DIY 2 Webcam 3D research

[WheatstoneHolmes]

Just wanted to share a few things I found while researching the possibility of getting a 2 webcam 3D rig put together.

Yuriythebest has already done this even before the minoru 3d webcam and you can find his 3D videos at http://www.stereo3dnews.com (shameless plug #1)

I was looking for 2 identical webcams that I could plug into my notebook PC and take them anywhere I wanted (excepting the changing rooms at the local mall).

First I went to the top of the line (i think) Logitech cam, the Quickcam 9000 Pro, this is a 2MP cam with a Carl Zeiss lens, nice!

BUT - according to a few reviews and videos I watched online this cam cannot do 30FPS in even 640x480! (Please correct me if I'm wrong, I'd really like to know if this is true or not.)

AND - you have to have a powered USB port for the cam to function properly. I do have 1 on my notebook, but not 2.

Next I looked at Logitech's Orbit AF, this also has 2MP and Zeiss lens. This one is supposed to be able to handle a high frame rate, but once again the drawback is it needs a powered USB port.

It has little motors that move it around like an eyeball, so it has to have power.

I looked at a bunch of cams and specs, I found one that needed no powered USB port and it was USB 1.1 and 2.0 compat.

BUT - it did not take advantage of the high speed 2.0 USB offers and therefore had very poor frame rate.

In the end I ordered 2 Microsoft Lifecams, they used USB 2.0, non-powered ports, had good frame rates, good light managment, etc.

Of course this is only based on reviews and videos I watched, I will have to see for myself when they arrive.

One alarming review stated that the MS Lifecam didn't work if you had other USB devices plugged in!

I hope it will allow 2 of the same cams to be plugged in and used at the same time or I will have some nice USB paper weights.

[cybereality]

Yeah, I've wanted to do that for a while but never got around to actually ordering the cameras. Let me know how it goes.

[Freke1]

HD (720p) cameras are getting cheap:
http://www.kodak.com/eknec/PageQuerier. ... cale=en_US" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[UndeadD3vi1]

Next I looked at Logitech's Orbit AF, this also has 2MP and Zeiss lens. This one is supposed to be able to handle a high frame rate, but once again the drawback is it needs a powered USB port.

This is one of the best webcams I've ever owned. Video is high quality and high res (Can go upto DVD-res). If you had two of them for 3D it would look like two eyeballs looking at you.

One alarming review stated that the MS Lifecam didn't work if you had other USB devices plugged in!

Its pretty obvious that person was a idiot.

[WheatstoneHolmes]

Thanks all for the comments and answers.

Does the Orbit cam have a smooth frame rate?

[UndeadD3vi1]

It doesn't seem to be a perfect 30fps but is pretty close. Only flaw I can think of is the auto brightness takes a few seconds to adjust sometimes.

[WheatstoneHolmes]

Thanks for the Orbit info!

Freke1 - I'd love to try a couple of small HD cams but I just can't afford 2 of them, I might have been able to buy 2 Quickcam 9000s or 2 SVP HD cams like the ones they are always selling on eBay, but the problem with the SVPs was that I couldn't guarantee that I could get 2 identical cams within my budget due to them being on auction and not "buy now".

Thanks for the advise though, we'll see what happens with the Lifecams...

[yuriythebest]

WheatstoneHolmes - you will need the hytekautomation webcam driver for the webcam rig to do anything remotely useful. even then, at least with my setup I've experienced many problems, the worst being sound desynchronization. And it's not your regular several second lag that you can compansate- the lag is asymmetric, as in it will increase/decrease randomly. Of course that's just from my experience. I hope you have more success with this than me. Here are my old thread


http://www.mtbs3d.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1444" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[WheatstoneHolmes]

Yeah that Minoru is looking better and better!

Thanks for the heads-up, Yuri!

[Neil]

Hi Yuriy!

I finally got to try your signature in 3D. What affect are you trying to go for with it?

Regards,
Neil

[Likay]

A stereoscoper for some reson always try to view side-by-sides crosseyed or parallell. The sig somehow shows the place of the locker..
Great sig!

[WheatstoneHolmes]

Has anyone used Stereoscopic Multiplexer (3dtv.at)?

Does it work well?

[yuriythebest]

Hi Yuriy!

I finally got to try your signature in 3D. What affect are you trying to go for with it?

Regards,
Neil

thanks! do you mean pop in or pop out? didn't really care just made it "3d"

A stereoscoper for some reson always try to view side-by-sides crosseyed or parallell. The sig somehow shows the place of the locker..
Great sig!

