Convert Anaglyph movies to true stereo

[WheatstoneHolmes]

Program and tutorial to covert anaglyph DVDs to true stereo:

http://stereo.jpn.org/eng/stvmkr/dvdtoa ... reoavi.htm

I haven't tried it yet but it looks plausible.

[Likay]

It is very plausible and it works but the readymade movie have trouble displaying clear red or clear blue colors equally in both eyes. You'll see this as a form of retinal rivalry. The final result is a way better experience than anaglyph but nothing close to an already 3d-formatted video.

[UndeadD3vi1]

How long does it take to convert a standard 90-min 3D Movie and does it support Green/Magneta?

[Likay]

That i don't know sry. I've only seen a sample of this technology and it looked decent.
I don't think conversion would take too much time. Divx/xvid etc compression of a movie might actually be slower since the algorithm to convert anaglyph to two images is a lot easier and also should be faster. Can't tell for sure though.

[WheatstoneHolmes]

I think most people that de-anaglyph movies will analyze the 2D version of the movie and find out which view it represents (right or left), then de-anaglyph the oppisite view, then put the results side-by-side or over-under, interlaced, etc.

For example, if we found that "My Bloody Valentine 3D" 2D version was the left view we would use the de-anaglyphed blue(right) side.

The finished product would be the 2D version of the movie on the left and the blue(right) de-anaglyphed result on the right.

[Gae43]

The finished product would be the 2D version of the movie on the left and the blue(right) de-anaglyphed result on the right.

That's correct.
What I have discovered though, through various tests and conversions, is that during the interlacing process, this great piece of software actually colourizes the 3D side. Even if it is B&W, it colourizes that side, resulting in a pretty decent colour representation of the 2D side. The results are pretty good although there is still some retinal rivalry, depending on how good the conversion is. Of course, it's not as good as the more expensiver real field sequential editions that "Sensio" do, but it's way better than anaglyph and a free way of converting. It is quite time consuming though but great fun along the way. After all the effort, the final satisfaction of viewing the most recent 3D DVD release in field sequential 3D with your shutter glasses, makes it all worthwile IMO.

Gae43

[WheatstoneHolmes]

Great to hear, I can't wait to try it out!

Have you had any problems with the Magenta/Green movies vs. the Red/Cyan?

[Gae43]

Have you had any problems with the Magenta/Green movies vs. the Red/Cyan?

Not at all. The software doesn't seem to differentiate. I have had success converting "Journey to the Centre of the Earth" using the software. It also has the yellow/blue (colorcode) option too.
I am about to attempt a conversion of "Ghosts of the Abyss" which I believe is in colorcode. I bought the official Japanese version off eBay and will have a go at a good quality field sequential version...using an already pre-edited 60 minute 2D side (from a FS version I bought off the net) paired to the 3D side that I will convert. I may even go the whole hog and re-do the whole edited 2D side too as I'm not happy with the quality. The process I have just recently started using for converting the DVD vob is of lossless quality whereas with my previous conversions, I used DVD2Stereo, which converted to AVI using the Microsoft 4 video codec. The quality was OK, but not lossless.

P.S. I might just add, I don't sell any of these conversions....they are purely for my own home use.

Gae43

[WheatstoneHolmes]

P.S. I might just add, I don't sell any of these conversions....they are purely for my own home use.

Good for you! I think if we buy the original DVDs we are casting our vote for more S-3D/Anaglyph movies to be produced, but if there is piracy this could really hurt future S-3D/Anaglyph releases.

Of course there are rare exceptions like "House of Wax" & "Dial M for Murder" that have only been released in S-3D in a Japanese video format.

[Gae43]

Good for you! I think if we buy the original DVDs we are casting our vote for more S-3D/Anaglyph movies to be produced, but if there is piracy this could really hurt future S-3D/Anaglyph releases.

For now, I'm quite happy for future 3D DVD releases to be the anaglyph versions, so long as they include the 2D version as well. In fact, I enjoy the challenge of trying to make the best quality field sequential version that I can. Although, after spending so much time converting, finally watching the film is a bit like eating a meal that you have cooked yourself.

