Callipygian Show Systems 3D Web Cam
Last Update, April 23, 2004
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Callipygian Show Systems LLC has developed software enabling live, full color 3D web cams. Users can see the 3D image by using red/cyan anaglyphic glasses. Our software generates images suitable for live on-screen viewing printing, and emailing. For information, contact us at the address on our home page. We’re now using the latest DirectShow functions, and managed C#/.Net where possible. All image processing is with GDI+. |
The 3D web cam system uses two ordinary USB web cams mounted 2.5 inches apart. It’s useful to use two cameras that have ¼-20 threaded tripod mounts. Shown below are two Logitech QuickCam Zoom 640x480 cameras.
The cameras are mounted on a tripod with the help of a twin camera bar, (this one is from Jasper Engineering).
Figure 1 -- Camera mounted on tri-pod
Callipygian Show Systems LLC’s software, Callipygian3DCam, uses Microsoft’s DirectX 9 technology to open two simultaneous video streams (“graphs”) and process them. Depending on your USB bandwidth, and camera video compression, it may be necessary to put each camera on a separate USB bus.
Windows will support as many video capture sources as you can plug in. Callipygian3DCam provides a dialog for selecting the left and right cameras.
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I’ve been asked often about Macintosh support. Unfortunately, the Macintosh video architecture simply doesn’t allow for dual video streams via USB! |
Figure 2 -- Dialog for selecting cameras
Some camera vendor’s drives show the same name for each camera. You’ll just have to pick one for left, and the other for right. You can swap them later if you’ve picked the wrong cameras. The first time you select a camera, you’ll see the video preference dialog. For these cameras, we’ve set it to 640x480, 30fps. Reducing the frame rate can help if you’re trying to run both cameras on the same bus.
Figure 3 -- The camera properties dialog
After the cameras are selected, you’ll see the preview window. Verify that the left window is connected to the left cam by putting something in front of the left lens and seeing if the left image goes away.
Figure 4 -- Image Preview
Top left and right on Image Preview are the live, simultaneous video streams from your two cameras. When web cam mode is enabled, you’ll see the next still that will be uploaded to your web server in the box on the bottom. (Notice that these Logitech QuickCam zooms aren’t very consistent from sample to sample! We’re still researching the best cameras for this application.)
Before we can start sending 3D pictures, it’s important to do an anaglyph
alignment. Click the “Align” button on the top toolbar to bring up the
Alignment window.
Figure 5 -- Anaglyph alignment and mode window
Alignment window options are similar to those in Callipygian 3D still image software, available free from our website. Put a pair of red/cyan anaglyph glasses on (see figure 6) and look at the picture while adjusting the sliders for best 3D effect. You can also select the anaglyph mode (like black and white, or greyscale left) with the drop down box. See the documentation for our still image software for complete details on these modes. When done aligning, click the OK button.
In “WebCam” mode, the software
takes a stereo image every n seconds, and uploads it to a Web server. You can
also generate an image for screen or for print with the File->Save dialog setting. Set up your webcam options by clicking
the “
Figure 6 -- Web cam properties dialog
You can set the photo interval, and the URL to upload the image to. When you specify the http:// protocol, images are uploaded via form POST. (The other support protocol is ftp://). The next image to be uploaded is shown on the main screen in the bottom, to give you a chance to cancel it before it goes up!
Figure 7 -- Running in web-cam mode
Images need to be viewed with “red / cyan” glasses, with red on the left. If you try red/green or red/blue, you will be disappointed. Contact us if you need a supply of glasses.
Figure 8 -- Red/Cyan glasses
Finally, here’s a sample image. With cheap web-cams, saturation is low and skin tones don’t fare well, at least with dim room lighting. However, the 3D effect adds a lot to traditional web cam applications.
Figure 9 -- Actual sample image. Notice 3D text on top
See an example of a LIVE, 3D Webcam using our
software.
For
more information, please contact
