November 29th, 2019

June 6th, 2018

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Stereo Movie Conversion Guide

Content

Introduction & Download

This guide explains how to convert stereoscopic movies to other stereoscopic formats, for example a fieldsequential movies to the optimized anaglyph format. We use Microsoft GraphEdit and the Stereo Transformation Filter, which comes with Stereoscopic Player, to do the conversion. Additionally, we need a codec to save the resulting video file. You can use any Video for Windows codec, in the following example we are using the lossless Huffyuv-Codec.

Please note that most lossy codecs use color subsampling internally, reducing color resolution to the half or quarter of the original resolution. Therefore, you should not use lossy codecs to compress anaglyphs, since color resolution is very important to preserve anaglyph quality.

If you prefer a to use a special encoding application, choose the lossless Huffyuv codec to create a temporary video file and recompress it using your favorite application later on.

Please install the following software before you continue:

  • GraphEdit: Part of the DirectX SDK (February 2005 version + extras or older version), but a standalone version can also be downloaded from Digital Digest.
  • Stereoscopic Player: Download the latest version if version 0.9.1 or higher is not installed on your computer yet.
  • Video Codec: We recommend the lossless Huffyuv codec.

Building the Graph

Start GraphEdit and drag&drop your source file on the GraphEdit window or open the file by choosing File->Render Media File. GraphEdit automatically generates a playback graph for your file. If GraphEdit fails to create the graph, make sure you have installed the audio and video decoder used by your source file.

The filters used in the resulting graph depend on the file format and codecs used within your video file. If your file was not compressed using DivX and MP3, the graph will differ from the screenshot above.

Remove the Video Renderer, Default DirectSound Device and the audio decoder (MPEG Layer-3 Decoder in this case) from the graph. To remove a filter, select it and press the delete key. Click Graph->Insert Filter to insert the Stereo Transformation Filter, AVI Mux and File Writer (DirectShow Filter category) and the Huffyuv encoder (Video Compressors category).

Stereo Transformation Filter Configuration

Next, we have to configure the Stereo Transformation Filter. Right-click on the filter and select Filter Properties from the context menu. On the filter's Input-tab, choose the layout of your source file. Don't change aspect ratio values and the half width/height options since they have no effect when converting movies. Don't forget to press the Apply-button before switching to next tab!

On the Output-tab, select the desired output method. When choosing an anaglyph method, disable the YUY2 format to avoid color subsampling. When width and height are set to zero, the recommended output resolution is used. No resizing is done in this case.

 

The third Option-tab allows to crop the video and adjust the horizontal and vertical parallax. In addition, you can flip left and right view separately. Usually, it is not necessary to change any settings on the Option-tab.

Completing the Conversion

After configuring the Stereo Transformation Filter we must connect the filters together. To connect two filters, drag&drop the output pin of the first filter on the input pin of the second filter. Connect the filters as shown on the following screenshot.

Important: It is not possible to configure the video encoder in GraphEdit. You have to do this in the Control Panel (in Windows XP: Start->Control Panel->Sounds and Audio Devices->Hardware->Video Codecs->Properties->Properties) before inserting the encoder into the graph!

Finally, we disable Graph->Use Clock, click Graph->Play and wait until the conversion completes. It can take between a few seconds and several hours to complete, depending on the duration and resolution of your movie and your computer's speed.