No doubt, if 3D becomes more mainstream, a few years down the road, more top quality field sequential and/or other formats may be released.

Gae43

[Gae43]

Hmmm, I'm having trouble finding the 3D side of the colorcode version. It must use a different method to the anaglyph. I can seperate the blue, the yellow doesn't seem any different to the main image and the b&w seperated file is identical to the 2D side. Does Colorcode work by blocking colours rather than seperating them? Perhaps the 3D is a strange concoction of all elements and can't be seperated? I'll keep trying!

Gae43

[WheatstoneHolmes]

I think the yellow (or amber) lens does the color part and the dark blue lens sends luminance/contrast data to your eye.

[Tril]

The invention makes use of a color-based encoding technique and viewing filters selected so that the human observer receives, in one eye, an image of nearly full color information, in the other eye, an essentially monochrome image supplying the parallactic differences prescribed by the stereoscopic principle and supplementing the color perception.

I've read the patent a bit. I think I figured the basics of how the encoding process works. Let's say you start from two pictures called the left and right pictures. The blue channel is removed from the left picture. Grayscale is calculated from the right picture. The final picture is made from the red and green of the left picture and the grayscale of the right picture that is put in the blue channel. That means that the blue channel is not the blue channel of the original right picture. It's a combination of red, green and blue. Maybe that's why they say that this technique keeps more color information. I'm not sure but I think that they also do some color correction so that it looks better with and without glasses.

[Spicey]

I always get a pair of greyscale images if i try the anaglyph (red cyan) to sidebyside conversion.
How do i put the color back into the images ?

[templarwiz]

I was able to get some anaglyph movies in .avi format, not vob, does dvd2stereo support the avi file?
i was not able to work it out.

[mickeyjaw]

Sorry if this is a stupid question, but can somebody explain to me how I can restore the colour to the monochrome output that DVD2StereoAVI outputs? I am trying to convert shrek 3d from anaglyph to side by side, and have both a 2D version and an anaglyph version. I have converted the anaglyph version to a black and white side by side video. Am I supposed to crop out one of the eye views and interlace it with the 2D version? Using what software?

[Gae43]

I can tell you MickeyJaw....Use Stereo Movie Maker....

1)Open both the greyscale and 2d version as left and right files (they need to be edited to align etc)
2)Put greyscale side on the left
3)Save as "interlaced" using Microsoft video compressor (only works when compressed)
4)Open the saved file as "Interlaced" and voila...the greyscale side has been colourised.
5)Click "Autocolor" to balance the colours even better....I think it does 3 different colour balances..original, colour of one side passed on, colour from the other side passed

I've converted several movies using this method and they look great. Shrek 3D is one of the best looking conversions too. Don't overcompress the movies though as they end up looking horrible. You can get away with 1-2 compression runs without drastically losing the quality.

Good Luck and enjoy Shrek 3D...the scene of them hanging over the waterfall looks amazing in side by side format

Gae43

[mickeyjaw]

Okay, I tried this and it produced a coloured output, the only problem is that the colour information only comes from one side. This results in a correct experience when the separation is low, but when the separation is high the colour on the de-anaglyphed side is completely wrong. So I am now trying again with a different method. This time, I am preparing a left eye view using a video editor with the red channel gain set to 0. I will stitch this side by side with the full colour right-eye view with the red component turned slightly up and watch it page-flipped. Hopefully, the colours will be stitched together in the brain and look better, but it is still not ideal.


Does anyone else have any ideas other how to resolve this colour ghosting issue? I know DeAnaglyph can do this properly for a single picture, is the algorithm documented anywhere? I guess you need to do something like:

Code: Select all

Input L file blue/green only
Input R file full colour

for each frame in movie
 for each pixel in L file
  search x pixels left/right of same pixel in R file, looking for closest match of Blue/Green components
  copy red component from best matching pixel in R file to current pixel in L file
 next pixel
next frame

Herr Wimmer, if you are listening could you confirm this is roughly the way it is done in DeAnaglyph? I guess you need to search up/down a bit too in case of vertical parallax.

Does any program employ this kind of technique for movie reconstruction?

