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If are helping "Beta Test" you should report bugs and feel free to ask questions about the program's commands, it is best to e-mail me at tempnulbox (at) yahoo (dot) com and put "DANCAD3D (tm) 24x7 SUPPORT SUBMISSION" in the email subject line so your mail is not deleted as junk. See Section: 8 for more information about support related issues. I want you to ask questions so long as they are on the subject and relate to the current program's commands. If you do not get some kind of reply assume I did not get your message and resend. All submissions and correspondence become the sole property of Daniel H. Hudgins to do with as he sees fit, so stay on subject.

DOCUMENT: INFOV27H.TXT Copyright (C) 2003 by Daniel H. Hudgins, All Rights Reserved. Terms of use: This "Beta Test" document may only be used in accord and within the limitations imposed by the current End User License Agreement "EULA" posted at the author's Web site www.DANCAD3D.com (sm) in file S0000000.HTM, any other use or copying is prohibited. This document is provided "AS IS" without warranty of any kind express, expressed, or implied. Mistakes, errors, and omissions should be reported according to the instructions in SECTION: 8 of the current "On-Line" version of my Web site www.DANCAD3D.com (sm). Any trade marks mentioned in this document belong to their respective owners, and are mentioned not as an endorsement or recommendation but rather for informational and educational purposes to enrich the discussion of the matters dealt with. This preliminary document has some brief descriptions of changes made to my CAD and CAM programs DANCAD3D.COM (tm), DANCAD87.COM (tm), DANCAM.EXE (tm), and DANPLOT.EXE (tm) between the release of v2.7G and the "Beta Test" release of v2.7H. This file is meant to be included in the initial "Beta Test" v2.7H distribution to help long time users acquaint themselves with some of the many changes that have been made to the programs. If you are not a long time user you will most probably need to read all of the text located at my "Beta Test" Web site www.DANCAD3D.com (sm) before you read this document in order to make practical use of it. This document is not a complete list of changes made to the programs, and may not reflect the operation of the version of the program accompanying it in all respects. The programs may be still undergoing change, so the results obtained from any of the commands may be different than expected, and the operation of older commands may have changed as well. Since so many changes have been made to the programs you should not expect any of the commands to operate as you have used them in the past, and you should frequently back-up and save what you are working on so that you do not lose everything when the program crashes. All specifications, descriptions, and instructions are subject to change without notice. Be sure to see also the file INFO16.TXT that is in archive DANCAD16.ZIP (tm). I would like to thank the thousands of users of my programs who have helped "Beta Test" the many revisions of my programs since about 1986, I hope you will enjoy checking out some of the newer program features that I have spent so many years working on. Best wishes for success in your projects. --- MISCELLANEOUS NOTES ABOUT CHANGES IN CAD V2.7H NOVEMBER 27, 2003 Note: Some of the text in this description of the November 27, 2003 version may have been revised to reflect changes in later revisions, and so may only be relevant to those later revisions. The main change from v2.7G to v2.7H is the addition of support for Stereoscopic display formats in the the SVGA VESA 15, 16, 24, and 32 bpp (bit per pixel) and BMP file output video modes. The 32 bpp video modes only display 24 bpp, the extra 8 bpp are ancillary. Five new file utility commands were added to manipulate and combine BMP files in various ways including but not limited to making color images from multiple scans made with DANPLOT.EXE (tm), the preparation of Stereoscopic images, and masking or combining two BMP files so that a superimposed image is combined with the primary image. Some other changes were made to the dithering used with VESA modes in some of the commands. --- CHANGES TO THE MAIN MENU PREVIEW COMMAND The main menu Preview command can now display 3D stereoscopic images automatically in VESA 15, 16, 24, or 32 bpp SVGA VESA video modes, or output the image to a BMP file when the BMP video mode is used. Some new menus come up if you enter a stereo format code other than code zero at the stereo format menu that comes up after the standard perspective values menu. When inside the Preview command the stereo format menu will only come up if you are currently in a VESA 15, 16, 24, or 32 bpp SVGA video mode. When you are in BMP video mode the command dumps you back at the main menu after the first image is made, so the stereo format menu only comes up before selecting the video mode on video board configurations that do not support the required VESA video modes, i.e. so you can select video mode BMP and make stereo images. See the information about the various stereoscopic format codes in the information relating to the macro STEREO command. After a stereoscopic image has been displayed on the screen three BMP image files are left on the disk that you can copy if you want to keep a copy of them. DANR0000.BMP has a form of the right eye image, DANL0000.BMP has a form of the left eye image, and DANS0000.BMP has a stereoscopic image combined according to the selected stereo format code. If you are using the VESA 15 bpp or 16 bpp video display modes the combined image in the BMP file may be better to use for saving the image since it is saved at 24 bpp color depth, if you save the screen as a BMP file the color depth gets converted from the screen mode, in this case 15 bpp or 16 bpp to 24 bpp. If the BMP graphics video mode is being used to bypass the video screen, or to make an image larger than will fit on the video screen, the combined image is sent to the filename entered for the BMP output file and not to DANS0000.BMP, so DANS0000.BMP may contain some older image and not the last one made. The image quality of the right and left eye image files may vary depending on which stereo format code was selected. When you want to include a stereoscopic background image you need to do some special things with the background image file. If the last letter of the background image file name entered is a letter S, and a stereoscopic FormatCode other than 0 is also entered, the program then replaces the S with R in the background filename when making the Right eye view image, and replaces the S with a L when making the Left eye view image. If you want the same BMP file loaded as the background image in both the Right and Left eye images then the last letter should not be a letter S, and should be a letter M, although any other letter than S may work in present revisions, in the future M may be required. The letter S just before the period in the BMP background filename keys stereoscopic background mode, the letter M just before the period in the filename keys monoscopic background mode. The filename entered with the last letter being S does not exist, and will not appear in the file directory, you would need to look for the filename ending with R or L since those are the names you would save the stereoscopic background images under. Thusly: Enter C:\MYDIR\MYBACK1S.BMP then C:\MYDIR\MYBACK1R.BMP is loaded for the Right eye view background, and C:\MYDIR\MYBACK1L.BMP is loaded for the Left eye view background. Enter C:\MYDIR\MYBACK1M.BMP then C:\MYDIR\MYBACK1M.BMP is loaded for the Right eye view background, and C:\MYDIR\MYBACK1M.BMP is loaded for the Left eye view background. This way of keying the background image name lets the program use just the usual one filename prompt and string variable with both stereo and non-stereo display modes, and lets you pick the use of a stereoscopic or monoscopic background image. To make the two stereoscopic background images with DANCAD3D.COM (tm) you can use the main menu preview command to display the background elements with the same settings and FormatCode that the rest of the elements will be displayed with. After the combined stereoscopic image is made you just make copies of the two temporary eye view image files the program leaves on the disk, so that they can be used as the background image files later. Use the Files Copy command off of the main menu thusly: Source filename: DANR0000.BMP, result filename: C:\MYDIR\MYBACK1R.BMP Source filename: DANL0000.BMP, result filename: C:\MYDIR\MYBACK1L.BMP When making stereo backgrounds be careful about the direction and amount of stereoscopic disparity since the background must appear to be behind the foreground elements to have the foreground elements display over the background, and the direction and amount of stereoscopic disparity must be small enough to allow the viewer to fuse the images easily. And, be sure that the various display values used for the foreground are the same as when the background was made to help make the combined rendering appear such that the foreground and background will look like they go together. --- NEW FILE UTILITY BMP COMBINE MENU COMMANDS The new File Utility BMP Combine command from the main menu has five options that can be used to manipulate BMP files. COMBINE BMP_TO_BMP MODE 1: This option takes one, two, or three monochrome 8 bpp BMP files and combines them into a single color 24 bpp BMP file. If less than three 8 bpp source files are used the filename for the unused colors needs to be BLACK.BMP or WHITE.BMP to fill in the blank color while the 24 bpp is being made. If you use DANPLOT.EXE (tm) to scan something you can make a 8 bpp monochrome BMP file from the NOR data file of the scan. By making three scans you can make three 8 bpp BMP files that can then be converted into a color image with Combine Mode 1. The three scans do not need to be just light filtered with red, green, and blue filters, you can make false color renderings of gamma-ray, X-Ray, ultraviolet, infrared, microwave, electromagnetic, magnetic, sonic, probe, or a scan made with any other kind of sensor. If you only have two scans to combine you could use just two of the three colors, making the other name BLACK.BMP or WHITE.BMP, or you could use the same source file for two of the colors and the other source file for the third color. The filenames BLACK.BMP and WHITE.BMP are reserved words and cannot be used for source filenames. COMBINE BMP_TO_BMP MODE 2: This option works like the reverse of Mode 1, it takes one color 24 bpp BMP file and makes three monochrome color separation 8 bpp BMP files from it, one each for the red, green, and blue portions of the color 24 bpp BMP file. This would be used for editing or enhancing a 24 bpp BMP file, or for extracting some part of it. In the case of editing or enhancing Mode 1 would be used later to put the color separation files back into one color file. COMBINE BMP_TO_BMP MODE 3: This option makes one 8 bpp monochrome BMP file from one color 24 bpp file. This can be used for making monochrome images using different portions of the red, green, and blue in the color 24 bpp file. There are three primary uses for this option, 1) to make a monochrome conversion of the color image, 2) to mask two of the colors against the third while making a separation, the command being used three times to make three masked separations, and 3) to prepare single images with the gray values biased for the preparation of color Anaglyph stereograms. This option uses three factors to control the portion of brightness from each color that comes from the color image and is put into the monochrome image file. To make a monochrome conversion use red=0.30 green=0.59 blue=0.11. To color mask for color saturation adjustment you use negative factors for the two opposite colors, e.g. red=1.2 green=-0.1 blue=-0.1, the primary color needs to be greater than one since it would darken from the subtraction if no compensation was made. When making Anaglyph stereograms you sometimes want to weight the red filter eye monochrome image to have more red in it, and weight the cyan filter eye duochrome image to have more green and blue in it. To adjust the color weight you just vary the portions of the red, green, and blue components always keeping the total for the portions to add up to 1.0, e.g. red = 1.0 green=0 blue=0 or red=0.5 green=0.25 blue=0.25 and so on. COMBINE BMP_TO_BMP MODE 4: This option can be used to add or subtract two images, and to adjust the gamma, contrast, and brightness of the two images. Just one image can be manipulated by setting the contrast for the second image to 0. This option might also be used in many other ways. You might use this option to adjust the gamma correction of a color image by using it three times on the three primary color separations made using option 2 then put the gamma corrected separations back together with option 1. You might make high contrast images from normal ones by setting the contrast to a large value and use the brightness value to pick the black and white threshold point. You might make negative images by setting the contrast to a negative value. To mask an image you set one image contrast to a positive value and the other to a negative value, contrast_1=1.1 contrast_2=-0.1, the contrast_1 is greater than 1.0 because the subtraction of the mask image would make the number one image darker if no compensation was done. You might add two images for a superimposition, e.g. contrast_1=0.5 contrast_2=0.5 or contrast_1=0.9 contrast_2=0.1, and so on, normally having the sum of the contrasts for the two images being equal to 1.0 or -1.0. COMBINE BMP_TO_BMP MODE 5: This option makes a 3D stereoscopic image 24 bpp BMP file from two 24 bpp BMP files. The source BMP files can be ones made by DANCAD3D.COM (tm), ones made with some other compatible program, compatible ones scanned from photographs or drawings, or ones made in a digital camera. The source BMP files are images of the same subject viewed from the left and right eye points of view. If you are going to convert the stereogram BMP result file into a Pixel file for display with the LOAD PIXEL or ANIMATE commands in DANCAD3D.COM (tm) the X and Y pixel dimensions of the BMP result file need to be exactly the correct dimensions of the VESA video mode that will be used when the Pixel file is loaded, e.g. some of the standard pixel dimensions are 320x200, 640x480, 800x600, 1024x768, 1280x1024, and 1600x1200. Some of the stereoscopic formats available put two images side-by-side or above-below so the result file will be twice as wide or twice as high, therefore the source files might need to be quarter size, i.e. half as wide or high, to get the desired size in the combined image. If you want to convert the result BMP file into a Pixel file for display in DANCAD3D.COM (tm) there are options to pad the X and Y pixels out using black on the sides or top and bottom. When the padded modes are used in the