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MANAGING STEREOSCOPIC CONTENT
For 3D-TV Viewing
PART 3I
In
Part 2, we explored devices that provide a means of
presenting AV shows on our 3D-TV. We identified the need to
produce our AV shows in video format by way of video editing
software (editor) that has a 3D capability. We also identified
that a 3D Blu-ray player (player) is the preferred device for
delivering our AV shows to our 3D- TV. It follows then that our
PC needs to have the capability of writing to media that will be
compatible with our player, be it an optical disc or a plug-in
storage device (USB or SD). Ideally, we need to have a Blu-ray
writer available in our computer or as an external device. Blu-ray
disks (BD) are now available for around £1 and so it is advised
the we check our shows by writing to a BD-RE disk that cost
around £5 but can be used over and over.
In this final part of the
article, we will examine the basic procedures to be followed
when using the more popular editors. We will take a quick look
at a program with which many of us are familiar - Photodex
ProShow; this will then be followed by a look at the key
settings in perhaps the most popular 3D editor available, Matrox
Movie Edit (MME).
You will find that all editors
will have similar production stages within the project created;
usually four - import, edit, burning, export. The names
used for these workflow stages will differ from one editor to
another. Those stages quoted are for MME, each of which we
shall refer to later in this article; first we shall look at
producing a show with ProShow.
The ProShow interface differs
from any 3D video editor and is not in fact designed to work
with 3D. However, if we use the image format described in Part
1, ProShow is the easiest way to produce a 3D show for
presentation on a 3D-TV. The fact that we are to produce a show
with a 16 x 9 frame containing side-by-side, half width images
means that the 3D-TV will recognise it as such in a similar way
to recognising a 3D broadcast.
Photodex ProShow (ProShow)
Having opened ProShow, in this
case the ‘Gold’ version, we must first set the ‘Show -> Show
Settings’ as in Fig. 1. The important setting is the ‘Aspect
Ratio’ which must be 16:9 (Widescreen).
Fig. 1 - Show
settings.
This is the time to save our show ‘File -> Save as’ with a name
of our choice ‘My Show’ for example. The location of this could
be that occupying the images, ‘3D-TV’ being the folder we
created in Part 1.Now the show is saved, we can navigate to it
so that the images can be transferred to the timeline in
ProShow. We do this by the ‘Folders List’ as seen in Fig. 2.
Fig. 2 - Folder
List
Clicking on ‘3D-TV’ will reveal
our images in the window below - if not, right click on the
window and select ‘Thumbnails’. We can now drag and drop files
from this window to the timeline; each file dropped now will
have a green tick indicating that it has been included in the
show; The timeline should now look something like Fig 3.
Fig. 3 -
Timeline
The transition and slide duration
can be adjusted as required. Captions can be included, but we
shall need to have matching left and right ones set to ‘Caption
-> Caption settings -> Position’ enter 25 and 75 respectively
see Fig. 4. Note that a narrow font is selected.
Fig. 4 - Caption
settings
It is beyond the scope of this
article to explain in detail, each stage in detail, but we can
add sound to the show in the form of narration and background
music. Doing so is no different for 2D or 3D shows and
therefore the instructions for ProShow will serve our purposes
well.
Have completed our show we can
now ‘Create Output -> Video file’ with the settings shown in
Fig. 5. ‘Type’ and ‘Quality’ are the only fields requiring a
selection, the rest of the fields will remain set at their
default settings. We now click on ‘Create’ to save the file in
the same folder as the other show objects, with a name of our
choice.
Fig. 5 - Create
Output - (to computer)
The file that we have saved, ‘My
Show.mpg’ or something similar, can now be copied to a flash
drive that can be inserted into the USB connection of our player
for play back; there is no guarantee that plugging the flash
drive into the TV will work.
We also have the option of
copying our show to a BD from within ProShow by ‘Create Output
-> Blu-ray’ then -> ‘Options’. The dialogue we are presented
with will appear as seen in Fig. 5.
Fig. 5 - Create
Output (to optical disk)
The file that we have saved ‘My
Show.mpg’ will be written to the BD with a file structure
recognised by our player. With most players this file structure
will enable the disk to play on insertion. It is advisable to
check our show on a BD-RE before committing it to a BD-R.
