Meant to be Seen

Quick question, I don't own a DLP-TV and my uni probably doesn't either (unless the dean is seriously into big-scale s3d gaming ).

I want to make my future game DLP-compatible. Thanks to Phil, I now know that it's easy as pie - take two cameras and combine the views in a checkerboard fashion.

My question: Am I going to be 100%, absolutely, definitely sure that it'll work once I see the checkerboard on a regular tv? (after all, the only difference is that it doesn't separate the images and do the shutter voodoo).

It's going to be a game for a contest, so I'd rather not go: "Check out our cool stereoscopic 3d mode. You plug the shutterglasses here and - FFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUU..." That is, providing they supply me with the right equipment to show it. If not, it's going to be lame anaglyph .

Rosomack wrote:My question: Am I going to be 100%, absolutely, definitely sure that it'll work once I see the checkerboard on a regular tv? (after all, the only difference is that it doesn't separate the images and do the shutter voodoo).

Hi Rosomack,
I'd say yes, if you are outputting the two images in a perfect checkerboard pattern, at the correct resolution for the DLP TV, it will definitely work.
But remember to include an eye-swap option, because you might not know which-way-round a TV will display the views.

Rosomack wrote:it's easy as pie - take two cameras and combine the views in a checkerboard fashion

Be careful though - using two ordinary cameras, whether parallel or pointing at a focus object, produces incorrect and uncomfortable stereo.
For each eye, the view frustum has to be specially shaped, and the cameras must be kept parallel. It's explained (a bit clumsily) here:
http://www.mtbs3d.com/phpbb/viewtopic.p ... 120#p14120" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
If you search the net for asymmetric frustum stereoscopy or off-axis stereoscopy, you'll find more info.

Good luck with the contest!

Thank you again, Phil! You've just helped me a lot!

I knew the cameras shouldn't converge, but I overlooked the need for frustrum adjustment and would probably end up wasting time. Thanks for the link, I'll study the topic until I iron out all the details.

I'm going to use XNA (a requirement for entering the contest ), as far as I know, you can't include raw directx code there, but I think I'll manage to bypass it somehow (probably by some manual matrix calculations) .