stereoscopic display with the macro DISPLAY command or the main menu Preview command the images are generated half size so that the combined image is the same size as the video mode selected, but when you combine left and right images that have already been saved to disk with this command the result is twice as big in some formats since no overall reduction of resolution is done, and the images are kept their original size. In some cases the result image when padded will be more that twice as big because the standard video size is not simply twice as big, for instance two 640x480 images could be adjusted to be put on one 1280x1024 padded image, even though 480x2 is 960 and not 1024. There are many stereoscopic formats this command can make result BMP files in, some for "free viewing", some for use with LCS shutter glasses, some for colored Anaglyph glasses, and a few special use types. For more explanation of the various stereoscopic format codes see the explanation of the macro STEREO command elsewhere in this document. Some of the parameters available with the STEREO command are not supported by this command since this command does not generate the images, it just combines image files already generated, in particular the AspectComp parameter for FormatCodes 20, 40, 120, and 121 is not present, nor are Zshift, SXshift, EyeRot and EyeOff since they are values used only in image generation. The other parameters are similar in function between this command and the STEREO command. If you want to generate 3D stereoscopic images from 3D CAD elements you can use the main menu's Preview command, or combine the macro STEREO and DISPLAY commands. This BMP Combine mode 5 command can be used with odd size BMP files, i.e. not just the standard VESA screen size images, and so may work with stereoscopic images captured on a compatible scanner or with a compatible digital camera. Odd size images might be viewed in some other third party compatible Windows (tm) or Linux (tm) graphics program. --- NEW UTILITY BMP_TO_BMP MACRO COMMANDS There are five new file UTILITY commands, they are coded as options of the UTILITY BMP_TO_BMP command. They correspond to the Files Utility BMP Combine command options one through five, and are what is coded into the automatic output macro when the output macro is used. Option 1 combines three color separation files into one color file. If less than three colors are wanted the unused source files can be named BLACK.BMP or WHITE.BMP, i.e. those are code words to tell the program that no file is to be loaded and to pad the non-image color with black or white. See the explanation of the equivalent menu command for more details. UTILITY BMP_TO_BMP 1 f1 f2 f3 f4 Where: f1 = Filename of source Red image mono 8 bpp BMP file. f2 = Filename of source Green image mono 8 bpp BMP file. f3 = Filename of source Blue image mono 8 bpp BMP file. f4 = Filename of result color 24 bpp BMP file. Option 2 splits up a 24 bpp color BMP file and makes three monochromatic color separation 8 bpp BMP files, i.e. the opposite of Option 1. See the explanation of the equivalent menu command for more details. UTILITY BMP_TO_BMP 2 f1 f2 f3 f4 Where: f1 = Filename of source color 24 bpp BMP file. f2 = Filename of result Red image mono 8 bpp BMP file. f3 = Filename of result Green image mono 8 bpp BMP file. f4 = Filename of result Blue image mono 8 bpp BMP file. Option 3 makes one 8 bpp monochromatic BMP file from one color 24 bpp BMP file. This is used to adjust the amount of each of the three colors in the source image that goes into the result file. This option can be used between option 2 and option 1 for image editing, and image processing. See the explanation of the equivalent menu command for more details. UTILITY BMP_TO_BMP 3 f1 f2 r1 r2 r3 Where: f1 = Filename of source color 24 bpp BMP file. f2 = Filename of result mono 8 bpp BMP file. r1 = Red factor decimal, pos or neg. r2 = Green factor decimal, pos or neg. r3 = Blue factor decimal, pos or neg. Option 4 makes one 8 bpp monochromatic BMP file from two 8 bpp monochromatic BMP files. This is used in image editing or processing and allows masking, as well as gamma, contrast, and brightness adjustments. See the explanation of the equivalent menu command for more details. UTILITY BMP_TO_BMP 4 f1 f2 f3 r1 r2 r3 r4 r5 r6 Where: f1 = Filename of source file 1 mono 8 bpp BMP file. f2 = Filename of source file 2 mono 8 bpp BMP file. f3 = Filename of result file mono 8 bpp BMP file. r1 = File 1 gamma factor decimal, pos. About 0.1 to 10, 1.0 makes no change. r2 = File 1 contrast factor decimal, pos or neg. 1.0 makes no change. r3 = File 1 brightness factor decimal, pos or neg. 0 makes no change. r4 = File 2 gamma factor decimal, pos. About 0.1 to 10, 1.0 makes no change. r5 = File 2 contrast factor decimal, pos or neg. 1.0 makes no change. r6 = File 2 brightness factor decimal, pos or neg. 0 makes no change. If you only want to process one file use the same name for file one and two, and set the contrast for file two to 0. The sum of the two contrasts should come out to be 1.0 or -1.0 generally, so if you are mixing two images the contrast for both files might be 0.5, i.e. 0.5+0.5=1.0 and such. The brightness tone scale center is at full black, and not middle tone, so the default brightness level is zero, that allows the contrast to be negative or positive. Option 5 is specifically for generating 3D stereoscopic images, whereas the other options can be used for a variety of image processing tasks. Two 24 bpp BMP files are the source and one 24 bpp BMP file is the result. The two source 24 bpp BMP files are images of the same subject for viewing as a stereo pair, i.e. one image is from the right eye point of view and the other is from the left eye point of view. The source stereo pair images can be from various sources, and are not limited to computer generated images. The size and aspect ratio are taken from the source files, so when you want to make a BMP file that will be converted into a Pixel file for display in DANCAD3D.COM (tm) the X and Y pixel dimensions of the source files must correspond to padded or un-padded standard screen sizes. See the explanation of the equivalent menu command for more details. UTILITY BMP_TO_BMP 5 f1 f2 f3 i1 i2 i3 i4 i5 r1 r2 r3 Where: f1 = Filename of right eye source 24 bpp BMP file. f2 = Filename of left eye source 24 bpp BMP file. f3 = Filename of combined stereoscopic result color 24 bpp BMP file. i1 = FormatCode, see list of codes for macro STEREO command info. i2 = BorderColor, 0 to 15, or 16 for none. i3 = Reverse, 0=none 1=reverse left and right eye views. i4 = SyncAdjust, applies only to sync double, e.g. formatcode 121. i5 = SyncTweak, applies only to sync double, e.g. formatcode 121. r1 = Right eye ghost mask, 0=none, or about 0.1 to 0.2 for ghosting formats. r2 = Left eye ghost mask, 0=none, or about 0.1 to 0.2 for ghosting formats. r3 = Stereo image gamma correction, 1.0=same, n>1=lighten n<1=darken shadows. The STEREO macro command has some extra parameters, e.g. AspectComp, Zshift, SXshift, EyeRot, and EyeOff, these are needed since STEREO is used with DISPLAY to generate the stereoscopic pair of images. This file utility combines stereo pairs that have already been saved to disk, and so the image generating parameters are not present. When the stereoscopic display option is used with the main menu Preview command or the macro STEREO and DISPLAY commands, temporary BMP files are left on the disk, that you might use with this file utility. A form of the right eye view is saved in file DANR0000.BMP, a form of the left eye view is saved in file DANL0000.BMP, and when the stereoscopic display result goes to the screen the result at 24 bpp is saved in DANS0000.BMP, even when 15 or 16 bpp VESA modes are used. When the BMP video mode is used the result goes to the file name designated for the BMP result, and not into DANS0000.BMP, which might then contain some older stereoscopic image. This BMP Combine mode 5 might be used with odd size BMP source files, i.e. not just the standard VESA screen size image sizes, and so may work with stereoscopic images captured on a compatible scanner or with a compatible digital camera. Odd size images might be viewed in some other third party compatible Windows (tm) or Linux (tm) graphics program. --- NEW STEREO MACRO COMMAND A new macro command keyword STEREO has been introduced in order to pass the various values required for the Stereoscopic image formatting information on to the DISPLAY command. The STEREO macro command must come before the DISPLAY command for the DISPLAY command to make an image formatted in the assigned stereoscopic image format. The STEREO macro command must come before the DISPLAY macro command each time you want to display a stereoscopic image. Macro command parameter usage order for STEREO: STEREO StereoMode FormatCode BorderColor Reverse SyncAdjust SyncTweak AspectComp RightMask LeftMask StereoGamma Zshift SXshift EyeRot EyeOff Where: StereoMode = stereomode is always 0 in initial revision of v2.7H FormatCode = see formatcode list below BorderColor = 0-15=colors 16=none, see color code list below Reverse = 0=none 1=reverse right and left eye views SyncAdjust = only for sync double shutter glasses, 0 or about 20 to 60 SyncTweak = only for sync double shutter glasses, 0 or about -3 to +3 AspectComp = for FormatCodes 20, 40, 120, and 121, see AspectComp info. RightMask = for various glasses, 0 otherwise, 0 to about 0.35 LeftMask = for various glasses, 0 otherwise, 0 to about 0.35 StereoGamma = image adjustment, 1.0 or about 0.5 to 2.0 Zshift = 0 or + moves image to you, - moves it away, about -50 to +100 SXshift = 0 or + moves image to you, - moves it away, about -0.8 to +2 EyeRot = eye rotation, about 0.2 to 0.4 EyeOff = eye offset, about 0.1 to 0.2 STEREO 0 i i i i i i r r r r r r r Where: i = integer number r = real number What follows is a more detailed explanation of the STEREO command parameters. SrereoMode: There is just "stereo mode" 0 in the initial revision of v2.7H, so you just enter 0 after STEREO for now. FormatCode: The "FormatCode" value is for selecting how the making of the stereo 3D image or file will be done. Each format code might be used to make a stereoscopic image that could be viewed somewhat differently or with different apparatus. The location of the Right eye view and the Left eye view in the stereoscopic combination image might be switched or swapped if there is a need to do so, use the "Reverse" option value to swap the Right and Left views. LCS shutter glasses may have a button on their control driver electronics that also lets you swap the Left and Right views when you need to, without having to regenerate the stereoscopic image. For exporting the stereoscopic image pick BMP video mode with the GRAPH_MODE command, rather than saving the image displayed on the screen, since the shading will be better when the 15 or 16 bpp VESA modes are used. Using the BMP video mode also lets you save the stereoscopic image larger and with finer detail for later printing. When using a computer that has a video board that does not display fancy VESA video modes you might be able to use the BMP video mode to save the stereoscopic image to disk without having to use a different video board. "Padding" is black fill around the stereo images so the combined stereo BMP image file can be converted to a Pixel file, i.e. the image size is padded to be like a video screen shape. In order for the padding to do its job the size of the source images must be selected to convert to the desired standard result size. "Padding" is needed for some FormatCodes that put the Left and Right images above and below or side by side when the stereoscopic image is to be displayed on screen. When using the main menu Preview command or the macro DISPLAY command to display on screen the image is automatically padded regardless of the FormatCode selected, but when using the BMP video mode the image is saved un-padded when the appropriate FormatCode is selected. Also when displaying side by side or above and below images on the screen the resolution is divided by two and adjusted so that the program does not need to switch into a resolution that is twice as high, which might not be possible or safe for your monitor, i.e. the on-screen image is displayed in the VESA mode selected regardless of the FormatCode entered. When the image is saved using the BMP video mode the image will be double resolution when needed for some of the side-by-side or above and below, a.k.a. over-under, images. If you do not want the BMP file at double resolution for some of the above and below or side- by-side images enter X and Y pixel dimensions half the composite image size. When making BMP files for later conversion to Pixel files for display through LOAD PIXEL or ANIMATE be sure to select the "Padding" adjusted FormatCodes and enter X and Y pixel values that will make the BMP file the right size for conversion. Some video modes do not come out even for the double image FormatCodes, such as putting two 640x480 views on one standard 1280x1024 image. To make up for the odd screen sizes the program in some cases makes adjustments to the size of the "padding" in the FormatCodes that are selected to give extra adjustment of the "padding". If you want to make transparency slides for projection in two slide projectors you can select FormatCode = 1 and 2, or rename the temporary image files DANR0000.BMP and DANL0000.BMP, then shoot the right and left eye views from the computer's full screen. You can convert BMP eye image files to Pixel files using the Files Utilities BMP Pixel command and then use Load Pixel to display the Pixel files for photography. The CRT Negative command might be used to alter the display on the screen to get reversed tones for photography onto Color Positive film stock, such as Agfa CP-30 (tm) using yellow or orange filters, to give a color positive slide or movie from the negative screen image. The same idea might be used to make two strip 3D movie prints for projection with two movie projectors interlocked with synchro motors, which may give better results than making a side-by-side squeezed print. It may be better to use video mode BMP when saving separate eye view files by use of the temporary eye image files, since the VESA modes reduce the separate image sizes to half size, when you are using some FormatCodes, in order to get both images on the screen in the selected mode, but when the BMP graphics video mode is selected the images are output full size and so may have four times as many pixels. FormatCode = 0 Monoscopic mode. Use a FormatCode of 0 when you do not want to make a Stereoscopic view, but do not what to remove the STEREO command from the macro. That is FormatCode 0 disables the Stereoscopic image generation. FormatCode = 1 Right eye single eye view image. FormatCode 1 outputs just the right eye view from the stereo pair. You might want each of the stereo views output to separate images so that you can do further processing of the images, or so that you can make