Can someone summarize the state of S3D for me?

Post by **subwoofa** » Fri Mar 28, 2008 2:08 pm

So much is going on I'm starting to really confused about the state of things now. Can someone help me get it straight?
From what I gather, if you have stereo working now with shutter glasses or projectors, you can never upgrade your graphics card. nVidia isn't doing any more development on stereo drivers for anything but Zalman monitors. Other options are iZ3d, which only works with iZ3d monitors and future HMD releases, and Kind Dragon's hook utility, which is only partially successful and only runs in anaglyph.
Please correct me where I got it wrong and add all the important things I missed. I read all the news and forums but my tiny mind can't seem to get a handle on the big picture state of things, so I hope someone can summarize for me. Thanks so much.

Post by **LukePC1** » Fri Mar 28, 2008 2:32 pm

Basically you seem to be right, but I think, if we are lucky i.e. iZ3d is good enough to get it done, there might be a Shutterglasses driver by them. I'm not shure, if it is possible to get access to the graphics output...

But I think it would take a while...

Post by **sharky** » Fri Mar 28, 2008 3:18 pm

iz3d is going to support also dual output. so projectors..

nvidia is trying to bring somebtihing working out, and today the last version of the drivers came out, and personally am not informed about that one.

DDD has drivers, which are sold on per game basis.

to me the best solution is iz3d.. they know what they do..

maybe with a bit of luck we may have shutterglasses support too..

Post by **VadersApp** » Fri Mar 28, 2008 3:31 pm

Don´t forget Vuzix. They gave us a D3D8 and D3D9 wrapper which works for many games with their vr920 hmd. And of course it works with vista32 and postprocessing.

Post by **LukePC1** » Fri Mar 28, 2008 3:50 pm

I'm interested in the wrapper for the vr920. I always wanted to try a HMD, and this one seems to be good with performance/price. It has Headtracking, a wrapper and supports resolutions up to 1024.

I hope the resolution will be supported by most future games, what worries me, is the drivers

Does the wrapper work with all cards?

Thanks for your effort

Post by **VadersApp** » Fri Mar 28, 2008 10:51 pm

Luke, sorry i can´t say it for sure. I allways used Nvidia for S3D, so i cant test it on ATI (that may change if Nvidia S3D remains Zalman only

) . But Vuzix claim that it works with all cards! I dont see why it shouldn´t work with any other card.

Post by **Welder** » Fri Mar 28, 2008 11:15 pm

May I note, that the current version of the iZ3D Drivers support Anaglyph as well

Also, KindDragons wrapper isn't supported anymore I beleive, since he is now a developer for iZ3D.

Post by **MrHugoHugo** » Sat Mar 29, 2008 3:44 am

hi guys,

I have a question too: Since the upcoming IZ3D driver will support dual output, which current and upcoming HMDs will support this format?
I think the TDVisor is usind dual output right, but not the vr920?

Thx Ant

P.S: Since I am using a dual output setup for s3d at the moment I virtually being tortured at the moment waiting for the release of that IZ3D driver

Post by **Tril** » Sat Mar 29, 2008 11:57 pm

It possible to support the VR920 by using the SDK from Vuzix.

Post by **wuhlei** » Sun Mar 30, 2008 12:27 am

MrHugoHugo wrote:hi guys,

I have a question too: Since the upcoming IZ3D driver will support dual output, which current and upcoming HMDs will support this format?
I think the TDVisor is usind dual output right, but not the vr920?

Thx Ant

P.S: Since I am using a dual output setup for s3d at the moment I virtually being tortured at the moment waiting for the release of that IZ3D driver

I hope it works with the vr920 if it supports shutter glasses it should work?

Post by **chrisdfw** » Wed Apr 02, 2008 2:31 pm

I have a very bad feeling about the future of stereo 3d gaming especially over the next 2-3 years.

While on the surface it appears that 3d is more popular and has more manufacturers of hardware out than ever before, I do not believe this is in our best interests since they are all creating propriatary drivers.

This means instead of everyone having access to the same drivers that work with all competing hardware solutions (like it was prior to Nvidia making Zalman only drivers) we must now choose which hardware's drivers best supports a particular game. It doesn't matter if you prefer HMD, projectors, or LCD solutions, you will have to compromise and have your games limited by which hardware you choose and not necesarily be able to choose the best hardware for your needs. This is like the BETA VS VHS and Blu Ray VS HD wars only with 5 or 6 competing technologies and nothing to unify them.

Nvidia

is shooting itself in the foot by only supporting Zalman (for now anyway...theoretically) and forcing other 3d hardware providers to create their own drivers that will work with ATI graphics cards as well. No more Nvidia monopoly of s3d.

If anyone has any ideas on how to get this simple logic across to 3d hardware manufacturers, or if anyone would like to point out how my outlook is not accurate, then please post your thoughts!

Post by **pixel67** » Wed Apr 02, 2008 3:04 pm

I don't share your pessimistic outlook, but can understand why you would feel this way. For far too many years we have been Nvidia software hounds, waiting with baited breath for that "next driver release". Just this by itself is enough to frustrate anyone, including myself. However, there are things happening in the marketplace that simply have not happened before. We now have 3 companies manufacturing 3d drivers (a 200% increase

). IZ3D is in the ring and will be supporting multiple display types, DDD's drivers are out and they support 10 different display types, and Nvidia is at least back on the development bandwagon with Zalman. Competition is a good thing in this space as it then forces the software developers to think differently (like including native support and charging for it). Folks like EA are effectively handing over revenue to the 3D driver creators and they will take notice of this fact.

The 3D world isn't owned by Nvidia anymore, and THAT is the best thing that has ever happened to the consumer 3D industry!

Post by **subwoofa** » Wed Apr 02, 2008 3:10 pm

chrisdfw wrote: While on the surface it appears that 3d is more popular and has more manufacturers of hardware out than ever before, I do not believe this is in our best interests since they are all creating propriatary drivers.

There is a similar discussion along these lines here:

http://mtbs3d.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=962