Stereoscopic (3D) mode

Gaia Sky includes a stereoscopic mode or 3D mode which outputs two images each intended for each eye, creating the illusion of depth.

Hint

LEFT_CTRL + S – Activate the stereoscopic mode

LEFT_CTRL + LEFT_SHIFT + S – Switch between 3D profiles

Stereoscopic profiles

Usually, as the images are placed side by side (even though most 3DTVs also support up and down), the right image is intended for the right eye and the left image is intended for the left eye. This works with 3DTVs and VR head sets (such as the Oculus Rift, Google cardboard, etc.). In 3DTVs, however, the image is distorted because each half of the TV will be stretched back to the whole TV area when the 3D mode is on.

Additionally, there is a technique called cross-eye 3D (you can find some examples here, and here is a very nice video teaching the concept and how to achieve it) which works without any extra equipment and consists on trying to focus your eyes some distance before the actual image so that each eye receives the correct image. In this case the right images goes to the left eye and the left image goes to the right eye.

In order to manage all these parameters, we have created 4 stereoscopic profiles which can be selected by the user and are described below.

  • VR_HEADSET – The left image goes to the left eye. No distortion is applied.

  • Crosseye – The left image goes to the right eye. No distortion is applied.

  • 3DTV – The left image goes to the left eye. Distortion is applied.

  • Anaglyph 3D – To use with red-cyan glasses. Displays both the left and right images at full resolution. Left image contains the red channel, right image contains the green and blue channels.

Hint

L-CTRL + L-SHIFT + S – Switch between 3D profiles

Profile

Image

VR_HEADSET

VR

Crosseye

XEYE

3DTV

3DTV

Anaglyph

ANAG