a separate slide or cine film of each of the two views for projection from two projectors or a special double image projector. Unlike just copying the file DANR0000.BMP, FormatCode 1 generates an image that can that be ghost masked. Both the RightMask and LeftMask values should be set as they would be when making a combined stereoscopic image. FormatCode 1 was added after the November 27, 2003 release. FormatCode = 2 Left eye single eye view image. FormatCode 2 outputs just the left eye view from the stereo pair. You might want each of the stereo views output to separate images so that you can do further processing of the images, or so that you can make a separate slide or cine film of each of the two views for projection from two projectors or a special double image projector. Unlike just copying the file DANL0000.BMP, FormatCode 2 generates an image that can that be ghost masked. Both the RightMask and LeftMask values should be set as they would be when making a combined stereoscopic image. FormatCode 2 was added after the November 27, 2003 release. FormatCode = 10 "Parallel", a.k.a. "wall eyes", side-by-side format, the Left eye image is on the Left side of the image and the Right eye image is on the Right side of the image (unless you have used "reverse" to swap them). This format is used with some kinds of stereoscopic image viewers that have prisms or mirrors in them that let you view the centers of the two images without diverging your eyes. Some people can "free view" the "Parallel" format if viewed from a distance or the images are printed so that their centers are equal to or a little less than the distance between your eye's pupils, about 50mm to 80mm. Some people might find the "Crossed eyes" format easier to "free view" since the image spacing may be less critical. If the "Parallel" images are printed on small cards so that their centers are spaced a little less than the inter-pupil distance, you can view the images by using two, preferably achromatic, magnifying glasses of about positive 75mm to 150mm focal length, one cemented lens in front of each eye like eye glasses. Holding a black card between the images so that each eye can see only one image may help when viewing. The "Parallel" images might be viewed off of the computer screen by using special "periscope" viewers using four front surface mirrors or 90 degree prisms. The "periscope" type viewer might have an adjustment to allow the images to be converged, e.g. one or more of the mirrors might pivot or slide to try to correct for different viewing distances and different distances between the right and left image centers. It might be possible to use just one periscope over just the right or left eye, but it may be generally better to keep the optical path length the same for both eyes so that both eyes focus at the same distance. Wedge prism type 3D viewers for "Parallel" side-by-side views may also allow viewing images that have a center spacing greater than the spacing between the eyes. Two thin wedge prisms might be arranged like lenses mounted in eye glasses so that you look through the prisms and your line of sight is made to diverge without your eyes having to diverge. Achromatic wedge prisms might be desirable since wedge prisms made of a single kind of glass may show some degree of chromatic aberration, i.e. rainbow fringes. Using the STEREO command's "BorderColor" option may help in lining up the two side-by-side stereo images while viewing. Using the monitor's horizontal and vertical size adjustments may help somewhat to achieve fusing and convergence by letting you change the distance between the right and left image centers. See also FromatCode 20 which might be adjusted with the AspectComp to give a tall aperture full screen image with some image center distance compensations. When the VESA video modes display on the screen the images is padded, but when the BMP video mode is selected the image is not padded unless you select a padded FormatCode. FormatCode = 11 This is also a "Parallel" image but simple black padding has been added equal to twice the image height. This might be needed for conversion to some odd video modes such as 1280x960 or 640x400 and such. See also FormatCode 12 for adjustment for some uneven pixel ratios. FormatCode = 12 This is like FormatCode 11 but the padding has been adjusted for some video modes like 2x-640x480 going to 1280x1024 or 2x-320x200 going to 640x480. You might try to report what other odd VESA modes you think should be adjusted on the "Wish List" form. When the image is to be displayed on-screen the adjusted padded FormatCode would usually be the preferred FormatCode. FormatCode = 20 This is a "Parallel" image format with the two images in anamorphic squeeze across their width for recording on 3D cine film when the AspectComp is set to 0. Special lenses or mirrors are used on the movie projector to unsqueeze and superimpose the two images on the movie screen. Polarizing filters are normally used for each side of the projector lens so the viewers can see color images by using Polarized 3D glasses. Pure Red and Cyan filters plus Didymium type rare earth glass filters might also be used on the projector with a stereo unsqueeze lens, in place of the usual polarizers, to possibly get better ghosting results when viewing with Red-Cyan cardboard gel glasses than when making an Anaglyph color release print, since the dyes and minerals in the filters over the movie projector might have better pass and stop bands than the dyes obtainable by printing onto color print stock, e.g. a black and white print could be used since filters are on the projector lens. If your monitor has enough range on its vertical size or height adjustment to reduce the on screen image height to 50% you might use FormatCode 20 in place of FormatCodes 10, 11, and 12 to try to get higher vertical resolution. If your monitor can not shrink the on screen image enough, you may be able to reduce the distortion by using the AspectComp adjustment value. Within FormatCode 20 the AspectComp value can select sub-formats, when it is 1 the image is un-squeezed such that it is a tall aperture of the usual screen image with the sides cut off, when it is 2 the image contains a smaller version of the usual screen image plus extra on the top and bottom within the taller aperture. If you what to adjust the monitor raster size in an asymmetric way in order to adjust the center distance of the two images to try to correct for the limitations of some viewing aid, the AspectComp values 100 to 120 work like 1 except the aspect compensation is adjustable in grades from mode 0 to 1 and past 1, and values 200 to 220 work like 2 except that the aspect compensation is adjustable in grades from 0 to 2 and some extra beyond that. To view the "tall screen" side-by-side parallel images off of the computer screen you might try to use some kind of prism or periscope viewer. FormatCode = 30 "Crossed eyes" side-by-side format puts the Right eye image on the Left side and the Left eye image on the Right side. "Crossed eyes" stereo format is the format preferred by some people for "free viewing", "free viewing" means viewing without any special glasses or viewers. To "free view" the "Crossed eyes" image sit back about two to three feet from your monitor then hold your finger about half way between your monitor and your nose. Look at your finger tip and move your finger closer or further from your nose until you see three out of focus images side by side. Ignore the two images on the sides and concentrate on the center image. Do not try to focus the center image, focus on your finger. Slowly lower your finger while keeping your eyes lined up on the center image. When your finger is out of the way, just sit there and look at the out of focus center image for a few minutes, being careful not to let your eyes shift position and look at one of the side images. After you gain good control at holding the out of focus center image in place you can try little by little to bring it into focus while struggling to keep your eyes from moving off of the center image. It is natural for your eyes to focus at the point that the eyes converge, but to "free view" you need to train yourself to separate your control of the muscles on your eyes that focus and converge your eyes. This is somewhat like learning to ride and balance a bicycle, once you learn how to gain conscious control of these various eye muscles it becomes a new skill that you might be able to keep and use for the rest of your life. Do not give up if your first few tries fail, once you learn this skill you might be able to "free view" off of your monitor or from a print out of the stereoscopic image anytime and anywhere even when you do not have your special glasses or viewers with you. Using the image "BorderColor" option may be a help in "free viewing" since it gives the three images you see an outline by which you can try to register them. Another aid you might try for "free viewing" is to cut a hole the shape of one of the on screen images, a little smaller than the image, in a black piece of cardboard. Place the black piece of cardboard midway between the monitor's screen and your eyes, such that when you look at the screen through the hole you see the image on the left side of the screen with only your right eye, and you see only the image on the right side of the screen with your left eye. You may need to make several black cards with the rectangular hole until you make one that has the hole just large enough to see only one image when your eyes are crossed. You could make a hinged bracket to flip the black cardboard mask down in front of your monitor and hold it out the right distance on a stick of some kind, that way both of your hands could be free, and you just need to move your head to the right spot to view the 3D stereoscopic image through the rectangular hole in the mask. The filetype JPS is a variation of the popular JPG filetype that is used on the internet to display stereoscopic images. To make a JPS file save the stereoscopic image as a "Crossed eyes" BMP image, then use the software that came with your scanner to convert the BMP image into a JPG type file, using the minimum compression option in order to preserve the stereo detail and reduce "cardboarding" of the image planes. Next, rename the JPG file to have the JPS file extension. Renaming should work since if the JPS file lacks the special image header encoding the image reader should assume the JPS file is a JPG file that has the image formatted for "Crossed eyes" stereoscopic image format. Since the JPS file will not have the usual stereo header encoding some viewers may not display the renamed JPG file properly. It may be possible to add the correct header encoding to the JPS file with a third party program, but you would need to find such software. See also FromatCode 40 which can be adjusted with the AspectComp to give a "crossed eyes" tall aperture full screen image with image center distance compensations. Some related viewing aids for viewing "Crossed eyes" side-by-side stereo images might be of interest to viewers that have difficulty "free viewing" "Crossed eyes" stereo images. When you are using a CRT monitor you can cut some polarizer sheets so that you have two sheets half the width of the screen and the full height of the screen, one sheet has the polarization angle set to 45 degrees and the other sheet has the polarization angle set to 135 degrees. You then put 45 and 135 degree Polarized glasses on and cover your left eye, then place the Polarizer sheet that looks gray over the left half of the screen, and the Polarizer sheet that looks black over the right side of the screen. When you switch and cover the right eye you should see the right side of the screen through a gray filter, and the left side of the screen through a black filter. You then display a "Crossed eyes" image on the screen by using stereo format code 30 or 40. If you move back some distance from the monitor and view the side-by-side images through the two filters over the screen and are wearing the Polarized 3D glasses you should be able to cross your eyes and see just one stereoscopic image, rather than the usual three images side-by-side that you would see when "free viewing" without using the Polarized 3D glasses. If you are making transparency slides for projection, you might be able to use glass mounts and bind strips of Polarizer material, aligned to 45 and 135 degrees, half the width of the image on the lens side of a "Crossed eyes" color transparency. When such a slide is projected and the viewers are viewing through 45 and 135 degree Polarized glasses they should be able to fuse the two side-by-side images a little easier than if the "Crossed eyes" image was projected without the Polarized filter since they will just see one image rather than three, particularly if the room is very dark and the image is small and distant. A special type of screen to project on might be needed to make the side images dim, but ghosting should not be an issue since this is a "Crossed eyes" stereo format and the images are never superimposed, except in the viewers mind. Heat from the projector lamp might be a problem with melting and destruction of the bound transparency and Polarizer filter strips, so you might want to use a dichroic heat mirror for the mounting glass closest to the light source. Since LCD monitors and screens used in laptop computers already have polarizers in them you can not tape two large Polarizer strips over them, since one side of the screen would come out black. Dr. Keigo Lizuka has suggested that in this situation you can leave one side of the LCD screen uncovered and put a sheet of about 1 mil clear cellophane over the other half of the screen. The cellophane rotates the polarized light so that you now have light coming from the two sides of the screen at angles that are similar to using two Polarizer filters on a CRT monitor. You need to use cellophane of the right thickness for this to work, using a different thickness or a different kind of plastic will probably not give the same results. If your LCD screen has an angle of 45 or 135 degrees then you may be able to use Polarized glasses set to 45 and 135 degrees to view using the cellophane technique, otherwise you might need to make Polarized 3D glasses that have the filters rotated to the same angles that you are getting from the uncovered and cellophane covered sides of your LCD screen. This cellophane gimmick may not work with all LCD displays. This "split screen filtering" idea could be used with circular Polarizer glasses and sheets on the monitor or slide, and such. This same idea might be used with colored filters over the two sides of the computer monitor, or slide transparency, and viewing with Anaglyph glasses. For instance if you display a side-by-side "Crossed eyes" image on the computer screen, then cover the right side of the monitor screen with a red theatrical gel or dyed plastic sheet and cover the left side of the monitor screen with a cyan gel