MyAlbum - Stereoscopy

Bigger pictures:
<Anaglyph> <Cross-eyed>
<Java applet>

Stereoscopy &
Stereoscopic Photography

Stereoscopy

Stereophotography is one of my hobbies and, when not working on improving MyAlbum, I enjoy taking and viewing stereo pictures as well as reading everything related to stereo.

Some links related to stereoscopic photography:

		Stéréo-Club Français (SCF) / French Stereo Club http://www.stereo-club.fr This club has been promoting stereoscopy for more than a century, I'm proud to be one of its members.
		Stereoscopy.com - The World of 3D-Imaging http://www.stereoscopy.com One of the best and most extensive web site on stereoscopy.
		Stereo 3D http://www.stereo3d.com Many information on hi-tech 3D and virtual reality.
		Rocky Mountain Memories http://www.rmm3d.com Not only "Equipment and Supplies for the 3D Photographer" but also a great 3D Encyclopedia.
		Berezin Stereo Photography Products http://www.berezin.com/3d Need 3D products? You will certainly find all you need in this on-line stereo super-store.
		Digital Stereo Photography http://www.ledametrix.com Interesting and helpful web site on making stereo pictures with digital cameras. Rob Crockett has also designed the Lanc Shepherd, a clever little device that can accurately synchronize two Sony cameras (on sale at Berezin and at pokescope.com).

Some usefull and free stereoscopic softwares:

		The Stereoscope Applet http://www.stereofoto.de/sapplet A great free java applet written by Andreas Petersik. Upload your pictures on your web site in only one format and let the user choose the viewing method he/she prefers (cross-eyed, anaglyph, interlaced,...)
		AnaBuilder http://anabuilder.free.fr Powerfull freeware for the creation of stereoscopic pictures (not only anaglyphs). Many, many features! Etienne Monneret has written AnaBuilder in Java so it will run on (virtually) any platform. Usefull StereoBee applet (included in the AnaBuilder package) for displaying stereo pictures in a web page.
		StereoPhoto Maker http://stereo.jpn.org/eng/stphmkr A fast, easy and free stereo mounting tool from Japan. My favorite when the pictures I want to mount have only alignment problems (pictures taken from a stereo camera or from a pair of cameras for instance). It's a great viewer too, IMO the best viewer to use with LCS shutter-glasses. Take a look at Masuji SUTO's other softwares http://stereo.jpn.org/eng: StereoMovie Maker same as SPM but for videos, java applets,...
		StereoVue http://ggrillot.free.fr/stereovue New stereo mounting tool with promising features.
		Stereoscopic Player http://mitglied.lycos.de/stereo3d A versatile stereo movie player. It allows you to play stereoscopic videos and DVDs.
		StereoPOV http://stereopov.ichthyostega.de POV-Ray is a popular and free raytracer. Hermann Voßeler has made a special version that produces real 3D output by generating stereoscopic pairs of images. Very easy to use (if you know POV-Ray already...).
		BaseCalc http://myalbumpro.com/BaseCalc.html A small PocketPC calculator for computing on the field the proper stereo base. The same application will also work directly on your PC!

On-line galleries:

		Alpes_Stéréo http://perso.wanadoo.fr/alpes-stereo Pierre Gidon has been taking stereo pictures of the French Alps for more than 20 years. Gorgeous hyperstereos of mountains rendered in well tuned anaglyphs.
		Crystal Canyons http://www.crystalcanyons.net John Hart's web site contains many beautifull 3D pictures and must-read "Technical Notes".
		3D Adventures of the Puppet Kite Kid http://www.puppetkites.net Usefull information on stereoscopic 3D videos.
		Tyl présente... http://perso.club-internet.fr/tlaville Thierry Laville makes his own cartoons on his computer. His last two creations are in stereo 3D. You can download them freely (big, big files but worth the download!).
		Stereo Images From Juneau http://stereo.thurstons.org Stereo gallery and technical pages on stereoscopic photography.
		My own gallery of stereo pictures: - Using the Stereoscope applet: http://myalbumpro.com/3D - Using the StereoBee applet: http://myalbumpro.com/3D/Photos Needless to say, both galleries were built using MyAlbum!

MyAlbum & stereo

Although MyAlbum is not a stereoscopic viewer, it has many features usefull to the stereoscopist.

		It can handle more than one monitors.
		It has a plugin to display JPS stereo pictures with many options.
		MyAlbum can be extended using the integrated script tools. Write your own script or use the ones already available.

