VMD-L Mailing List

From: John Stone (johns_at_ks.uiuc.edu)
Date: Sat Nov 06 2004 - 12:41:30 CST

Hi,
  You can't do stereo at all with standard LCD displays, just
so you're aware. (i.e. none of the apple screens...)
In order to do stereo on a Mac, you're options include:
  - Scanline-interleaved stereo using Eye3D stereo shutter glasses
    and a standard high-res CRT display.
    This is an inexpensive option and is well supported by VMD.
 
  - DTI autostereoscopic LCD panels using DTI "side by side" mode
    supported by VMD, requires VMD's graphics window to be maximized.
    Workable, but not ideal on a Mac. On PC's one would use the normal
    VMD "CrystalEyes" stereo mode.

  - Full-screen stereo (supported by PyMol but not VMD, don't know
    about other packages, not very useful for programs with a normal GUI
    such as VMD or Chimera)

I'd suggest going with something like the Eye3D glasses and a
standard CRT display. This is the least expensive option, and
if/when Apple finally releases support for frame-sequential
stereo rendering in their OpenGL drivers, you'll immediately
be able to switch the mode of the glasses and get twice the
vertical resolution.

  John

On Sat, Nov 06, 2004 at 04:40:04PM +0200, Peter Engelhardt wrote:
> Hi All,
>
> Please let us know how we can install stereo
> viewing (e.g. for VMD, Chimera and other similar
> softwares that have options for stereo viewing),
> on our Macs e.g. latest G5 (but also for older)
> with flat screen - or best the big new 30' screen
> could be the most attractive - and on iMacs etc
> with ordinary screens.
>
> We are still using SGI though they are rather
> slow for big 3D reconstructions to be visualized
> so the new Macs e.g. G5 must be much faster.
>
> Stereo viewing works on PCs as I have heard but
> as our lab at Univ of Helsnki prefer Macs
> (allergic for PCs) we now want to know how we can
> get stereo (not Red-Green or Blue that we
> frequently use as a substitute) but the real with
> the SGI like glasses style.
>
> Stereo glasses for PC are very cheap also
> comparing to SGI - and there seem to be different
> for flat screens and ordinary for Pcs.
>
> So, what are the methods or opinions - if any -
> to have real stereo working on Macs today.
>
> I have been in contact with Mac sellers several
> times here but without getting any real or final
> answer, either they are totally ignorant or there
> is no method(s).
>
> Can we use the PC glasses and do we need to
> install additional supporting card and are these
> available for Mac etc and where to get them?
>
> Or is old SGI or are we forced to Pcs as the only alterative?
>
> Sharp e.g announced recently a flat screen where
> no glasses are needed but with 15' screen the
> resolution and method might be not very good -
> are there someone who have some experience on
> Sharp?
>
> I thank you all in advance for any answers on the subject.
>
> Cheers
> Peter
> --
> ___________________________________________________________
> Peter Engelhardt, PhD, docent
> Assistant Professor in Molecular Genetics
> Unit of Molecular Electron Tomography
> Department of Pathology and Virology
> Haartman Institute
> P.O.Box 21, FIN-00014 Univ. of Helsinki, Finland
> Visiting Address: Haartmaninkatu 3, Helsinki
> Office Tel: (+358-9)-19126431 (direct)
> Laboratory Tel: (+358-9)-19126441
> EM-facilities, Tel: (+358-9)-19126885
> Fax: (+358-9)-19126491
> FIN-00014 Univ. of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
>
> Mobil Phone: +358-9-(0)41 561 0171
>
> LCE, Laboratory of Computational Engineering,
> Research Center for Computational Science and Engineering
> Helsinki University of Technology (HUT),
> P.O.Box 9203, FIN-02015 HUT, FINLAND
> Visiting Address: Innopoli 2, Tekniikantie 14, Espoo
>
>
> CSC (Center for Scientific Computing):
> Visiting Address: Tekniikantie 15a D, Otaniemi, Espoo
> SGI-facilities, Tel: (+358-9)-4573229 (direct)
>
> Home address:
> Lindstedstvägen 1 B 7
> FIN-02700 Grankulla,
> Finland
>
> Email: Peter.Engelhardt_at_Helsinki.Fi
> URL: http://www.lce.hut.fi/~engelhar/
> 

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