or dyed plastic sheet, and view by using Red-Cyan Anaglyph glasses with the red filter on the left eye, you might then see a ghost free stereo image by crossing your eyes. The color filters in this technique might not need to be perfect since filter leakage may just make dim side images rather than ghosts within the central stereo image. Any of the other Anaglyph color combinations might operate in the same way. Moving back a distance from the monitor or screen and viewing in a darkened room might help with the ability to fuse the stereo image. I have not yet tested all of the various display viewing options, methods, and techniques described so you may need to do some experimenting to see what you might find of utility. FormatCode = 31 This is "Crossed eyes" format plus simple black padding for conversion of the image for on-screen display. For some odd video modes this FormatCode might be needed, but for standard video modes it may be better to use FormatCode 32. FormatCode = 32 This is "Crossed eyes" format with padding plus adjustment for some video modes that do not have double the image height of the original images. FormatCode 32 would be the preferred FormatCode for on-screen display of "Crossed eyes" stereoscopic image format, generally. FormatCode = 40 When AspectComp is 0 this is a non-standard "Crossed eyes" anamorphic format that might be useful if your monitor have size controls with enough range to make the images un-squeezed, thereby getting twice the vertical resolution since black padding would not be needed in the combined stereoscopic image. See if you can reduce the "vertical size" or "height" on your monitor to 50% and increase the "horizontal size" or "width" on your monitor to 100%. If you cannot get enough range on your monitor to get the correct 4:3 image shape, you might use the AspectComp adjustment to distort the image in order to make up for the extra height of the image frames. FormatCode 40 could be used in place of FormatCode 20 for 3D motion pictures if the polarizing filters where swapped for the two projected images. Within FormatCode 40 the AspectComp value can select sub-formats, when it is 1 the image is un-squeezed such that it is a tall aperture of the usual screen image with the sides cut off, when it is 2 the image contains a small version of the usual screen image plus extra on the top and bottom within the taller aperture. If you want to adjust the monitor raster size in an asymmetric way in order to adjust the center distance of the two images to try to correct for the limitations of some viewing aid, the AspectComp values 100 to 120 work like 1 except the aspect compensation is adjustable in grades from mode 0 to 1 and past 1, and values 200 to 220 work like 2 except that the aspect compensation is adjustable in grades from 0 to 2 and some extra beyond that. To view the "tall screen" "Crossed eyes" images you can try to "free view" by crossing your eyes, so no viewer would be required by people who are able to easily "free view" such "Crossed eyes" images. FormatCode = 80 The side-by-side "Mirror Right" stereoscopic format has the Left eye view on the left side, and the Right eye view on the right side, like the "Parallel" format, but has the Right eye view flipped or mirrored side to side so that the Right eye view will appear correct when viewed in a mirror. To view this format you place a front surface mirror perpendicular to the monitor screen with the mirrored surface facing right and you look directly at the left image with your left eye and you look at the reflection of the right eye image in the mirror. You can tip the mirror a little from side to side at the end closest to your face in order to bring the centers of the images into convergence. If you use this format frequently you might make a hinged bracket that fits to the top of your monitor and hangs the mirror in the proper position, so that the mirror can be flipped out of the way when not needed. You might also add two positive meniscus diopter lenses, i.e. eyepieces to look through, of a focal length slightly longer than their distance to the monitor so that you can view the images on the monitor without straining your eyes to focus close up. Viewing with one eye's view reflected in a mirror might be easier for people who cannot master "free viewing" by the use of "Crossed eyes" format. Having a border on the images may make lining up the two images easier, see also the BorderColor option value. The program uses the related padded FormatCodes when rendering the image for on screen display when the VESA graphics video modes are selected, so use the graphics mode BMP and output the stereoscopic image to a disk file if you do not want it padded. FormatCode = 81 This is "Mirror Right" format with black padding, this might be needed for some odd screen image dimensions, but the adjusted padding in FormatCode 82 is probably of more frequent use. The padded FormatCodes are for use with images that will be converted to Pixel files for on-screen display, if you are making images for display on the internet you do not need the padding, generally. FormatCode = 82 This is "Mirror Right" format with black padding plus adjustment for some standard screen image dimensions that do not have the height twice the sub- image size, this might be needed for some odd screen image dimensions. In some cases the non-adjusted padding in FormatCode 81 may be required for odd screen dimensions. The padded FormatCodes are for use with images that will be converted to Pixel files for on-screen display, if you are making images for display on the internet you do not need the padding, generally. The program uses the related padded FormatCodes when rendering the image for on screen display when the VESA graphics video modes are selected, so use the graphics mode BMP and output the stereoscopic image to a disk file if you do not want it padded. FormatCode = 90 The side-by-side "Mirror Left" stereoscopic format has the Right eye view on the Right side, and the Left eye view on the Left side, like the "Parallel" format, but has the Left eye view flipped or mirrored side to side so that the Left eye view will appear correct when viewed in a mirror. To view this format you place a front surface mirror perpendicular to the monitor screen with the mirrored surface facing left and you look at the right image directly with your right eye and you look at the reflection of the left eye image in the mirror. You can tip the mirror a little from side to side at the end closest to your face in order to bring the centers of the images into convergence. If you use this format frequently you might make a hinged bracket that fits to the top of your monitor and hangs the mirror in the proper position, so that the mirror can be flipped out of the way when not needed. You might also add two positive meniscus diopter lenses, i.e. eyepieces to look through, of a focal length slightly longer than their distance to the monitor so that you can view the images on the monitor without straining your eyes to focus close up. Viewing with one eye's view reflected in a mirror might be easier for people who cannot master "free viewing" by the use of "Crossed eyes" format. Having a border on the images may make lining up the two images easier, see also the BorderColor parameter. The program uses the related padded FormatCodes when rendering the image for on screen display when the VESA graphics video modes are selected, so use the graphics mode BMP and output the stereoscopic image to a disk file if you do not want it padded. FormatCode = 91 This is "Mirror Left" format with black padding, this might be needed for some odd screen image dimensions, but the adjusted padding in FormatCode 92 is probably of more frequent use. The padded FormatCodes are for use with images that will be converted to Pixel files for on-screen display, if you are making images for display on the internet you do not need the padding, generally. FormatCode = 92 This is "Mirror Left" format with black padding plus adjustment for some standard screen image dimensions that do not have the height twice the sub- image size, this might be needed for some odd screen image dimensions. In some cases the non-adjusted padding in FormatCode 91 may be required for odd screen dimensions. The padded FormatCodes are for use with images that will be converted to Pixel files for on-screen display, if you are making images for display on the internet you do not need the padding, generally. The program uses the related padded FormatCodes when rendering the image for on screen display when the VESA graphics video modes are selected, so use the graphics mode BMP and output the stereoscopic image to a disk file if you do not want it padded. FormatCode = 100 The "Over-Under" or "Above-Below" stereoscopic image format, with the right image on top, is used with special prism or periscope mirror viewers that let you look at the center of the monitor screen or printout and see one stereoscopic image. If the left image needs to be on top you can use the "Reverse" option value to swap the stereo images. Some kinds of prism viewer might have two weak wedge prisms that divert your line of sight so that the right eye sees objects above the line of sight and the left eye sees objects below the line of sight. The power of the wedge prisms may effect how far away from the monitor you need to be and that the centers distance of images be a certain value. With a large monitor you may not be able to converge or fuse the stereo images if the viewer's wedge prisms are too strong or weak. You may be able to find some kind of wedge prism viewer for "Over-Under" viewing, perhaps one constructed in a manner similar to the "KMQ (tm)" type lorgnette style viewer described in Europe, but how well such a viewer might work could depend in part on the image centers distance between the two stereo images on your monitor. One issue with wedge prism viewers might be that when the prisms are made just from one kind of glass or plastic there may be some residual chromatic aberration, i.e. rainbow fringes. To account for some of the rainbow fringes each of the two wedge prisms might be made of two prisms made of different kinds of glass so that some of the chromatic aberration might be reduced, i.e. achromatic wedge prisms. In some cases it might be possible to view the "Over-Under" format with "periscope" type front surface mirror viewers using two front surface mirrors for one eye where the mirrors can tip to make up for the difference in the vertical image to image center distance. To keep the optical path length the same for the two eyes two periscopes might be used, the right one going up, and the left one going down, both adjusted to align the view of the images with the vertical center line of the monitor's screen. If two periscopes are used you would use four front surface mirrors. Four 90 degree prisms can be used in place of four front surface mirrors to make two periscopes. Using the STEREO command's "BorderColor" option may help in lining up the two images. Using the monitor's horizontal and vertical size adjustments may help achieve convergence by letting you change the distance between the right and left image centers, this may be particularly helpful when using a wedge prism viewer that is not adjustable. FormatCode = 120 When AspectComp is set to 0 this "Squeezed Over-Under" right on top format might be useful for viewing with the same kind of viewers as would be used with the FormatCode 100 format, except that you would need to reduce the monitor width control to get an un-squeezed image with double the horizontal resolution. The horizontal resolution is double since no black padding would be needed on the sides of the two images. If your monitor's horizontal size or width control does not have enough range to reduce the on-screen image width to 50% you might also use the AspectComp value to try to correct for some of the on-screen distortions. FormatCode 120 is not for use with Sync Double LCS glasses since those require black padding between the two images for the second vertical retrace period, see FormatCode 121 for displaying images in stereoscopic shutter glasses Sync Double stereo modes. Within FormatCode 40 the AspectComp value can select sub-formats, when it is 1 the image is un- squeezed such that it is a wide aperture of the usual screen image with the top and bottom cut off, when it is 2 the image contains a small version of the usual screen image plus extra on the sides within the wide aperture. If you want to adjust the monitor raster size in an asymmetric way in order to adjust the center distance of the two images to try to correct for the limitations of some viewing aid, the AspectComp values 100 to 120 work like 1 except the aspect compensation is adjustable in grades from mode 0 to 1 and past 1, and values 200 to 220 work like 2 except that the aspect compensation is adjustable in grades from 0 to 2 and some extra beyond that. To view the "wide screen" over-under images you will probably need some kind of prism or periscope viewer. FormatCode 120 could be used like FormatCodes 20 or 40 in a movie or slide projector, the double projection lenses though would need to be rotated 90 degrees and adjusted for the smaller image center distance. FormatCode = 121 This "Squeezed Over-Under, Vertical Sync Doubler" format with adjustments is for use with Liquid Crystal Shutter Glasses, a.k.a. LCD Shutter Glasses or LCS glasses. To double the vertical sync coming from your video board you attach a circuit between your video board, a.k.a. video card, and your monitor's video input cable. This circuit picks up the vertical sync pulse, waits about one half the vertical retrace frequency, then sends a second vertical retrace sync pulse to the monitor, thereby doubling the vertical retrace frequency. So if your video board is outputting 60Hz for the vertical sweep in your monitor, your monitor will sweep at 120Hz when sync doubled. The advantage of sync doubling your monitor may be two fold, there may be less flicker when using the Shutter Glasses, and the flip-flop that feeds drive signals to the shutter glasses might be used to display the two stereo images without the need to "page flip" the video memory in the video board during the use of the video board's non-interlaced modes. If you sync double the monitor when viewing ordinary menus, and such, you will see the top of the menu stretched out with the bottom also stretched out and superimposed over it, i.e. the normal screen display is "scrambled" and not readily usable. So in order to use the Sync Double stereoscopic display mode you need to have the screen image specially formatted with the image for one eye on the top of the screen squeezed vertically, and the image for the other eye vertically squeezed on the bottom of the screen. Since the electron beam in the monitor is moving from the bottom of the screen back up to the top of the screen after the second sync pulse generated by the Shutter Glasses driver circuit, the top of the second image