Working with two monitors

Dual output graphic cards have become common and inexpensive. They allow to plug a second monitor to the computer doubling the workspace size.
MyAlbum detects how many monitors are connected to your computer, you can then select to use only one monitor or use the whole virtual screen. By placing the monitors side by side, a wide picture will be displayed using both monitors and, in the case of a stereo picture (left-right pair in a single file), the left and right pictures of the pair will naturally be displayed on the left and right monitors.

Stereo pictures can be displayed using:
   - two video LCD or DLP projectors and a silver screen.
   - two standard computer monitors for cross-eyed viewing.
   - two standard computer monitors with a vertical mirror (see Prof. John Hart's device for instance).

Note: The MAX_JPSView extension is able to mirror one of the picture or to swap the pictures on the fly.

MAX_JPSView
Download: Standard version and Unicode version

Plugin for viewing stereoscopic JPS files.
Use this plugin to view JPS files with MyAlbum. JPS are stereo JPEG files with both the left and the right pictures stored in the same file. Viewing can be done in parallel, cross-eyed, over-under, mirrored or with anaglyph (red-cyan or blue-yellow) glasses.
A set of keyboard shortcuts can be defined to easily change the viewing method or to exchange the left and right pictures without leaving the full-screen display.
It can also be used with the MyAlbum Viewer.

Scripts

MyAlbum has an integrated script tool. Scripts can be used for instance to automate complex and/or repetitive tasks or add new features to the application.
Scripts can be written in easy-to-learn VBScript language or in javascript, Perl, Python,... Pick your favorite script language!

The script collection has now more than 120 scripts available (written by myself or by other MyAlbum users kind enough to share their creations) and amongts them there is a Stereo section with about 20 scripts.

With these scripts you can for instance:
  - Join pairs of pictures in stereo pictures,
  - Split stereo pictures in left and right pictures,
  - Generate anaglyphs,
  - Launch stereo mounting software directly from your album (StereoPhoto Maker for instance),
  - Build stereo web galleries using java applets,
  - Transfer the stereo pictures from a pair of digital cameras,
  - Build stereo contact sheets,
  - ...

Click here to go to the Stereo scripts page.

Some tips

Using the MAX_JPSView to print pictures.

You can use the JPSView extension as a preprocessor for printing your stereo pictures.

Printing anaglyphs:

select the printer and set its parameters (landscape printing, resolution,...) using the Print setup command in the File menu.
display your JPS picture using the MAX_JPSView and adjust the viewing parameters (desaturation for instance).
exit the full-screen display (do not press the Esc key in the thumbnail view to keep te processed picture in memory).
select the Print picture as poster in the Pictures menu.
set the Zoom factor to 1 and adjust the margins so only one page will be printed (use the Preview button to check your settings).
click the Print button to print the anaglyph.

Making prints for a device with mirror(s):
If you are using a viewing device with one mirror (like the Albatros for instance) you will have to print one of the views mirrored.

select the printer and set its parameters (landscape printing, resolution,...) using the Print setup command in the File menu.
display your JPS picture using the MAX_JPSView and adjust the viewing parameters: set parallel viewing and mirror one of the two pictures (mirror both if the device you are using has two mirrors).
exit the full-screen display (do not press the Esc key in the thumbnail view to keep te processed picture in memory).
select the Print picture as poster in the Pictures menu.
set the Zoom factor to 2 and adjust the margins so only two pages will be printed (use the Preview button to check your settings). The two views will be printed on two pages. For the Albatros, you can for instance use a Zoom factor of 4 and print each view on four A4 sheet of paper glued together.
click the Print button to print the views.

Viewing stereo pictures on the Web
Browsing the web for stereoscopic pictures can be sometimes a little frustrating:

pictures are to small to be confortably viewed or to big to fit the screen,
pictures are only shown in parallel viewing and you can only do cross-eyed viewing,
pictures are only shown in cross-eyed viewing and you can only do parallel viewing,
or you can't do neither and would prefer to view them in anaglyph!

MyAlbum will then help you, do the following (try it on the cross-eyed picture below):

Open MyAlbum with a blank empty album and place the MyAlbum window side-by-side to the web browser window.
When you encounter a parallel or cross-eyed picture, drag with the mouse the picture from the web browser and drop it in the MyAlbum album.
A new thumbnail should be displayed (the picture is in fact read from the web browser local cache).
Use MyAlbum to view the picture: adjust the zoom and the MAX_JPSView settings to your tastes.

Too much stereo!

Cross-eyed version (click here for a larger picture - 372 KB)

Busted anaglyph glasses from 3D Cafe
CoolTubes Font by Jim Evins
Rendered with StereoPOV

Web design by:
Jean-Luc ARMAGNACQ

Updated: 2005/07/23

Pierre MEINDRE