[Gae43]

Mickeyjaw, did you use "autocolour" after the interlacing process? It fine tunes the colour balance even more. I tend to have a low seperation on my projects and so the colour synchronisation isn't too bad. Also the brain tends to fuse the two sides together.
It's a bit hit and miss with this colouring process I agree and is different for each project. Sometimes the colour differences are obvious but with certain films the colour is almost identical. If you can find a better method that isn't too laborious then let us know.

Gae43

[helifax]

Hello guys. Thanks for the info so far. I Have a little question.

I am trying to make polar express from 2d version and anaglyph version to side by side. so far I have 2d version ripped and 3d version anaglyph in 2 b/w files for left and right eye. From what I understood, the left eye is actually responsible for the 3d effect and the right eye is simple 2d.

So how exactly do I color the left eye? I read above that i must adjust the 2d to the left eye image and interlace it. But... on my left eye i see the normal picture and to the right the edge of my character. I need to adjust the color after my B/w char or after the edge?

Thank you in advance.

[Gae43]

Here's a better method to this problem....

http://www.mtbs3d.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=5321" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

In the past I have "colourised" the b&w side using the 2D colour side. You need to put the 3D b&w part side by side with the 2D part (obviously in alignment) and then save as interlaced. The following points have to be observed though....

1)You must save as compressed (I use the Microsoft MPEG 4 codec)
2)The B&W 3D side must be on the left side

The results aren't perfect, but they're pretty good and the colour is transferred across.

I prefer the other method (in the link) now though as there seems to be less overlapping of colours. There is still some but hopefully a few adjustments to the script might get rid of these?

I just want them to start releasing Blu ray 3D and more field sequential DVDs and then we wouldn't need to go through this hassle. Also, I don't think these conversions are great for the eyes as of course each eye is receiving a different quality of image and it must upset the eyes in some way. The overlapping colours do bug me more and more these days...especially after seeing perfect side by side clips off youtube.

Gae43

[helifax]

I have found a nice link about how to "match" the colors more to actual colors, so you won't suffer any retinal rivalry or get headaches in the process of watching the final result. Ofc this method makes the whole process a bit longer (since more encodings are necessary) but the results are waaay better. Tested myself with 3d anaglyph+2d color of toy story 3d trailer from youtube. Using this method te results are awsome as left and right image is almost the same in color.

OOps forgot about the link :
http://www.stereo3d.com/discus/messages ... 1099113264" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Btw is there anyway to increase the depth of the 3d effects? so far every movie converted look like a 3D FLAT. The 3d is there but the dept is way to small.

[helifax]

Here's a better method to this problem....

http://www.mtbs3d.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=5321" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

In the past I have "colourised" the b&w side using the 2D colour side. You need to put the 3D b&w part side by side with the 2D part (obviously in alignment) and then save as interlaced. The following points have to be observed though....

1)You must save as compressed (I use the Microsoft MPEG 4 codec)
2)The B&W 3D side must be on the left side

The results aren't perfect, but they're pretty good and the colour is transferred across.

I prefer the other method (in the link) now though as there seems to be less overlapping of colours. There is still some but hopefully a few adjustments to the script might get rid of these?

I just want them to start releasing Blu ray 3D and more field sequential DVDs and then we wouldn't need to go through this hassle. Also, I don't think these conversions are great for the eyes as of course each eye is receiving a different quality of image and it must upset the eyes in some way. The overlapping colours do bug me more and more these days...especially after seeing perfect side by side clips off youtube.

Gae43

Thank you for the info. Yes I can't wait for them to release more 3d movies in field seq or side by side..but ofc quality movies not some crapy stupid movies.
Oh well we can only hope this will be sooner then later:) I tried both versions for converting the one from the link seems more nicer but the redish color kills me:(

[InlineTwin]

That file dvdtostereo (modified from dvdtoavi) from the first post came up as behaving suspiciously by Norton and is considered a HIGH risk. Just FYI. I know this isn't a good way to introduce myself to the forum, but any program that doesn't perform in an expected manner is at least buggy and could cause issue with some systems. Just FYI.

BTW I run all kinds of indie programs without a hitch, just this one was flagged by Norton.