3D Images

The Manager Module – Use Create | 3D Images… to create stereoscopic pictures that are viewable in 3D with the aid of special equipment. To create such pictures, you need two special source shots that are then joined into a single 3D picture.

Creating source pictures is fairly simple, and you do not need any special tools—you just take two shots of the subject from two slightly different angles. When taking the second shot, you move the camera by about the distance between an average pair of eyes (around 2 1/2 inches: 6-7 centimeters).

After you choose the two source images, Zoner Photo Studio tries to Find Shared Points. Using these points, it tries to compose the 3D image precisely even in cases where you turned, raised, or lowered the camera between the two shots. To delete any improperly detected shared points, select them and click Delete Selected Point or press [Del]. To delete all shared points, click Delete All Points. To add new points, click on the previews. The most points you can add is 12.

It is important to ensure that the left photo is on the left and the right photo is on the right. If the photos are switched, the final picture will not look 3D. If you do need to swap them, you can do so using the button named Left < — > Right.

The second step of the wizard is where the 3D image is actually created. Choose a 3D image type to set what method will be used to deliver depth information. The Anaglyph type stores depth information in the individual color channels. Viewing an anaglyph in 3D requires glasses with colored filters. The next type is JPS/PNS, which is based on placing the left and right source picture right next to each other; the resulting double-width image is then encoded to JPEG (JPS) or to PNG (PNS). Applications that support this format can determine the file format based on the extension and divide it into the two source pictures. The last type is MPO, which is the de facto standard for storing stereoscopic pictures and is supported by a wide range of devices (cameras, 3D televisions, etc.).

For the Anaglyph image type, there are also four anaglyph types available. Black-and-white makes the program convert the source pictures to grayscale and then from grayscale to the target colors. The remaining three methods create color anaglyphs. Color retains all colors. This may work poorly if the image contains large bright-red areas. To create aesthetically pleasing anaglyphs of scenes with such red areas, use Half-color, which weakens the red channel by an amount of your choice. To weaken the red channel further, use Optimized. Then use the Red Channel Level slider to set the amount of weakening.

Use the arrow buttons to manually correct the positions and rotations of the pictures against each other. Use the button in the middle of them to cancel your manual adjustments. To ensure that unjoined edge regions are removed automatically, leave the factory setting for Crop. Use the preview pane to preview the result. PNS/JPS and MPO images are only viewable in 3D using special software. To preview 3D images in these formats when that software is not at hand, force an anaglyph-style preview using the Preview Type control.

In the last step, save the 3D image or, for anaglyphs, open it in the Editor for further edits if desired.

Support for the MPO, JPS, PNS, and BMS Formats

For source pictures in normal image formats, two source files are always necessary, but some specialized formats can contain both source pictures in a single file. In this case, just select that one file, and the program will read both source pictures automatically.

Some persons with vision defects do not see anaglyph-type 3D pictures in 3D.