VMD-L Mailing List

From: John Stone (johns_at_ks.uiuc.edu)
Date: Mon Apr 23 2012 - 15:49:37 CDT

Luis,
  Before we look deeply at implementing the other forms of anaglyph,
why not try them out yourself? It should be relatively easy to try
them out by rendering two full-color images in VMD, followed by filtering
them with the NetPBM tools or one of the dedicated stereo image manipulation
tools like SDM (stereo data maker). To render the image pair in VMD, just
select the "Left" and "Right" images, and use the File|Render|Snapshot
menu item to generate a snapshot for both the left and right eyes.
Once you have the stereo image pair, you should be able to try out the various
anaglyph modes in SDM and see if you think they are actually better than
the default anaglyph implementation currently provided by VMD.
StereoDataMaker is available here:
  http://stereo.jpn.org/eng/sdm/index.htm
Here's a basic guide on making anaglyph images using NetPBM:
  http://netpbm.sourceforge.net/doc/ppm3d.html

I think that it's worth trying out the other anaglyph formats yourself
to determine if you still think it would be worthwhile to add them to VMD.
I have looked at some of them before, but I never found the other variants
to be much of an improvement over the normal red/cyan approach, but I am
certainly willing to consider it other people think it would be a big
improvement.

Cheers,
  John Stone
  vmd_at_ks.uiuc.edu

On Sat, Apr 21, 2012 at 11:56:32PM +0200, Luis M. Sánchez wrote:
> Hi,
> Anaglyph stereo is a poor thing. However, it is the main option in
> commodity hardware, which has replaced most workstations. For example, I
> would like to provide out-of-budget stereoscopic vision gadgets for a
> dozen computers that will be used in some short structural biology
> courses. I am planning to test a pair of prism glasses for cross-eyed
> stereo. Maybe they will work better than anaglyph glasses. However, I
> suspect that they will be too distracting. So... perhaps I should casually
> mention that magenta-cyan anaglyph looks doable. It requires adding the
> blue channel to the frame that already has the red channel. Magenta-green
> should be doable too, but it seems a worse option.
>
> I apologize in advance, in case Dr. Stone or someone else eventually
> decides to try one of these anaglyph variants, and the results aren't
> better than conventional anaglyph.
>
> There is a method for seeing 3D in a normal LCD screen, using cellophane (
> http://individual.utoronto.ca/iizuka/research/cellophane.htm ). I tried it
> and was disappointed. However, I have a different laptop now, so I will
> try again. Did anyone else try it?
>
> Thanks again
>
> Luis M. Sánchez
>
> On Sat, 21 Apr 2012 20:36:01 +0200, flavio seixas <oivalf_nix_at_yahoo.com>
> wrote:
> >Hi.
> >What abou Zalman Stereo? It would be possible to implement it in future
> >versions of vmd?
> >
> >This kind of stereo is much more friendly to user eyes and is being used
> >in different kinds of visualization software like Coot and CCP4mg.
> >Regards,
> >
> >Flavio
> >
> >--- On Fri, 4/20/12, John Stone <johns_at_ks.uiuc.edu> wrote:
> >
> >>From: John Stone <johns_at_ks.uiuc.edu>
> >>Subject: Re: vmd-l: Anaglyph stereo with other colors
> >>To: "Luis M. Sánchez" <lmsp_at_uniovi.es>
> >>Cc: "VMD-L" <vmd-l_at_ks.uiuc.edu>
> >>Date: Friday, April 20, 2012, 11:27 PM
> >>
> >>Hi,
> >> It is certainly possible to implement anaglyph for
> >>many other
> >>other color combinations. The only issue is that once
> >>you get
> >>away from the classic red/cyan glasses, the number of
> >>possible
> >>color combinations gets pretty large. The only other
> >>issue is that
> >>VMD currently uses the OpenGL color channel mask feature to
> >>implement
> >>the anaglyph color scheme, and to do color combinations that
> >>are not
> >>composed of combinations of 0% or 100% contributions from
> >>each of
> >>red, green, and blue will require a different rendering
> >>approach, which
> >>means that it will incur much more development time than you
> >>might expect.
> >>
> >>In the end, I think anaglyph is best thought of as the
> >>stereo option
> >>of last resort when nothing else is
> >>available/feasible. I would rather
> >>invest time improving the non-anaglyph stereo modes in VMD
> >>than to put
> >>a bunch of time and energy into improving the lowest quality
> >>option.
> >>That said, if enough people tell me they want improved
> >>anaglyph stereo,
> >>I would be happy to work on it.
> >>
> >>Cheers,
> >> John Stone
> >> vmd_at_ks.uiuc.edu
> >>
> >>On Fri, Apr 20, 2012 at 03:09:19PM +0200, Luis M. Sánchez
> >>wrote:
> >>> Hi,
> >>> Red-cyan and red-blue anaglyphs are affected by the
> >>chromatic aberration> of our eyes. If I use VMD's anaglyph stereo and
> >>close
> >>one of my eyes, the> red image is blurrier than the other one. Also,
> >>most of
> >>the red color is> lost.
> >>>
> >>> Nowadays there are better color combinations for
> >>anaglyphs:> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anaglyph_3D
> >>. Suitable glasses are also> available from Amazon and other companies.
> >>>
> >>> Is there an option to change the colors used by VMD's
> >>anaglyp stereo? If> not, maybe we could have a magenta-cyan anaglyph
> >>option
> >>in the future?
> >>>
> >>> Thanks for a great program and best regards
> >>>
> >>> --
> >>> Luis M. Sánchez
> >>> IUOPA
> >>> Edificio Severo Ochoa
> >>> Campus del Cristo
> >>> 33006 Oviedo
> >>> Teléfono: 985 10 9620
> >>
> >>--
> >>NIH Resource for Macromolecular Modeling and Bioinformatics
> >>Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology
> >>University of Illinois, 405 N. Mathews Ave, Urbana, IL
> >>61801
> >>http://www.ks.uiuc.edu/~johns/ Phone: 217-244-3349
> >>http://www.ks.uiuc.edu/Research/vmd/ Fax: 217-244-6078 

-- 
NIH Resource for Macromolecular Modeling and Bioinformatics
Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology
University of Illinois, 405 N. Mathews Ave, Urbana, IL 61801
http://www.ks.uiuc.edu/~johns/           Phone: 217-244-3349
http://www.ks.uiuc.edu/Research/vmd/       Fax: 217-244-6078