cannot be right next to the bottom of the first image, there needs to be a black strip between the two images. For use with my programs it might be desirable for the shutter glasses controller circuit to have full manual control, i.e. one button for the shutter glasses stereo mode, i.e. "Interlace", "Page Flip", "Line Blank", and "Sync Double", and another button for the left and right view reverse. FormatCode 121 has some extra options that are needed for its use, "SyncAdjust" and "SyncTweak" let you try to set the height of the black band between the two squeezed eyes images to a value that might help line up the two images on top of each other when the shutter glasses controller is set to "Sync Double" stereo mode. The number of scan lines needed for the black strip may be different for different video modes and monitors, so you will need to figure out what values might work with your hardware, and use those values to generate images for display on your hardware. SyncTweak might be tried in addition to SyncAdjust to move just the top image down, or just the lower image up. Set SyncTweak to 0 and use SyncAdjust to get the images as close as you can, then if needed try making SyncTweak a positive or negative value to try to get the two images superimposed. Having a border on the images helps with alignment, see the BorderColor option. SyncTweak may not help in some cases, or if the controller senses the video signal in addition to the sync signal, and such. Since the two images are each less than half the full screen height in sync double mode AspectComp is used to figure out how to resolve the non-square pixels and reduced image aperture, the options are: 0 = crop the images so that a little is lost of the top and bottom, 1 = compensate the Y axis aspect ratio so that the image is squeezed a little more to fit into the aperture that is less than half the screen high, and 2 makes the image smaller and wide screen by reducing both the image height and width while adding some extra image area on the sides. Options 0 and 2 generally do not require adjusting the monitor vertical size adjustments when going to and from regular to sync double stereo modes. Option 1 shows the usual image area, but since the image is squeezed more than 2 times the vertical size adjustment on the monitor may need to be adjusted each time you go in and out of sync double mode by pressing the button on the shutter glasses controller. When your video board is outputting interlaced video signals you may not be able to use the "Sync Double" stereo mode on your shutter glasses controller since the monitor may superimpose the two fields and the image resolution may look less than if the interlace was displayed normally. Some video boards may sometimes output non-interlaced video signals at the lower resolutions and interlaced video signals at the higher resolutions. When your video board is working at higher resolutions and is interlacing you may need to use FormatCode 160 rather than FormatCode 121 for displaying images with shutter glasses. The "Sync Double" images can only be displayed "full screen" and only at the resolution they were created for, also the sync adjustments are dependent on your particular monitor and video refresh rate, so FormatCode 121 is mostly just for displaying 3D stereoscopic images on your particular computer system, if you need to share 3D images for use with shutter glasses FormatCode 160 is probably a better choice most of the time. If you need to share an image or animation that needs to be displayed in FormatCode 121 you can share a macro file that generates the image or animation and the person running the macro can try to adjust the parameters of the STEREO macro command to try to get the "Sync Double" images to display on his or her computer system. FormatCode = 160 This "Interleave/interlace/line blank" format with right eye on odd rows is for use with Liquid Crystal Shutter Glasses, a.k.a. LCD shutter glasses or LCS glasses. The image is made up of alternating lines from the two views, one line from the right view then one from the left view, and so on throughout the height of the combined image. FormatCode 160 might be a satisfactory format for display when the video board and monitor and shutter glasses controller are working in "interlace" scanning mode. When the video board is working in "non- interlace" video mode FormatCode 160 might also be viewed if the shutter glasses controller circuit has a "line blank" stereoscopic mode. In some cases "line blank" stereo mode may look a little darker, or a little less sharp, than some other stereo controller circuit mode since every other scan line gets turned off and the video signal goes through a blanking circuit. In "interlace" mode each eye sees alternate scan lines. Since the vertical frequency may be slower during "interlace" stereo mode there may be a little less ghosting due to the phosphors having more time to decay. In "interlace" video mode the video signal frequency may be lower which might make the horizontal details sharper in some cases. In "sync double" stereo mode using FormatCode 121, with the video board operating in non-interlaced video mode, both vertical and video frequencies going to the monitor may he higher, and so, possibly reduce sharpness and increase ghosting a little. FormatCode 160 might be good for use when the image is to be displayed as part of a document or on the internet since the stereoscopic image does not have to take up the full screen. Because scrolling a displayed page containing an image made using FormatCode 160 can reverse the right and left eye scan lines, you may need to press the eye reverse button on the shutter glasses controller circuit to have the right eye view get to the right eye, and so on. When "Interlaced" images are converted from BMP to compressed filetypes you should select no or minimum compression since blurring of the vertical or horizontal details may be destructive to some of the stereoscopic integrity, so it might be better to keep stereoscopic images un-compressed. "Sync Double" images need to be displayed "full screen" since the timing of the monitor sync depends on the images displayed, also the black strip in "Sync Double" images probably needs to be different for different monitors and video modes. The "Interlace" format does not need to be displayed full screen, and sync adjustments within the image are not generally required for various monitors or video modes. Because the vertical resolution is half in "Interlace" stereo mode higher resolution video modes, such as 1280x1024 at 24bpp might be desirable when you do not need to animate the images. The program averages the scan lines for conversion to "interlace" mode rather than just dropping the in between lines. For use with my programs it might be desirable for the shutter glasses controller circuit to have "full manual control", i.e. one button for the shutter glasses stereo mode, i.e. "Interlace", "Page Flip", "Line Blank", and "Sync Double", and another button for the left and right view reverse. FormatCode = 170 This "Lenticular/Parallax Barrier" format with the odd columns having the right eye view, is for use with special LCD screens that have a cylindrical lens sheet or other parallax barrier attached so that each eye sees just the even or odd pixel columns. It is like FormatCode 160 but runs the interlaced lines up and down rather than side to side. Screens that have the parallax barrier built in may be infrequent now, but if you have one FormatCode 170 might make an image that can be displayed on it for viewing in Stereoscopic 3D mode without glasses of any kind. You might be able to make a parallax barrier for your regular LCD monitor by printing out a drawing with thin lines spaced a little closer than the width of the screen, one line for each pair of pixels on the LCD's screen, then print the drawing onto high contrast "litho" film so that you have wide black stripes with thin clear lines. If you get the spacing of the clear lines correct, can get the film close enough, i.e. the right distance, to the LCD monitor, and you sit the right distance away in a darkened room you might be able to see some of the 3D images without using glasses. The spacing of the clear lines in the barrier sheet should ideally be slightly non- linear from center to the sides in order to compensate for the particular distance between the monitor and the viewer. Do not try to use a parallax barrier sheet on a CRT monitor, it is probably too hard to get the on screen image and vertical barrier mask aligned, especially at higher resolutions. A company called i-Art (tm) at www.iart3D.com, seems to be offering, or have offered, an add on kit that puts a transparent lenticular sheet in front of your normal LCD monitor called "Auto3D Kit (tm)". I have not tested this product and do not endorse it for use with my programs, but you may want to check for more information if you have a LCD monitor, since it might let you view stereoscopic images without using glasses of any kind. If ghosting is present when viewing with a parallax barrier or lenticular sheet you might experiment with using some ghost masks to see if there is any benefit. FormatCode 205 This Red-Cyan Monochrome balanced Anaglyph format uses glasses with a Red filter on the left eye and a Cyan filter on the right eye, is one of the more common Anaglyph viewing formats, and might be used for stereoscopic display on various monitors, and possibly to some extent with color slides or print out. If your Cyan-Red Anaglyph glasses have a red filter on the right eye use the "Reverse" parameter of the STEREO command to swap the right and left eye views. FormatCode 205 might be a good choice for including 3D stereoscopic images on Web pages, so long as the file compression is kept small, or not used, to reduce, or prevent, any compression induced artifacts. When making Anaglyph images the Zshift, XSshift, EyeRot, and EyeOff values should probably be less than the values that look good for making images to be viewed with shutter glasses since the ghosting typical with impure colored glasses may make it difficult to fuse the two images if the stereoscopic disparity is large. To try to reduce the ghosting you may be able to look through two, three, or more, stacked Anaglyph colored glasses at the same time thereby filtering the light better and perhaps reducing the ghosting somewhat. Ghosting is seeing a little of the left eye view in your right eye and a little of the right eye image in your left eye. To try to evaluate the quality of your Anaglyph glasses make an test image using perspective display mode 10 and a large amount of stereoscopic disparity for a bright Anaglyph wire-frame outline with no ghost masking against a black background. Look at the Anaglyph wire-frame image through the colored glasses and cover your left eye, this shows how much red is leaking through the cyan filter, then cover your right eye to see how much blue and green are leaking through the red filter. You may see more ghosting through one of the filters than the other filter. Some impure Red-Cyan Anaglyph glasses might leak quite a lot through both filters possibly making viewing of images with a large amount of disparity problematic. By stacking some Red- Green 3D glasses over some Red-Cyan glasses you may be able to reduce some of the ghosting, making viewing of 3D stereoscopic Anaglyphs better. Filter stacking can be taken to extreme proportions, but since the monitor is of limited brightness you are limited as to how many filters you can stack before the image is too dim, even when viewed in a totally dark room. Ghost masking might be combined with filter stacking to try to suppress whatever slight residual ghosting would remain when filter stacks with tolerable transmission would be used. Gamma correction might also be helpful when very dark filters are used to lighten the shadow areas of the image, which otherwise might be too dark to see well. The computer monitor may not have 100% purity of the electron beams reaching phosphor dots since there may be some spread of the electrons passing through the internal shadow mask, so the red image from the red electron gun may light up the blue and green phosphor dots a little, and the blue and green electron guns may light up the red phosphor a little, possibly giving rise to another source of ghosting no mater how perfect the filters in the Anaglyph glasses are. If you move the computer monitor you should probably degauss it since movement of the CRT monitor may effect the color purity. Some monitors may have better purity than others since there may be small adjustments and magnets in the monitor the may effect the color purity in some cases, these settings are generally done at the factory. Another source for a possible loss of purity and source of ghosting might be from the phosphors themselves, when the phosphor dots are applied using resists some of the other color phosphors may get washed over the previously applied ones giving an opportunity for contamination, that is, there may be a little blue or green phosphor over the red phosphor dots, and such. Anaglyph images are simple to view by using just the properly colored glasses, and might be easy to share since anyone with the properly colored glasses might also be able to try to view them. If you are going to do quite a bit of stereoscopic viewing just by yourself the Liquid Crystal shutter glasses may give you a somewhat nicer viewing experience with perhaps less color "twinkling" and perhaps somewhat easier fusing of images with large stereoscopic disparity in some cases. Images for LCS glasses may not be as share-able if they have had to be tweaked and adjusted for your monitors quarks, e.g. "sync double" stereo mode, and such. When posting Anaglyph images on the internet you should probably use the minimum image compression possible, or no compression at all, and use 24 bpp color since any reduction in the image resolution may contribute to "cardboarding" of the image details making them look like cardboard cut-outs rather than continuously round objects. The BMP file format the program outputs in is un-compressed and gives un-compressed image quality. FormatCode 205 makes a stereoscopic Monochrome balanced image, but FormatCodes 225 and 235 allow tri-color to be viewed with Red-Cyan glasses. To possibly improve the ghosting issues due to filter or phosphor cross talk when viewing Red-Cyan images a special narrow band Yellow light absorbing filter, such as Neodymium and Praseodymium or didymium rare earth glass filter, might be placed over both of the stacked Red and the stacked Cyan filters in the Glasses, or over the monitor screen as a whole. How much benefit putting particular filters in the filter stacks might be would depend on the various combined curves of all of the system components. See also the associated text section about Anaglyph viewing aids for additional Anaglyph information and how to test Anaglyph filters using DANCAD3D.COM (tm). FormatCode = 206 This "Yellow-Blue" Monochrome