VMD 1.7.1 Stereoscopic Display Notes
Scanline-interleaved line-blanking stereo (All Platforms)
VMD 1.7.1 provides support for a new low-cost stereoscopic rendering feature. It uses the OpenGL stencil buffer to draw the left and right eye images into alternating scanlines. As long as the video driver and hardware support the use of a stencil buffer (almost all do) this mode is the easiest to get working of any, and works very well with the Eye3D Premium, stereo hardware provided by i-Art and 3-Qubed, and should work with any machine that can be wired with VGA video cabling. Using appropriate cabling conversions and video mode settings, it should also be possible to use these glasses with Sun, SGI, and other workstations.
Quad-buffered stereo (Sun, PC, and other platforms)
The original stereo support implemented in VMD is based on the use of quad-buffered frame-sequential (page flipping) stereo support in OpenGL. This stereo provides the overall best visual quality and should work with all hardware that provides working OpenGL drivers and a stereo sync signal connector. This is the stereo mode typically required for use with the Stereographics CrystalEyes glasses. For hardware that has everything but the sync connector, the Eye3D Premium should do a fine job. Stereographics has a new "StereoEnabler" product that works with some video cards and drivers, but we haven't finished testing that device yet. Platform-specific notes are continued below.
Quad-Buffered Stereoscopic rendering on SGI:
VMD supports quad-buffered frame-sequential stereo rendering. Specific information on setting up stereo on SGI machines can be found among the several links below. Several SGI systems require operating system patches in order to support stereo correctly. Please see these web sites for more details.