I am able to view this image crosseyed

The sig somehow shows the place of the locker

sorry I don't understand

[WheatstoneHolmes]

Got the cams today and I've done some tests with StereoMoviePlayer's dual cam function.

http://www.vendfx.info/3DWebcamsTest.avi

The last finger poke in the video has a bit too much negative parrallax, but I thought those that would like to see some extreme 3D would enjoy it!

I haven't done anything with audio yet, I'd rather get the video practice first.

I have learned a couple of things:

1. A "powered USB port" just means you can't plug it into a passive USB hub, like those found on monitors, etc.

2. You have the wait on StereoMoviePlayer and/or the cams to reach full frame rate so if any of you try this for yourselves don't give up because it looks terrible at first, just wait and the frame rate will catch up and hold steady.

3. You need a lot of light!

[yuriythebest]

Got the cams today and I've done some tests with StereoMoviePlayer's dual cam function.

http://www.vendfx.info/3DWebcamsTest.avi

The last finger poke in the video has a bit too much negative parrallax, but I thought those that would like to see some extreme 3D would enjoy it!

I haven't done anything with audio yet, I'd rather get the video practice first.

I have learned a couple of things:

1. A "powered USB port" just means you can't plug it into a passive USB hub, like those found on monitors, etc.

2. You have the wait on StereoMoviePlayer and/or the cams to reach full frame rate so if any of you try this for yourselves don't give up because it looks terrible at first, just wait and the frame rate will catch up and hold steady.

3. You need a lot of light!

wow that's amazing quality! can't wait for the sound and all the cool shenanigans you'll upload

[WheatstoneHolmes]

Great I was hoping it would come out well!

I can't wait to start the shenanigans either!

About your clone video...

I used my regular camcorder to do a split screen effect like that and every time I switched sides of the room to play the clone role the lighting changed so drastically that the 2 wall colors didn't match, one was blushish and the other was white.

I guess a way around that would be green screen (chromakey) FX but I'd lose the realism.

[yuriythebest]

I used my regular camcorder to do a split screen effect like that and every time I switched sides of the room to play the clone role the lighting changed so drastically that the 2 wall colors didn't match, one was blushish and the other was white.

I guess a way around that would be green screen (chromakey) FX but I'd lose the realism.

not at all. the way around this is to blur the border. I use sony vegas 8 and the mask has an option called "feather"- same as in photoshop, that does this.

EDIT: wait were you talking about the clones3d or mindExperiment3d?

clones3d= bluescreen
mindExperiment3d = splitscreen/masking with blurred borders as stated above

[WheatstoneHolmes]

I figured out why the camcorder was changing the color/lighting slightly between shots, it was due to something Sharky told me about webcams...

Auto Gain Control

The AGC was turned on and any time something in the frame changed it would readjust the lighting.

I turned it off on the camcorder, turned on 4 more lights and presto! Perfect twins!

Now I have to figure out where to get the setting for the webcams, it's not obvious.

Thanks Sharky and Yuriythebest for the hints!

EDIT: the feathering I am using is Sony Border / Soft, hopefully I'll get the time to make a quick tutorial for those that want to use 2 webcams for 3D!

[yuriythebest]

I figured out why the camcorder was changing the color/lighting slightly between shots, it was due to something Sharky told me about webcams...

Auto Gain Control

The AGC was turned on and any time something in the frame changed it would readjust the lighting.

I turned it off on the camcorder, turned on 4 more lights and presto! Perfect twins!

Now I have to figure out where to get the setting for the webcams, it's not obvious.

Thanks Sharky and Yuriythebest for the hints!

EDIT: the feathering I am using is Sony Border / Soft, hopefully I'll get the time to make a quick tutorial for those that want to use 2 webcams for 3D!

cool, looking forward to seeing video from your 3d webcam and also the tutorial

[yuriythebest]

hi! any progress?

[WheatstoneHolmes]

Sorry, got busy on some things at home.

I have a shenanigin S-3D video almost ready and I have some of the elements for the tutorial ready to be put together.

As for the audio recording aspect, I will probably just run my camcorder while using the webcams or I could record audio with audacity and a microphone.

Hopefully I'll have something for you guys soon, thanks for asking!

[yuriythebest]

c'mon what are we paying ye for! results saying we we are!

[WheatstoneHolmes]

That's just it, I haven't seen the money yet!

The S-3D Shenanigans video is here > http://www.vendfx.info/S3DS.avi 23+MB

The tutorial is still in the works.