balanced Anaglyph format uses a Yellow filter on the Left eye and a Blue filter on the Right eye. The Reverse option can be used to swap the colors for the eyes. FormatCode 206 makes a Monochrome balanced image, but FormatCodes 226 and 236 allow color to be viewed with Yellow-Blue glasses. The Yellow-Blue glasses might be thought by some to give better color results than Red-Cyan glasses, but the Yellow-Blue filter combination might in some cases produce somewhat worse ghosting depending on the purity of the filters used for viewing. You can try to test the quality of the filters used in the different kinds of glasses by viewing a bright Anaglyph wire-frame image against a black background with no ghost masking, and make up your own mind about which pair of colors give the least amount of ghosting and look best with your monitor's phosphors. Using stacked Deep Amber filters and stacked Deep Blue filters combined with narrow band blue-green blocking filters, e.g. rare earth glass filter and or interference filters, may give results with less ghosting than just a single light yellow and light blue filter. See also the associated text section about Anaglyph viewing aids for additional Anaglyph information and how to test Anaglyph filters using DANCAD3D.COM (tm). There may be some issues relating to proprietary rights regarding Yellow-Blue anaglyphs in some countries, so only do what is permissible in the jurisdictions applicable. FormatCode = 207 This "Magenta-Green" Monochrome balanced Anaglyph format uses a Magenta filter over the Left eye and a Green filter over the Right eye. The Reverse option can be used to swap the colors for the eyes, i.e to get a Green-Magenta image. FormatCode 207 makes a Monochrome balanced image, but FormatCodes 227 and 237 allow color to be viewed with Magenta-Green or Green-Magenta glasses. Magenta- Green glasses are not common, perhaps due to the difficulty of getting filters that are pure enough to block the ghosting. Magenta-Green or Green-Magenta anaglyph might possibly find some use perhaps in display methods that polarize the colors of light differently, and so if that were the case the image might be viewed with polarized glasses rather than colored glasses, bypassing some of the issues of color filter purity, or polarized and colored filters could be stacked to reduce ghosting. See also the associated text section about Anaglyph viewing aids for additional Anaglyph information and how to test Anaglyph filters using DANCAD3D.COM (tm). FormatCode = 208 This "Red-Blue" Monochrome balanced Anaglyph format uses a Red filter over the Left eye and a Blue filter over the Right eye. The Reverse option can be used to swap the colors for the eyes. This color combination may produce the lowest amount of ghosting if the filters in the glasses are very good since green tends to leak through both red and blue filters, i.e. no green light may equal less leakage. Many red filters are actually reddish magenta, so they may transmit some blue. To reduce blue transmission through the red filter the deep red filter should be combined with some very strong yellow or yellowish orange filters to block all of the blue light. Blue filters sometimes transmit a little red, so the blue filter should be combined with bluish green filters in order to cut down on the amount of red light reaching the blue filter eye. The strong purple effect of using Red-Blue Anaglyph glasses may make viewing a little harsh on the eyes, the alternative two-color FormatCode 209 the Red- Green Anaglyph mode may not be as good for ghosting reduction, but the yellowish overall tint might, for some people, be easier to look at for longer periods of time. FormatCode = 209 This "Red-Green" Monochrome balanced Anaglyph format uses a Red filter over the Left eye and a Green filter over the Right eye. The Reverse option can be used to swap the colors for the eyes for Green-Red glasses. This Red-Green Anaglyph format may be one of the traditional Anaglyph color combinations used for 3D stereoscopic books printed with Red and Green inks and for 3D Anaglyph motion pictures. The sensitivity of the red and green nerves in the eyes is close in wavelength and the sensitivity to red and green light overlaps somewhat. It is also hard to make red and green filters that do not both transmit some yellow light. So some ghosting when using Red-Green Anaglyph glasses might be difficult to avoid unless the filters used over the eyes are very strong and the yellow light in the overlap region is filtered out. Preferably the narrow band of yellow light between colors red and green would be filtered out, perhaps by adding a narrow band yellow absorbing filter to the red and green filters on the Anaglyph glasses, e.g. the addition of didymium or rare earth Amethyst Contrast Enhancer type filters might have some effect. How much benefit rare earth filters might have would depend on the transmission of the other filters used, and might not be worth the extra cost. Red-Green glasses may work better than Red-Blue or Red-Cyan glasses on printout in cases where the red dyes or inks might tend to allow reflection of some blue light. Printing Red-Green Anaglyph images on broad band bright yellow paper may help filter out undesirable blue light. Red-Green may work better than Red-Cyan images when projecting photographic slide transparencies if the dyes in the slide's image leak blue light. You might try to use a broad band yellow filter pass filter and a narrow band yellow blocking filter over the slide projector to help the Red-Green Anaglyph glasses differentiate the peek red and green parts of the spectrum. FormatCode = 210 This "Green-Blue" Monochrome balanced Anaglyph format uses a Green filter over the Left eye and a Blue filter over the Right eye. The Reverse option can be used to swap the colors for the eyes for Blue-Green glasses. Glasses with special filter stacks should probably be used to minimize ghosting when viewing "Green-Blue" anaglyph. A narrow band filter that absorbs light between green and blue might be helpful in the filter stacks for this format. Green and blue may, for some people, show less color contrast than combinations involving red, and so might perhaps tend to show less "twinkling", for some people. FormatCode = 225 This half-color "Red-Cyan" format is for displaying desaturated color images for viewing with "Red-Cyan" Anaglyph glasses like monochrome FormatCode 205. The half-color display mode gives some impression of color with less of some of the "twinkling" problems encountered in full color Anaglyph images when highly saturated colors are displayed such that there is a great difference in the brightness between the same parts of the image in both eyes. If you want to see what the full color anaglyph image would look like try FormatCode 235. FormatCode = 226 This half-color "Yellow-Blue" format is for displaying desaturated color images for viewing with "Yellow-Blue" Anaglyph glasses like monochrome FormatCode 206. The half-color display mode gives some impression of color with less of some of the "twinkling" problems encountered in full color Anaglyph images when highly saturated colors are displayed such that there is a great difference in the brightness between the same parts of the image in both eyes. If you want to see what the full color anaglyph image would look like try FormatCode 236. There may be some issues relating to proprietary rights regarding Yellow-Blue anaglyphs in some countries, so only do what is permissible in the jurisdictions applicable. FormatCode = 227 This half-color "Magenta-Green" format is for displaying desaturated color images for viewing with "Magenta-Green" Anaglyph glasses like monochrome FormatCode 207. The half-color display mode gives some impression of color with less of some of the "twinkling" problems encountered in full color Anaglyph images when highly saturated colors are displayed such that there is a great difference in the brightness between the same parts of the image in both eyes. If you want to see what the full color anaglyph image would look like try FormatCode 237. FormatCode = 235 This full-color "Red-Cyan" format is for displaying saturated color images for viewing with "Red-Cyan" Anaglyph glasses like FormatCode 205 and 225. The full-color display mode gives full color but with some of the "twinkling" problems encountered when highly saturated colors are displayed such that there may be a great difference in the brightness between the same parts of the image in both eyes. The monochrome FormatCode 205 may be easier on the eyes since the brightness for corresponding parts of the image in both views may be about the same. The half-color FormatCode 225 gives some impression of the colors with "twinkling" problems intermediate between Monochrome and full-color Anaglyph display. FormatCode = 236 This full-color "Yellow-Blue" format is for displaying saturated color images for viewing with "Yellow-Blue" Anaglyph glasses like FormatCode 206 and 226. The full-color display mode gives full color but with some of the "twinkling" problems encountered when highly saturated colors are displayed such that there may be a great difference in the brightness between the same parts of the image in both eyes. The monochrome FormatCode 206 may be easier on the eyes since the brightness for corresponding parts of the image in both views may be about the same. The half-color FormatCode 226 gives some impression of the colors with "twinkling" problems intermediate between Monochrome and full-color Anaglyph display. There may be some issues relating to proprietary rights regarding Yellow-Blue anaglyphs in some countries, so only do what is permissible in the jurisdictions applicable. FormatCode = 237 This full-color "Magenta-Green" format is for displaying saturated color images for viewing with "Magenta-Green" Anaglyph glasses like FormatCode 207 and 227. The full-color display mode gives full color but with some of the "twinkling" problems encountered when highly saturated colors are displayed such that there may be a great difference in the brightness between the same parts of the image in both eyes. The monochrome FormatCode 207 may be easier on the eyes since the brightness for corresponding parts of the image in both views may be about the same. The half-color FormatCode 227 gives some impression of the colors with "twinkling" problems intermediate between Monochrome and full-color Anaglyph display. BorderColor: The BorderColor parameter lets you set the color of the thin border around each of the stereoscopic images, or to select no border. Putting a border around the right and left eye images can make aligning the images easier and make fusing of the stereoscopic image in your mind easier since you have some common points to line up. Seventeen options are available, sixteen colors and no border. The border takes one or two pixels from around the image since fitting the images into the screen requires that the pixel size remain constant with or without the border. The colors available are: 0=black, 1=dark blue, 2=dark green, 3=dark cyan, 4=dark red, 5=dark magenta, 6=dark yellow, 7=light gray, 8=dark gray, 9=light blue, 10=light green, 11=light cyan, 12=light red, 13=light magenta, 14=light yellow, 15=white, 16=no border. Border color 6 may be a good choice for many applications, such as "Crossed eye" free viewing. Reverse: The Reverse parameter of the STEREO macro command lets you swap the right and left eye views when generating the stereoscopic image. The values to use are, 0=do not swap, and 1=reverse right and left eye views. When using LCS glasses the electronic controller should have a button on it that lets you reverse the right and left eye views without having to regenerate the stereoscopic image. SyncAdjust: The "SyncAdjust" only applies to sync double shutter glasses modes such as FormatCode 121, when using other FormatCodes set this parameter to 0. In order for the shutter glasses to be used in sync double stereo mode the image on the screen must consist of two eye images squeezed vertically and arranged in the above-below format. Between the two images there must be a black band that gives the electron beam in the monitor time to make it back to the top of the screen before the top of the lower image is displayed over the upper image. The width of this black strip will need to be wider or narrower depending on the video mode selected, the vertical refresh rate Hz, and the type of Monitor being used. This SyncAdjust value lets you make the black strip between the upper and lower images on the screen wider or narrower depending on the value that you enter. A value of around 46 may work with 640x480 mode but you will need to experiment to see what values work with your computer system and shutter glasses. To test the value make an image with a border and increase this value by one each time the screen redraws until the borders line up with the shutter glasses control in sync double stereo mode. If the borders go from one line too low to one line too high you might try a non-zero "SyncTweak" value. You will need to test each video mode that you want to use and write down the settings that work with that mode. The "SyncAdjust" values that work may range from about 20 to 60 depending on the video mode used. The "Sync Double" stereo mode may not be usable for video modes that your video board sends out as interlaced, in which case you would use FormatCode 160 and set the shutter glasses controller to "interlace" stereo mode, or perhaps "page flip" stereo mode if that works the same as "interlace" in your glasses controller driver circuit. Be sure that you adjust the "SyncAdjust" and "SyncTweak" to get the right and left images superimposed as best you can or the ghost masking might not have the mask and image aligned enough. SyncTweak: The "SyncTweak" parameter value should be set to 0 while adjusting the "SyncAdjust" value. "SyncTweak" only applies to sync double stereo mode when used with Liquid Crystal shutter glasses, e.g. FormatCode 121. When other format codes are used SyncTweak should usually be set to 0. "SyncTweak" can be set to small positive or negative integers to shift just the top image down or just the bottom image up. Usually "SyncTweak" would be set to 0 and "SyncAdjust" would be used alone to align the left and right view images. "SyncTweak" may not help at all in some cases, particularly in cases where the control circuit senses the start of the video information, and such. AspectComp: The AspectComp value is needed to resolve some issues relating to the aspect ratio of images displayed using the Sync Double stereo mode for shutter glasses, e.g. FormatCode 121, and anamorphic FormatCodes 120, 20, and 40. For other FormatCodes AspectComp should generally be set to 0. In FormatCode 121 the black stripe in the center of the above-below image used for Sync Double stereo mode takes part of the screen so that each of the two eye images are less than half the screen height. There are three ways to resolve this issue by setting AspectComp