3D Dual-Projector workflow with a mac

[Jesse Blanchard]

I've got a dual projector 3D set-up at home which I'm running off of windows in a bootcamp partition. I'd really like to stay in the mac world for playback. Does anyone have a workflow that's working for them?
I guess I could do a dual head to go and a side-by-side comp in fcp. But that seems a little unreasonable at 4k.

I'd love some suggestions.

[Tim Dashwood]

Unfortunately there is no good Mac-based dual-DVI out playback solution beside the Matrox Dual-Head2Go or Triple Head2Go. I think the triple head is the only one that supports DVI. Dual 4K might be a tough task for even the best Mac, RAID0 and graphics card.

We are working on a stereoscopic player for the Mac but the difficulty is maintaining frame sync on all outputs.

There is however a method that may work for you right now using Quicktime 7 Pro.
Open your discreet left and right movie files and move each to the appropriate window. I can't remember if you are able to go full screen on more than one movie at a time but you should be able to maximize their windows.

Then select the menu item "View --> Play All Movies" and they will both start playing.
There is no guarantee of sync from Quicktime Player but this should work for as long as there are no bottlenecks in the hard drive read of frames.

[Tony Asch]

Splurge! For under $300 you can get a fully loaded Zotac HD-ID11 with dual head ION Graphics. Along with Stereoscopic player, this makes a dandy HiDef dual output box. Yes, you need to run Windows, but you don't tie up your expensive Mac. And it's the size of a large paperback book!

Newegg.com - Zotac ZBOX HD-ID11-U Intel Atom D510 NM10 Chipset 1 x 200Pin Next-Gen NVIDIA ION GPU Mini / Booksize Barebone System

[Carlton Bright]

Hi Jesse,
I experimented with utilizing the two projectors dedicated to the two seperate outputs of my Mac-mini when I got it a few years ago, and remember getting some kind of results...but there was a slight speed diff. between the ports-
I do not think I made a single side by side file either, ( each projector was getting a seperate and direct Left and Right I believe). I was just experimenting , so did not take notes or continue since the speed-fix seemed out of my league, but it seemed to have potential and promise.
Curious if a Mac pro would lend itself to experments of this nature-
Anyway, Just tossing this out,
Carlton

(BTW- I do have a working S-by-S Mac system and two SHARP projectors, using the-Dual Head to go - Matrox box Tim mentioned)

[Jesse Blanchard]

Thanks for the feedback Carlton. On your SbS system are the video files squeezed or are you playing them as a full composite? Squeezing must reduced the resolution by half, right? I can't see how it wouldn't but it doesn't seem like something anyone is talking about.

Is there a way to play a SbS frame out to two projectors and have it unsqueezed in the process? Something like a Blackmagic card or Kona card?

thanks!

[Jesse Blanchard]

I found an answer to sbs playback on macs. I was able to configure VLC's video wall to playback to two projectors without a matrox box. You can configure it a couple ways. Right now, I have it set-up to stretch SbS videos across the two projectors. It took me a lot of tinkering to get it to work but..it works.

[Phil Lavery]

I've been doing 3D on the Mac for a number of years and use Present3D, an open source, cross platform and free tool, that at it's most basic can be used as stereo player and will output to most display devices... but can also be used to create fully interactive 3D presentations that can be used to combine stereo images and stereo movies along with 3d models, point clouds, volumes etc. to create fully interactive presentations... I use it to create educational 3D shows, conference presentations etc...

Directions for OSX download and use can be found here :

Present3D Help | digital learning foundation

I find for stereo video, that using side x side or over/under video, as one .mov file, works best as it helps keep things in sync.

How to : create side x side stereo movies | digital learning foundation

In the past, when graphics cards had two DVI outputs I used both. Now I use a matrox dual head... and this works great on a Mac mini for video playback or shows that don't require a powerful graphics card. For most shows I will use a MacPro, but also have shows that run from my MacBook Pro... it all comes down to the graphics requirement of the content and as Present3D is an OpenGL app, the graphics card is king.

However, I have had a stereo piece running in gallery for a couple of months now, that is running on a Mac Mini, Matrox DH2G and a pair of Optoma projectors ( have lens shift, but real pain to align, so can't recommend apart for price) :

drawing (on) riverside : the process | phillavery.com

.... and though I normally use Present3D, for the above gallery install, I just created the side x side movie and ran in full screen mode in Quicktime, along with an automator script that runs at start up. So really easy for the museum staff to maintain. But this movie isn't HD. For HD playback, I would use Present3D and H264 video.

In terms of workflow, apart from Present3D, I use all the usual culprits : Photoshop, FinalCutPro, Motion, Soundtrack and Maya along with Quicktime Pro and BBedit etc...

Not sure if this answers your question though :-)

[Jesse Blanchard]

This is so cool. You've given me a TON of stuff to go through (including your website). Thanks a ton. I am going go through this today.

[Phil Lavery]

No problem at all.

Should you have questions re the Present3D install or use, you can mail me directly at "phil at digitallearningfoundation.org" making the usual substitution.

Hope you find it useful.

Oh, spotted your video showing your completed system... looks great :-)

cheers

Phil