360x180 CG Renders

"cheerioboy" wrote:
hey mediavr, do I have this right? I'm trying to take your resolution change and adjust it for various sizes --
all sizes are 360 slices, at 1 fov

1800x900
- Set Output Size, Width: 5, Height: 900 - (5 pixels = 1800/360)

HD'ish, 2160x1080 (1920x1080)
- Set Output Size, Width: 6, Height: 1080

4k'ish, 3240x1536 (3072X1536)
- Set Output Size, Width: 9, Height: 1536

I got it? I'm doing some internal tests but afraid to go higher res and have them be screwed up :oops:

Cheerioboy, hope you don't mind me posting your work on the reddit page for Oculus. Looking forward to see what you can generate.

I wondering a few things. One is have you been testing out Depth Map option which is discussed in this thread. I only found out about it today, but it seems to work great for VR Player. Edit: Seems I've been misunderstanding how effective depthmap can be. The more 3D you give it, the more artifacts you create. Sorry about that.

Two is can you create an scene that has the grid layout, but with a 1.8 meter pole or character positioned further and further away at 3 meter intervals (maybe in a slight curved pattern so each object can be seen fully ). Then recreate this at different heights as the person turns around the scene. In front of me, all the characters are ground height, 45 degrees to my right, they're 1m off the ground, 90 degrees to my right they're 2m off the ground, etc. This then creates something visually that people can use to adjust their 3D viewer settings such as changing their FOV and horizontal seperation.

Three, if you can do the above, can it be rendered in a Cube, Spherical and Cylinder layout in Mono, Over/Under, and Depth Map. My thinking is Stephane who created VR Player could use such renders for his Samples file which to me would be vastly superior to the current images he's using (cylinder view of a hallway, spherical view of a city street).

update! http://imgur.com/a/yj1y0
edit: http://imgur.com/a/YsFc9 (precompiled a few - had trouble uploading the 8k image w/depth map)

So I rendered both the left/right version at 8k, and then the single pano w/depth map. I figure with the largest size, you can scale it down in increments and save them out to determine what size is optimal for viewing with the Oculus. So I'd be interested in seeing how well the image holds up - 720hd, 1080hd, 4k & 8k -

Something strange happened to the card floating below the view - in the left & right renders it rendered strange, while in the single pano you see the gradient of color on it properly... hmm.

Are these left/right renders looking alright? I've wondered about whether the cameras need to diverge on a focal point. At the moment they both point straight ahead with no crossing. I think it's called parallel vs toe-in, like Paul mentions here, http://paulbourke.net/stereographics/stereopanoramic/.

I've mentioned to VR Player that they might include a way to shift one view to create this toe-in, if it is indeed something needed for proper viewing.

Cheerioboy,

I checked all seven versions. The depth map setting does not seem good for this type of scene. As I know almost nothing about it, I don't know if it depth map works best with large objects up close with minimal or zero background. It worked with the flower in the VR Player sample folder and sort of worked with the teacup render.

With the S3D, it looked great and had no problem seeing depth. There were rendering artifacts such as a purple line on the two-tone human, the reflection in the T-Rex seemed pixelated. There seemed little benefit after x1080, but I think that's the limitation of the developer kit resolution. Anyone that has as HD prototype or better will be able to say if it helps. I recommend that you save these as over/under both to help with image servers (might limitations on maximum dimensions for uploads) and to make the thumbnail easier to view (OU allows for larger thumbnails since it's scaled to the longest dimension).

If anything, the S3D shows that this scene has too many humans in it beyond what's needed to determine depth. Perhaps just humans on the ground level that spiral out into further distances, but with lots of spacing inbetween so there's no overlap. Throughout the scene, like you did here, put in other objects for scale (except for a banana). People can do the left/right eye blink to see the offset.

I also noticed the spherical layout of the image at the bottom of the render. Did you put that image there to help determine how the slicing is doing during rendering? It's a minor distortion compared to how cool the stereoscopic 3D in the rest of the scene looks.

nukemarine, for the depth map setting - did you try playing around with the max offset within the settings / effects ? You should be able to dial the offset to something view-able. But you're right, it's not effective in selling you on the depth.

I think what works best for gauging the depth is setting an indoor scene with more objects that are closer to you - distinct near, mid, and far objects - I'll see what I can do going forward. I have plans for a side project that I'd like to render in stereo pano.

I believe what sells depth the most is having subtle parallax shifting, as your head sways around you see tiny bits of parallax in your environment. I know with the new Oculus setup this would now be a possibility - I just don't know if there will be an easy way to setup a rendered scene to take advantage of it - maybe through having a stereo pair & depth maps to further distort the images based on head shifting.

I was viewing the images rendered and noticed that the ground right below the viewer does a bit of a twist. I'm guessing this is unavoidable? Will do a simpler test to show it - and see if it's only affected from the higher resolutions

Too bad there's not a easy way to cycle through images with VR Player - I'd love to compare the left/right renders vs the depth map so really see the difference. Also interested in separating the eyes further. It might make sense to exaggerate the eye distance to create a more pronounced feeling of depth.

To see the differences open two instances of VRPlayer. Just Alt+Tab between them.

What are the VRPlayer settings to see an over/under depth map shown with Anaglyph?

@ j1vvy

Genius! I'll give the ol' alt+tab a go :)

I'm not very familiar with anaglyph images and VR Player, but I don't believe you need a depth map. For an anaglyph image you'd set your media settings to: Mono / choose your projection preference / Anaglyph

"cheerioboy" wrote:
@ j1vvy
I'm not very familiar with anaglyph images and VR Player, but I don't believe you need a depth map. For an anaglyph image you'd set your media settings to: Mono / choose your projection preference / Anaglyph

Although I am making content for the Rift, I don't have a Rift yet. I am using Anaglyph glasses to view the images in 3D.

I think it is a bug in VRPlayer
Anaglyph should be a viewing method under Device -> Layout But it is listed under Media -> Effect instead.

My current method of looking at over/under with Anaplyph glasses is:
For anaglyph glasses:
Media -> format -> Mono
---------> projection -> Sphere
---------> Effect -> Anaglyph

Device -> Layout -> Mono
----------> Distortion -> None
---------->Tracker -> Mouse

Tools->Plugins->Effects->Anaglyph
----------> Stereo mode -> Over / Under
---------->Anaglyph type -> Red-Blue