to: 0=crop image height to fit the available aperture, 1=compensate by squeezing the image height more to fit into the available aperture height, and 2=reduce both the image height and width to make the image height fit the aperture and have a little extra image on the sides giving a slightly wide screen image. AspectComp options 0 and 2 help avoid having to adjust the monitor's vertical size or height control each time you switch into or out of sync double stereo mode. AspectComp option 1 lets you have the normal 4:3 screen image, but may require adjusting the monitors vertical size or height control each time you switch into or out of the sync double stereo mode for your shutter glasses. In FormatCode 120 when AspectComp is 0 the two images are anamorphic squeezed vertically. By using other values of AspectComp with FormatCode 120 you can get "over-under" "wide-screen" images that are not vertically squeezed. The valid values to use are: AspectComp 0 = Y is 2:1 squeezed for anamorphic over-under format, AspectComp 1 = adjust Y image aspect for of the image half height and full width no squeeze, AspectComp 2 = adjust X image aspect for normal image height and twice width no squeeze, AspectComp 100 to 120 are grades between modes 0 and 1, plus extra, and may require the monitor raster size to be adjusted to cancel distortion, AspectComp 200 to 220 are grades between modes 0 and 2, plus extra, and may require monitor raster size to be adjusted to cancel distortion, AspectComp 100 to 120, and 200 to 220, might be used to adjust the centers distance of the images for better viewing with some fixed center viewers. In FormatCode 40 when AscpectComp is 0 the two images are anamorphic squeezed across their width. When AspectComp is a value other than 0 a tall image aperture side-by-side image is made. Values for AspectComp when FormatCode is 20 or 40 are: AspectComp 0 = X is 2:1 squeezed for anamorphic side-by-side format, AspectComp 1 = adjust X image aspect for normal image height and half width no squeeze, AspectComp 2 = adjust Y image aspect for normal width and twice height no squeeze, AspectComp 100 to 120 are grades between modes 0 and 1, plus extra, and may, require the monitor raster size to be adjusted to cancel distortion, AspectComp 200 to 220 are grades between modes 0 and 2, plus extra, and may, require monitor raster size to be adjusted to cancel distortion, AspectComp 100 to 120, and 200 to 220, might be used to adjust the centers, distance of the images for better viewing with some fixed center viewers. RightMask: Ghost masking is used to try to obscure ghost images seen through filter glasses when the filters are not perfect. Best results will probably always be obtained by using viewing aids that do not produce ghost images, but when ghost images are present combining the stereo images with masking images may make the ghost images somewhat less apparent. The combination image of the original image and the ghost mask does not look like the original image since the mask image has been combined with it, and so whether or not the masked image is more or less satisfactory is a subjective impression, and will depend on many factors only some of which may be controllable. Since the black level gets lifted during masking, reducing the monitor brightness to push the black level down may negate the masking and make the ghosts visible again, particularly in the shadows. If the filters leak quite a lot of light the amount that the black level needs to be lifted to match the ghosts from the brightest image points may be more than what might be satisfactory, so you may end up just adjusting things so that some ghosts from the highlights are left somewhat visible. To offset this issue you may select element colors that are less bright, e.g. do not use white and such, and adjust the lighting values and stereo gamma correction so that the foreground is not too much brighter than the other parts of the rendering. The values for RightMask and LeftMask should be set to 0 for FormatCodes that do not superimpose the right and left images in such a way that ghost images can be seen because of filter leakage, and such. The RightMask and LeftMask values set some fraction of the opposite eye view that is to be used to generate the masking image, typical values range from about 0.1 to 0.35 with larger values used for more apparent ghosts and smaller values used for faint ghosts. If the ghost image represents only a small portion of the total image brightness, superimposing around the ghost a de-ghosting image mask image might make the ghost somewhat less visible. In practice complete nulling of the ghost is probably impossible, because of non-linearity of the monitor and other factors, but some reduction may help with stereoscopic fusion under some circumstances such as viewing wire-frame images. For Ghost masking to work at all with high contrast images on a black background, such as wire-frame display modes, the black level needs to be lifted to dark tones or medium tones. Since the filters in the glasses are dark the appearance of the lifting of the black level is suppressed somewhat by the filters in the viewing glasses, and therefore the lifting of the black level may be less noticeable with the viewing glasses on. Ghost masking may tend to be more incomplete for Anaglyph images since the chrominance component might not be nulled for large bright areas in the stereo images. There are some things you might try to do to improve the effectiveness of the ghost masking when used with Anaglyph images, such as moving far back to view the Anaglyph images at a distance of more than four feet, adjusting the monitor's controls to reduce the contrast and increase or decrease the monitor brightness to the level that nulls the ghosts best, balancing the right and left masking values to correspond to the leakage differences of the right and left eye filters, improving the filters in the glasses by stacking filters to make the ghosts less bright so smaller values of ghost mask are required, adjusting the StereoGamma setting to flatten the image tones, and keeping the stereoscopic disparity small to help in reducing the size of the color fringes. Eyes tend lose the ability to differentiate color in details if they are very small and surrounded by another color. So when the ghost of a red wire-frame line is viewed through the green filter with a dim cyan mask image around the ghost, and the monitor contrast is reduced and brightness tweaked to balance the apparent brightness of the ghost and the mask, the ability to see the dim red ghost surrounded by the cyan mask tends to decrease the further you get back from the monitor. Greatly reducing the brightness of the image and viewing in a darkened room may reduce the perceived color from Anaglyph images since our eyes cannot see much color in very dim light. Viewing the images very dim may help reduce the color contrast between the masks and the images. The Ghost masking may be more utilitarian when used with shutter glasses. The LCM electro-optical filter elements in shutter glasses may have uneven peak density across their filter area, so no particular value for the Ghost masks may be somewhat effective for looking through all portions of the LCM shutter filter elements, that is when you look through different parts of the shutter filter the ghosts may change brightness. If you move farther from the monitor you may be better able to view the whole monitor screen through a small "sweet spot" in the LCM shutter filters, if there is one. Also the LCM shutter filter for the right eye may have a different peak density than the LCM shutter filter for the left eye, giving rise to incomplete nulling for one of the two eyes if the same value is used for both RightMask and LeftMask, hence the need for the ability to enter separate masking values for the two filters. Ghost masks may in some cases seem to reduce the subjective assertiveness of some ghosts, but the strength of the mask used may need to be adjusted for best effect with a particular image, stereo mode, and vertical refresh rate used. So masked images may not look the same when viewed on other computers or with other shutter glasses. Also the monitor brightness and contrast may need to be adjusted for each image. When using "Sync Double" stereo mode larger values for the RightMask and LeftMask seem to be needed, perhaps because the higher vertical refresh gives less time for the monitor's phosphors to decay, so values of 0.20 to 0.40 or more may be needed. When using "Interlace" stereo mode on the shutter glasses controller with the video board in interlace mode at higher resolutions values from 0.10 to 0.30 might seem satisfactory. When using "Line Blank" with the video board in non interlace mode values around 0.15 to 0.35 might seem close to a good fit. Larger values may need to be used for higher vertical refresh Hz rates. Because the ghost mask and image to mask are on different scan lines in field sequential images displayed for use with shutter glasses the ghost mask may not register or fit exactly over the image being masked. The misregistration might be caused by jitter in the monitor's sync circuits, jitter in the sync triggering of the shutter glasses controller, timing errors during "Sync Double", movement of the viewers eyes, interlacing, or similar issues. When the mask and image are not on top of each other at the same time small fringes around the ghost may be visible. Moving farther back from the monitor may make the ghost fringes and other misregistration artifacts less visible. When using "Sync Double" stereo mode be sure that you adjust the "SyncAdjust" and "SyncTweak" as best you can to try to get the right and left images superimposed or the ghost and mask may not have their images aligned well. LeftMask: Since the filters in the stereoscopic viewing glasses may not be balanced and may give ghost images of different brightness each eye has its own ghost mask setting value, RightMask for the right eye, and LeftMask for the left eye. Imbalance of the ghost images is probably more of an issue with Anaglyph glasses than with Liquid Crystal Shutter glasses, a.k.a. LCS glasses. The setting of the monitor "drive", "gain", and "screen" controls for the red, green, and blue electron guns may effect the "black level" and "white level" of the three colors, and make their brightness relationship on the screen "drift" or "cross over" when the brightness or contrast controls on the monitor are adjusted. To get the mask images to null optimally may require making adjustments to the brightness and contrast controls on the monitor, stacking filters on the glasses, and or in some cases perhaps having the monitor's internal controls adjusted by qualified service personal to rebalance the three colors. The three electron guns should generally be adjusted to keep the relative brightness and contrast of the red, green, and blue, images constant when the monitor contrast and brightness controls are adjusted over their entire range, and the brightness control should be able to bring the black level above black. If the monitor's colors do not track as needed, that may exacerbate the problem of finding a single setting of the monitor's contrast and brightness controls that may help null the ghosts in both eyes at the same time. StereoGamma: When the stereo images are viewed through dark filters, or the monitor brightness is reduced it may be hard to see details in the darker areas of the images, applying gamma correction to the stereo images might be used to lighten the shadow areas to make viewing better. Doing gamma correction to alter the image contrast may make the ghost masking more effective for some source images, or monitor types. When StereoGamma is 1.0 no change is made, when StereoGamma is greater than one the shadow areas are lightened, and when StereoGamma is less than one the shadow areas are darkened. A value of around 1.4 may be helpful. Zshift: The Zshift value might be used to make the displayed objects appear to be closer to the viewer or further from the viewer. When Zshift is zero the workspace center is about even with the plane of the screen. When Zshift is less than 0 the rotation point for EyeRot is effectively moved forward, so elements centered around the workspace center would appear to be farther back or inside the monitor. When Zshift is greater than 0 the rotation point for EyeRot is effectively moved backward, so elements centered around the workspace center would appear nearer to the viewer or in front of the monitor screen. Depending on your vision, being near or far sighted and such, it may be easier for you to fuse the stereoscopic images if they appear nearer or farther away. Zshift interacts with EyeRot and EyeOff so those values may need to be adjusted when you make changes to Zshift. Zshift is normalized relative to the display scale in order to have it have a relatively constant effect regardless of the perspective display scale, otherwise every time you changed the display scale to make the image a little larger or smaller you would need to change the Zshift value as well, you may still need to make small adjustments sometimes though. Exaggerating the perspective by setting the Perspective Z vanishing point distance, a.k.a. zvp, value to a small value relative to the depth of the elements being displayed may cause distortions in the stereoscopic disparity, particularly at larger values for the stereoscopic values, so you may need to increase the zvp to reduce such distortions. The EyeRot value should not be 0 when Zshift is not zero, generally. Typical values for Zshift might range from -50 to +100 or so. SXshift: This Stereo X shift works somewhat like the Zshift value, but through a mechanism more like the X shift perspective display value. The Zshift value moves the rotation point used with EyeRot, which converts into increased or decreased stereoscopic disparity for the foreground or background. This Stereo X shift slides the two stereo images in opposite directions, which has the effect of moving the point your eyes converge on when viewing the images move to or away from you. A value of 0 makes no change. Values larger than 0 slide the images so that the right eye view moves left and the left eye view moves right, making you more cross eyed than you are just looking at the screen plane, putting the image between the screen and your eyes. Values smaller than 0 slide the images so that the right eye view moves right and the left eye view moves left, making you less cross eyed than you are just looking at the screen plane, putting the image inside or behind the monitor's screen. These values are normalized for a display scale of 240, and so scale to the screen's with being about 8 units. You do not want to move the right eye image more than about 1 inch to the right on the screen, so negative values would be limited to about -0.8 or so, positive values would be limited to how far the images can spread before they fall off the sides of the screen, perhaps +1.0 to +2.0 