Stereoscopic Visualization

Stereoscopic visualization gives the perception of three-dimensional depth by combining two offset images for the left and right eyes of the viewer. FEFLOW provides the means for stereoscopic display in 3D View windows and for the export of stereoscopic images and animations. Specific hardware is required to display stereoscopic content, e.g.:

• Active 3D system supporting OpenGL Quad-Buffered Stereoscopy (e.g., NVIDIA 3D Vision^®) with compatible graphics card, shutter-glasses and 120 Hz screen or projector

• Passive 3D screen with polarized glasses

• Passive 3D TV with polarized glasses

• Autostereoscopic display

Stereoscopic visualization is a quickly emerging field in consumer electronics (computer games, movies), with the available hardware changing significantly over short periods of time. It is highly recommended to test 3D hardware before purchase as not all combinations of software, graphics hardware and screen/projector/TV fit together smoothly. If in doubt, check the FEFLOW System Requirements web page or contact the FEFLOW Services team for recommendations and example configurations.

Stereoscopic display in 3D View windows

Stereoscopic visualization requires a 3D View window in full-screen mode. Full-screen mode can be turned on via the context menu of the view.

In the context menu of the view window, the following modes are available:

 

Mode	Description
Row-interleaved	The two images for left and right eye are displayed at the same time. One image is displayed using all the odd-numbered rows of pixels, the other one all the even-numbered ones. Polarizing filters in the screen cover and polarizing glasses ensure that for each eye only one image is visible. The vertical resolution of the resulting 3D image is only half the physical vertical resolution of the screen.
Active 3D (Quad-buffered)	The two images are displayed alternating with full screen resolution. Shutter glasses synchronized with the screen make sure that each eye only sees one image. A high-frequency screen or projector (120Hz) supported by the 3D system (graphics card, shutter glasses) is required to guarantee flimmer-free perception.
Horizontal Side-By-Side	The two images are placed side-by side in the view window. The 3D hardware connected to the computer (typically a 3D TV with polarizing glasses) combines them into a 3D image.
Vertical Side-By-Side	Like Horizontal Side-By-Side, but placing one image above the other. Many 3D TVs support both horizontal and vertical mode.

 

The choice of a mode is determined by the 3D hardware that is used.

Export of stereoscopic images/animations

The export of stereoscopic images and animations does not depend on specific hardware. For stereoscopic viewing of the exported content, however, this is required.

Both the Export AVI from Active View and Snapshot of Active View functions, for example accessed via the View toolbar, provide 3D export options.

For AVI movie export, the *.avis format needs to be chosen first. During the movie or image export, the following options are available:

• Side-By-Side Horizontal

• Side-By-Side Vertical

• Row-interleaved

The choice of format depends on the combination of hardware and software for playing/showing the output. Most configurations can deal with side-by-side formats, some also with row-interleaved mode.

When choosing a side-by-side format, the export resolution can be kept to the selected view window (AVI) or export (image) resolution (Keep Image Size - 50% loss of horizontal or vertical resolution due to stereoscopic output), or the image can be stretched to twice the view window resolution (Stretch Image - no loss in resolution during export).

As there is no unique definition of the order of images, left- and right-eye image may be swapped for export in side-by-side mode to accommodate specific software and hardware for later display.