BMP, PSD.

RGB 30 000 pixels and more (requires large TIFF or PSB):

Photoshop: TIFF files (with size less than 4 Gb) and PSB files (with size more than 4 Gb) can be loa. In some cases, Photoshop can’t read PSB less than 4 Gb.

GIMP: supports large TIFF files (special BigTIFF format) of more than 4 Gb. As well as ImageJ image reading software with bioformats_package.jar plugin.

File formats .psb and .tif (BigTiff) are available in 3DMasterKit Photo A3+, Photo 120 and Professional only.

You can use 3DMasterKit to print the image saved to a file. Add the image to the empty project (Project >> Add frames), and switch to the Print mode (Project >> Print preview). For more details see section 3.7 Printing images.

Saving frames

For saving frames out of the Frames tab (generated series of multilayer frames or aligned and cropped sequence of source frames), use the  Project >> Export Frames (Ctrl+E) menu command. When exporting only the area of images is saved that is inside the crop rectangle.

The Image export dialog is shown in Fig. 3.1.3. On the drop-down list in the bottom you can choose a type of the file to be created (.bmp, .jpg, .tiff, .psd – to create a series of pictures; .gif — to create an animation file;  .avi, .mp4— to create a video file).

Fig. 3.1.3. Image export dialog

Supported file formats:

Tab. 3.1.3. Formats supported for saving frames out of the Frames tab

In the Image resolution (pixels) box you can change the size of the image (in pixels). The Keep aspect ratio checkbox means that, when Width or Height is changed, the resolution is automatically re-calculated to save original ratios of width to height. The Original sizes button allows you to restore original sizes of images.

For jpg files you can set the image Quality level (default: 95), which is converted to the appropriate compression ratio.

In the Video options box you can specify parameters of the created video (active only for gif, avi and mp4 file types): frames per second (playback speed), cycle playback, number of cycles, compression.

The Frames per second (fps) option specifies how quickly frames will be replaced during playback, also it affects the total duration of the animation and video.

If the Cycle playback box is checked, the video that can be conveniently  reproduced for several times is created. Such a video contains frames from first to last one and back to first. If the Cycle playback box is not checked – the video with frames only from first to last is created (with a smaller file size). For mp4 files it is possible to set the Number of cycles for frames playback, which increases the duration of the video file.

When the Compress box is checked (active only for the avi file type), compression by the standard video-codec takes place. Such a file occupies much less disc space.

Below the estimated total duration of the animation/video is displayed.