Notes on Stereoscopic Support
From KubovyLab
Overview
Stereoscopic rendering with OpenGL is achieved by rendering alternate left and right eye images while using shutter glasses synchronized with the frame refresh. The shutter glasses have liquid crystal lenses which alternatively turn opaque to block a left eye image from being seen my the right eye, and vise versa.
There are other more sophisticated means of projecting stereo scopic images available, such as using perpendicularly polarized images from DLP projectors.
Apple Info
Response for info request by Aaron Davis.
Stereo is supported through the standard OpenGL interface, so any OpenGL stereo documentation will apply (no Apple-specific documentation is available).
Windowed stereo 3D requires a Power Mac G5 (Late 2005) (current shipping model) with NVIDIA Quadro FX 4500 graphics card, a CRT display, and stereo goggles. This requirement is listed at <http://www.apple.com/powermac/graphics.html>. The NVIDIA Quadro FX 4500 has a Mini-DIN port for connecting stereo goggles, such as CrystalEyes <http://www.stereographics.com/>.
The blue line technique can be used for fullscreen when using products other than the NVIDIA Quadra. Full screen is supported across the Apple computer product line (as long as you can attach a CRT).
LCD displays are not supported for stereo 3D (windowed or full screen).
Resources
- http://astronomy.swin.edu.au/~pbourke/opengl/stereogl/
- Details on using the GLUT display mode flags to turn on stereo mode, and description of different projection methods. Includes example source code.
- http://astronomy.swin.edu.au/~pbourke/stereographics/stereorender/
- Discussion of computer-based generation of stereo pairs to create the perception of depth.
- http://developer.apple.com/samplecode/OpenGL_Stereo/OpenGL_Stereo.html
- MacOS X example code to enable stereo OpenGL via Carbon. Example from 2003, so I'm not sure how this is related to the latest announcement from Apple on Stereo support in 10.3.
- http://pymol.sourceforge.net/stereo.html
- A gripe email about the lack of windowed stereo support in Tiger From Jan 2005. Perhaps this is what has most recently been addressed (windowed vs. fullscreen).
- http://pymol.sourceforge.net/
- Open source Python-based molecule viewer with stereo support.
- http://www.apple.com/powermac/graphics.html
- Latest Apple PowerMac marketing announcing stereo support with the nVidia Quadro FX 4500 graphics card.
- http://www.stereographics.com/products/body_products.html
- Vendor for stereoscopic products. Offers polarization screens and glasses for use with CRTs.
- http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=GVD300-N&cat=CON
- Really cheap VR goggles (built-in display)

