Stereoscopic 3d

[SpencerCarpenter]

Hi can anyone please recommend a workflow or toolkit to create stereoscopic content?

There seems to be a surprisingly lacking amount of online resources on this subject.

We've tried the 3d glasses and auto rig camera features naively found in ae however the results do not seem particularly great. 

We are trying to create new animated content using element 3d. 

Attempting to achieve real eye popping effects where objects appear to float in mid air in front of the screen is proving particularly difficult.

There are some plugins available on aescripts in particular the 3d stereo toolkit however this doesn't say it supports anything above cs6.

Thanks for any help on this subject.

Spencer 

[Rick Gerard]

The most efficient way to work is to create a new Comp that has the dimensions and frame rate of your final master project, go to Layer/Camera/Create Stereo 3D Rig, then do all of your animation and compositing in the main Composition with the "Master Cam" at the top and the Left and Right cameras turned off and locked. I usually just drop them to the bottom of the comp and shy them.

When the animation is done go to the Stereo 3D comp and choose the right viewing options for your setup. AE will handle 3D monitors as well as 3D glasses. Adjusting the 3D controls fixes the perspective and these need to be adjusted depending on the depth of your scene (how far the main action is from the camera's Zoom Value) and the focal length. The POP you talk about is achieved by lighting and color correction in the Main comp.

I did a bunch of 3D stuff way back in the days when we shot on Film and worked extensively on the backend of designing and testing separating left eye and right eye from interlaced stereo 3D video cameras when it first came out. There's nor really much more that I have seen that makes it easier to create 3D in AE than the standard toolset.  I knew Chris Condon and did a fair amount of work and testing with the lens system he invented. Effective 3D is all about lighting and camera position combined with convergence and camera/lens separation. AE has all the tools you need for that.

I'm not exactly sure how you set up Element 3D to use multiple cameras. That's the only hitch I see in your project. If I get a chance later this afternoon I'll run a test.

[SpencerCarpenter]

Hi Rick,

Thanks for your reply, what you're saying makes sense. I'm thinking that colour correction may need to happen per shot to ensure there's minimal ghosting on both eyes.

My client is using this video as a benchmark https://youtu.be/FSGfN9rr78Q

It's interesting to analyse this to try to work out how it works so well and i think a lot of it is down to the colour and contrast of the overall image.

[Rick Gerard]

The sample video looks like the distance between cameras is exaggerated to put more emphasis on the wide-angle lens used to shoot the original shot. If you have access to a Stereo camera you could do some camera tracking on one of the cameras, add a 3D layer that is stuck to some geometry in the frame, then go back to the Stereo Comp and make some camera adjustments to get the offset to match the 3D camera. That's how I would do it.