ProShow completes the task of
writing optical disks by including an EXE file of the show on
the BD; this can of course be copied back to our computer for
viewing if so required,
Magix Movie Edit (Magix)
We shall now try our hand at
putting together a show with Magix Movie Edit, in this case the
MX version. Unlike ProShow, we now have a choice of which file
format we use; we can uses exactly the same files as used in
ProShow - 16 x 9 aspect ratio with half width images, 32 x 9
aspect ratio with full width images or matched individual left
and right images of any aspect ratio. In order for this to
work, we will need to tell Magix what we have imported.
First things first! Having
opened Magix we will first navigate to the folder that holds our
files, in this case 3D-TV, see Fig. 6 showing a full screen view
of our work space with the Media Pool ‘Import’ tab selected.
Fig. 6 - Magix
work space.
Now we can now drag and drop our
selected images to the timeline, just a few at the moment. We
now highlight the group of the images so that we can tell Magix
in what format they exist. Fig. 7 shows how the timeline looks
at this stage.
Fig. 7 -
Timeline with highlighted files
We can now tell Magix what the
imported file format is, in this case click on the ‘Effects’ tab
at the top of the media pool, then ‘Stereo3D -> Properties ->
Side-by-side -> [left image to the left, half width] as shown in
Fig. 8. Note that this process is not required if the images
imported are MPO format.
Fig. 8 - Effects
- Stero3D dialogue (side-by-side images).
If we choose to import individual
left and right full width images, they should be dropped onto
two separate tracks of the timeline. Then highlighted followed
by ‘Effects’ tab at the top of the media pool, then ‘Stereo3D ->
Properties -> Side-by-side -> [Stereo3d pair - left image
first]. Fig. 9a and 9b shows how the timeline will look before
and after using these settings.
Fig. 9a -
Effects - Stero3D dialogue (stereo pair - before merging).
Fig. 9a -
Effects - Stero3D dialogue (stereo pair - after merging).
At this point we should save our
project - ‘File -> Save project as…’ to the same folder as the
selected files.
Before commencing our editing, we
can set the Display Mode we would like to use. Click on the
red/cyan symbol at top left and make your choice. If our
monitor is a 3D type, then we should select an ‘Interlaced’
option otherwise ‘Anaglyph’ will be useful - see Fig.10.
Fig. 10 -
Display Mode (Anaglyph).
From this all further editing
processes will be common to all image formats. The way in which
we proceed will depend on our taste. There are comprehensive
instructions built into the program and there are example
training videos on You Tube. Being a 3D editing program, we can
assume that whatever we do with ‘Fades’, ‘Title’ and ‘Effects’,
they will appear in 3D.
Once we have completed our
editing, we can save our show as a video in the same folder as
the other show objects, with a name of our choice, To do this,
we use the ‘Burning’ tag which takes us to the ‘Preview’ screen,
see Fig. 11. From here we can first simulate the actions of our
player’s remote by clicking on the buttons to the left of the
screen. This screen also provides us with the facility to edit
the menu for our show, something we may choose to do in the
future.
Fig. 11 -
Burning - Preview screen
By clicking on the ‘Burn’ button,
we are presented with a selection of disc options. We will be
choosing either Blu-ray or AVCHD; the list below each button
provides an indication of what to expect, see Fig. 12.
Fig. 12 -
Burning - Preview screen
If we have a short show, we will
choose AVCHD and insert a writeable DVD into our computers
optical drive. Fig. 13a shows us the AVCHD dialogue and we
shall check the encoder settings to ensure that our required 3D
format is set. Click on ‘Encoder settings…’ and then ‘Preset ->
Side-by-side [left picture first]’ and leave the remaining
settings at default, see Fig .13b. We can now burn our disc,
during which time a progress window will appear. We can also
see in Fig. 13a, that we have the option to ‘Encode in
directory’ which will create a video file on our computer hard
drive that can be copied onto a Flash drive.
 
Fig. 13a - AVCHD
Burning Fig 13b - Burning Presets
The process we follow for
creating a BD is similar to that for AVCHD and must be used for
larger shows or compilations of shows. Fig 14a and 14b shows us
the preferred settings.
 
Fig. 14a - BD
Burning g 14b - Burning Presets
We can see that, as with AVCHD,
we also have the opportunity to ‘Encode in directory’ which will
create a video file on our computer hard drive. This file be
saved to an existing or new folder in the form of an ISO that
can be used to produce a BD at any time.
Summary
In this article, we have explored
the methods available to us for producing and managing images
for display on our 3D-TV. We have only touched the surface, but
the results we can achieve with this simple guide will hopefully
encourage us to venture further, developing our creative skills
to enable us to produce shows with richer content.
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