Scanline-interleaved line-blanking stereo (All Platforms)

VMD provides support for 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 main stereo support implemented in VMD is based on the use of quad-buffered frame-sequential (page flipping) stereo support in OpenGL. This stereo mode provides the overall best visual quality and should work with most professional graphics hardware. This is the stereo mode typically required for use with the Stereographics CrystalEyes glasses. For graphics boards that has everything but a stereo sync connector, products along the lines of the Eye3D Premium should do a fine job.

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.

DTI Side-by-Side Stereo (All platforms)

VMD now supports the special side-by-side stereo mode of DTI stereo flat panel displays.