or so. EyeRot: The EyeRot value is the apparent Y axis rotation deviation from the rotation entered with the DISPLAY command for each eye, the left eye view rotates the elements so that more of the left side is visible, and the right eye view rotates the elements so that more of the right side is visible. The EyeOff value simulates the parallax obtained by moving ones viewpoint to the left and right from the center of the image. Typical values for EyeRot would range from 0.2 to 0.4 degrees for rotation to the right and to the left, i.e. this is the half angle of the rotated element not the triangle formed by both eyes. The amount of stereo rotation used should be limited in order to keep the maximum disparity of the near and far points on the elements being displayed to about a quarter of an inch on the monitor screen. Smaller amounts of disparity should be used for Anaglyph images since the larger the disparity is the more difficult it might be to fuse the two images when ghosting is present. EyeOff: When EyeOff is used the element is offset to the left or right and then the X shift is used to re-center the element's image so that the center of the workspace stays near the screen plane. Keeping the workspace center near the screen plane might help reduce the stereoscopic disparity and thereby perhaps help to make the viewing of the 3D stereoscopic combined image less of a strain on the eyes, since when there is less stereoscopic disparity the eyes are focused and converged close to the screen plane. For convenience the EyeOff value is normalized for a display scale of 240, and the value entered stays about the same for any display scale entered, unlike the viewer distance value used with the DISPLAY command and the main menu Preview command. Normalizing the EyeOff value helps to eliminate the need for using a different value for each different display scale used to generate the perspective view. Typical values for EyeOff would be about 0.1 to 0.2 units depending on the depth of the elements being displayed. You might want to keep the maximum disparity of the near and far parts of the elements to no more than one quarter of an inch on the monitor screen. Smaller amounts of disparity might be used for Anaglyph images since the larger the disparity is the more difficult it is to fuse the two images when ghosting is present. You may want to reduce the EyeOff value when positive values for Zshift or SXshift are used, particularly larger values. An Example of how the STEREO macro command might be used for on screen display: VERSION v2.7H ; INFO27H3.MAC demo of "Sync Double" for Shutter Glasses. INIT ENTER -1.0E+00 -1.0E+00 1.00E+00 1.00000E+00 -1.0000E+00 1.00000E+00 1 1 160 0 0.00E+00 0.00E+00 1.00E+00 0.00000E+00 0.00000E+00 2.15479E+00 1 1 192 0 1.00E+00 -1.0E+00 1.00E+00 1.00000E+00 1.00000E+00 1.00000E+00 1 1 160 0 0.00E+00 0.00E+00 1.00E+00 0.00000E+00 0.00000E+00 2.15470E+00 1 1 192 0 1.00E+00 1.00E+00 1.00E+00 -1.0000E+00 1.00000E+00 1.00000E+00 1 1 160 0 0.00E+00 0.00E+00 1.00E+00 0.00000E+00 0.00000E+00 2.15470E+00 1 1 192 0 -1.0E+00 1.00E+00 1.00E+00 -1.0000E+00 -1.0000E+00 1.00000E+00 1 1 160 0 0.00E+00 0.00E+00 1.00E+00 0.00000E+00 0.00000E+00 2.15470E+00 1 1 192 0 1.00E+00 -1.0E+00 -1.0E+00 -1.0000E+00 -1.0000E+00 -1.0000E+00 1 1 160 0 0.00E+00 0.00E+00 -1.0E+00 0.00000E+00 0.00000E+00 -2.1547E+00 1 1 192 0 1.00E+00 1.00E+00 -1.0E+00 1.00000E+00 -1.0000E+00 -1.0000E+00 1 1 160 0 0.00E+00 0.00E+00 -1.0E+00 0.00000E+00 0.00000E+00 -2.1547E+00 1 1 192 0 -1.0E+00 1.00E+00 -1.0E+00 1.00000E+00 1.00000E+00 -1.0000E+00 1 1 160 0 0.00E+00 0.00E+00 -1.0E+00 0.00000E+00 0.00000E+00 -2.1547E+00 1 1 192 0 -1.0E+00 -1.0E+00 -1.0E+00 -1.0000E+00 1.00000E+00 -1.0000E+00 1 1 160 0 0.00E+00 0.00E+00 -1.0E+00 0.00000E+00 0.00000E+00 -2.1547E+00 1 1 192 0 1.00E+00 -1.0E+00 -1.0E+00 1.00000E+00 1.00000E+00 -1.0000E+00 1 1 160 0 1.00E+00 0.00E+00 0.00E+00 2.15470E+00 0.00000E+00 0.00000E+00 1 1 192 0 1.00E+00 1.00E+00 -1.0E+00 1.00000E+00 1.00000E+00 1.00000E+00 1 1 160 0 1.00E+00 0.00E+00 0.00E+00 2.15470E+00 0.00000E+00 0.00000E+00 1 1 192 0 1.00E+00 1.00E+00 1.00E+00 1.00000E+00 -1.0000E+00 1.00000E+00 1 1 160 0 1.00E+00 0.00E+00 0.00E+00 2.15470E+00 0.00000E+00 0.00000E+00 1 1 192 0 1.00E+00 -1.0E+00 1.00E+00 1.00000E+00 -1.0000E+00 -1.0000E+00 1 1 160 0 1.00E+00 0.00E+00 0.00E+00 2.15470E+00 0.00000E+00 0.00000E+00 1 1 192 0 -1.0E+00 1.00E+00 -1.0E+00 -1.0000E+00 -1.0000E+00 -1.0000E+00 1 1 160 0 -1.0E+00 0.00E+00 0.00E+00 -2.1547E+00 0.00000E+00 0.00000E+00 1 1 192 0 -1.0E+00 -1.0E+00 -1.0E+00 -1.0000E+00 -1.0000E+00 1.00000E+00 1 1 160 0 -1.0E+00 0.00E+00 0.00E+00 -2.1547E+00 0.00000E+00 0.00000E+00 1 1 192 0 -1.0E+00 -1.0E+00 1.00E+00 -1.0000E+00 1.00000E+00 1.00000E+00 1 1 160 0 -1.0E+00 0.00E+00 0.00E+00 -2.1547E+00 0.00000E+00 0.00000E+00 1 1 192 0 -1.0E+00 1.00E+00 1.00E+00 -1.0000E+00 1.00000E+00 -1.0000E+00 1 1 160 0 -1.0E+00 0.00E+00 0.00E+00 -2.1547E+00 0.00000E+00 0.00000E+00 1 1 192 0 -1.0E+00 -1.0E+00 -1.0E+00 1.00000E+00 -1.0000E+00 -1.0000E+00 1 1 160 0 0.00E+00 -1.0E+00 0.00E+00 0.00000E+00 -2.1547E+00 0.00000E+00 1 1 192 0 1.00E+00 -1.0E+00 -1.0E+00 1.00000E+00 -1.0000E+00 1.00000E+00 1 1 160 0 0.00E+00 -1.0E+00 0.00E+00 0.00000E+00 -2.1547E+00 0.00000E+00 1 1 192 0 1.00E+00 -1.0E+00 1.00E+00 -1.0000E+00 -1.0000E+00 1.00000E+00 1 1 160 0 0.00E+00 -1.0E+00 0.00E+00 0.00000E+00 -2.1547E+00 0.00000E+00 1 1 192 0 -1.0E+00 -1.0E+00 1.00E+00 -1.0000E+00 -1.0000E+00 -1.0000E+00 1 1 160 0 0.00E+00 -1.0E+00 0.00E+00 0.00000E+00 -2.1547E+00 0.00000E+00 1 1 192 0 1.00E+00 1.00E+00 -1.0E+00 -1.0000E+00 1.00000E+00 -1.0000E+00 1 1 160 0 0.00E+00 1.00E+00 0.00E+00 0.00000E+00 2.15470E+00 0.00000E+00 1 1 192 0 -1.0E+00 1.00E+00 -1.0E+00 -1.0000E+00 1.00000E+00 1.00000E+00 1 1 160 0 0.00E+00 1.00E+00 0.00E+00 0.00000E+00 2.15470E+00 0.00000E+00 1 1 192 0 -1.0E+00 1.00E+00 1.00E+00 1.00000E+00 1.00000E+00 1.00000E+00 1 1 160 0 0.00E+00 1.00E+00 0.00E+00 0.00000E+00 2.15470E+00 0.00000E+00 1 1 192 0 1.00E+00 1.00E+00 1.00E+00 1.00000E+00 1.00000E+00 -1.0000E+00 1 1 160 0 0.00E+00 1.00E+00 0.00E+00 0.00000E+00 2.15470E+00 0.00000E+00 1 1 192 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 { END ENTER } # 1 CENTER 0 0 0 # 1 MAGNIFY Z 0.50 0.25 0.25 # 1 OFFSET Z 2 -4.5 0 # 1 SAVE ASCII V27HTELE.ASC INIT LET |OFF = 0 LET |ROT = 0 :LABEL_A1 LOAD ASCII V27HTELE.ASC LET |N -> ELEMENTS # |N OFFSET C 0 |OFF 0 # |N ROTATE Z 0 |ROT 0 LET |OFF = [ |OFF + 0.25 ] LET |ROT = [ |ROT + 51.42857143 ] LOOP :LABEL_A1 44 LET LS1XDEG_.VAR = 0 { for DISPLAY } LET LS1YDEG_.VAR = -90 { for DISPLAY } LET LS1ZDEG_.VAR = -45 { for DISPLAY } LET LS0LAMB_.VAR = 1 { for DISPLAY } LET LS0REFL_.VAR = 1 { for DISPLAY } LET LS1BRIG_.VAR = 1 { for DISPLAY } LET LS1REFL_.VAR = 1 { for DISPLAY } LET B24OVER_.VAR = 4 { for VESA24 mode } LET B24UNDER.VAR = 1 { for VESA24 mode } LET B24XPIX_.VAR = 800 { for VESA24 mode } LET B24YPIX_.VAR = 600 { for VESA24 mode } LET B24DITHE.VAR = 4 { for VESA24 mode } LET$ B24BACK_.VAR = "" { for VESA24 mode } LET$ B24NAME_.VAR = "" { for VESA24 mode } PALETTE 1 0 4 { Set background color } GRAPH_MODE SEEK 0 800 600 24 STEREO 0 121 6 0 25 0 2 0.20 0.20 1.0 0 0 0.4 0.2 { 121="Sync Double" } # 0 DISPLAY -75 0 0 10 240 64 0 0 SAVE PIXEL INFO27H3.PIX WAIT STOP ; EOF The STEREO command must come before the DISPLAY command each time you want to generate a stereoscopic image. In the initial release of v2.7H only the VESA 15, 16, 24, and 32 bpp video modes can be used to display stereoscopic images on the computer's screen. If your video board does not display these VESA modes you can only output the stereoscopic image to a BMP file by using the BMP graphics video mode. An Example of how the STEREO macro command might be used to make BMP file: VERSION v2.7H ; INFO27H4.MAC demo of "Interlace" and BMP modes for Shutter glasses. INIT ENTER -1.0E+00 -1.0E+00 1.00E+00 1.00000E+00 -1.0000E+00 1.00000E+00 1 1 160 0 0.00E+00 0.00E+00 1.00E+00 0.00000E+00 0.00000E+00 2.15479E+00 1 1 192 0 1.00E+00 -1.0E+00 1.00E+00 1.00000E+00 1.00000E+00 1.00000E+00 1 1 160 0 0.00E+00 0.00E+00 1.00E+00 0.00000E+00 0.00000E+00 2.15470E+00 1 1 192 0 1.00E+00 1.00E+00 1.00E+00 -1.0000E+00 1.00000E+00 1.00000E+00 1 1 160 0 0.00E+00 0.00E+00 1.00E+00 0.00000E+00 0.00000E+00 2.15470E+00 1 1 192 0 -1.0E+00 1.00E+00 1.00E+00 -1.0000E+00 -1.0000E+00 1.00000E+00 1 1 160 0 0.00E+00 0.00E+00 1.00E+00 0.00000E+00 0.00000E+00 2.15470E+00 1 1 192 0 1.00E+00 -1.0E+00 -1.0E+00 -1.0000E+00 -1.0000E+00 -1.0000E+00 1 1 160 0 0.00E+00 0.00E+00 -1.0E+00 0.00000E+00 0.00000E+00 -2.1547E+00 1 1 192 0 1.00E+00 1.00E+00 -1.0E+00 1.00000E+00 -1.0000E+00 -1.0000E+00 1 1 160 0 0.00E+00 0.00E+00 -1.0E+00 0.00000E+00 0.00000E+00 -2.1547E+00 1 1 192 0 -1.0E+00 1.00E+00 -1.0E+00 1.00000E+00 1.00000E+00 -1.0000E+00 1 1 160 0 0.00E+00 0.00E+00 -1.0E+00 0.00000E+00 0.00000E+00 -2.1547E+00 1 1 192 0 -1.0E+00 -1.0E+00 -1.0E+00 -1.0000E+00 1.00000E+00 -1.0000E+00 1 1 160 0 0.00E+00 0.00E+00 -1.0E+00 0.00000E+00 0.00000E+00 -2.1547E+00 1 1 192 0 1.00E+00 -1.0E+00 -1.0E+00 1.00000E+00 1.00000E+00 -1.0000E+00 1 1 160 0 1.00E+00 0.00E+00 0.00E+00 2.15470E+00 0.00000E+00 0.00000E+00 1 1 192 0 1.00E+00 1.00E+00 -1.0E+00 1.00000E+00 1.00000E+00 1.00000E+00 1 1 160 0 1.00E+00 0.00E+00 0.00E+00 2.15470E+00 0.00000E+00 0.00000E+00 1 1 192 0 1.00E+00 1.00E+00 1.00E+00 1.00000E+00 -1.0000E+00 1.00000E+00 1 1 160 0 1.00E+00 0.00E+00 0.00E+00 2.15470E+00 0.00000E+00 0.00000E+00 1 1 192 0 1.00E+00 -1.0E+00 1.00E+00 1.00000E+00 -1.0000E+00 -1.0000E+00 1 1 160 0 1.00E+00 0.00E+00 0.00E+00 2.15470E+00 0.00000E+00 0.00000E+00 1 1 192 0 -1.0E+00 1.00E+00 -1.0E+00 -1.0000E+00 -1.0000E+00 -1.0000E+00 1 1 160 0 -1.0E+00 0.00E+00 0.00E+00 -2.1547E+00 0.00000E+00 0.00000E+00 1 1 192 0 -1.0E+00 -1.0E+00 -1.0E+00 -1.0000E+00 -1.0000E+00 1.00000E+00 1 1 160 0 -1.0E+00 0.00E+00 0.00E+00 -2.1547E+00 0.00000E+00 0.00000E+00 1 1 192 0 -1.0E+00 -1.0E+00 1.00E+00 -1.0000E+00 1.00000E+00 1.00000E+00 1 1 160 0 -1.0E+00 0.00E+00 0.00E+00 -2.1547E+00 0.00000E+00 0.00000E+00 1 1 192 0 -1.0E+00 1.00E+00 1.00E+00 -1.0000E+00 1.00000E+00 -1.0000E+00 1 1 160 0 -1.0E+00 0.00E+00 0.00E+00 -2.1547E+00 0.00000E+00 0.00000E+00 1 1 192 0 -1.0E+00 -1.0E+00 -1.0E+00 1.00000E+00 -1.0000E+00 -1.0000E+00 1 1 160 0 0.00E+00 -1.0E+00 0.00E+00 0.00000E+00 -2.1547E+00 0.00000E+00 1 1 192 0 1.00E+00 -1.0E+00 -1.0E+00 1.00000E+00 -1.0000E+00 1.00000E+00 1 1 160 0 0.00E+00 -1.0E+00 0.00E+00 0.00000E+00 -2.1547E+00 0.00000E+00 1 1 192 0 1.00E+00 -1.0E+00 1.00E+00 -1.0000E+00 -1.0000E+00 1.00000E+00 1 1 160 0 0.00E+00 -1.0E+00 0.00E+00 0.00000E+00 -2.1547E+00 0.00000E+00 1 1 192 0 -1.0E+00 -1.0E+00 1.00E+00 -1.0000E+00 -1.0000E+00 -1.0000E+00 1 1 160 0 0.00E+00 -1.0E+00 0.00E+00 0.00000E+00 -2.1547E+00 0.00000E+00 1 1 192 0 1.00E+00 1.00E+00 -1.0E+00 -1.0000E+00 1.00000E+00 -1.0000E+00 1 1 160 0 0.00E+00 1.00E+00 0.00E+00 0.00000E+00 2.15470E+00 0.00000E+00 1 1 192 0 -1.0E+00 1.00E+00 -1.0E+00 -1.0000E+00 1.00000E+00 1.00000E+00 1 1 160 0 0.00E+00 1.00E+00 0.00E+00 0.00000E+00 2.15470E+00 0.00000E+00 1 1 192 0 -1.0E+00 1.00E+00 1.00E+00 1.00000E+00 1.00000E+00 1.00000E+00 1 1 160 0 0.00E+00 1.00E+00 0.00E+00 0.00000E+00 2.15470E+00 0.00000E+00 1 1 192 0 1.00E+00 1.00E+00 1.00E+00 1.00000E+00 1.00000E+00 -1.0000E+00 1 1 160 0 0.00E+00 1.00E+00 0.00E+00 0.00000E+00 2.15470E+00 0.00000E+00 1 1 192 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 { END ENTER } # 1 CENTER 0 0 0 # 1 MAGNIFY Z 0.50 0.25 0.25 # 1 OFFSET Z 2 -4.5 0 # 1 SAVE ASCII V27HTELE.ASC INIT LET |OFF = 0 LET |ROT = 0 :LABEL_A1 LOAD ASCII V27HTELE.ASC LET |N -> ELEMENTS # |N OFFSET C 0 |OFF 0 # |N ROTATE Z 0 |ROT 0 LET |OFF = [ |OFF + 0.25 ] LET |ROT = [ |ROT + 51.42857143 ] LOOP :LABEL_A1 44 LET LS1XDEG_.VAR = 0 { for DISPLAY } LET LS1YDEG_.VAR = -90 { for DISPLAY } LET LS1ZDEG_.VAR = -45 { for DISPLAY } LET LS0LAMB_.VAR = 1 { for DISPLAY } LET LS0REFL_.VAR = 1 { for DISPLAY } LET LS1BRIG_.VAR = 1 { for DISPLAY } LET LS1REFL_.VAR = 1 { for DISPLAY } LET B24OVER_.VAR = 4 { for BMP mode, sub-pixel oversample } LET B24UNDER.VAR = 1 { for BMP mode } LET B24XPIX_.VAR = 1280 { for BMP mode, image width in pixels } LET B24YPIX_.VAR = 1024 { for BMP mode, image height in pixels } LET B24DITHE.VAR = 4 { for BMP mode, 24 bpp dithering } LET$ B24BACK_.VAR = "" { for BMP mode, no background file used here } LET$ B24NAME_.VAR = "INFO27H4.BMP" { for BMP mode, name of file to make } PALETTE 1 0 4 { Set background color } GRAPH_MODE BMP { to make a BMP file rather than displaying on the screen } STEREO 0 160 16 0 0 0 0 0.18 0.18 1.0 0 0 0.4 0.2 # 0 DISPLAY -75 0 0 10 240 64 0 0 STOP ; EOF After the STEREO command is used with the DISPLAY command the DISPLAY command reverts to monoscopic display mode, i.e. FormatCode 0. So each time you want to make a stereoscopic image you need to put the STEREO macro command before the DISPLAY command. In the initial release of v2.7H when a stereoscopic image is generated for display on the screen three BMP files are generated and left on the disk in case you want to use them, in that way you can avoid having to regenerate the images for some applications, which could save several days of computing for complex images. Another reason for saving the temporary image files is that when you are displaying on screen with the 15 bpp or 16 bpp VESA SVGA video modes and save the screen image as a BMP file the BMP file will not look as good as it would have if you saved it as a BMP file with 24 bpp color resolution. To get around this short coming of using the 15 and 16 bpp VESA modes, the image is generated as a 24 bpp BMP file then dithered further when loaded into the screen as a 15 or 16 bpp image. If you like what you see on the screen you can rename the temporary file named DANS0000.BMP in the program's directory and have a 24 bpp version of what is displayed on screen in 15 or 16 bpp VESA mode. If you save the on screen image as a BMP file you would get a 24 bpp BMP file converted from the on screen 15 or 16 bpp image which would not look as good. If you want the original separate images for the right and left eye views to make right and left eye slides or for special processing with the UTILITY BMP_TO_BMP commands you can rename the files named DANR0000.BMP and DANL0000.BMP to keep the right and left eye images that were used to be combined into the last DANS0000.BMP image. If you are using the BMP graphics mode to make a BMP file the combined stereoscopic image will not go to DANS0000.BMP, it will go to the output filename specified in the on disk variable B24NAME_.VAR and file DANS0000.BMP will contain some older stereoscopic image. If you want to save the temporary BMP files for future use be sure that you do so before calling the STEREO and DISPLAY commands again, since the previous images will be overwritten and lost. When using the 15 and 16 bpp VESA video modes for making stereoscopic images the dithering values get altered internally in order to save the temporary BMP files with the correct dithering for being 24 bpp, so the dithering value you enter is not used in the normal way. The dithering value entered is used for VESA 24 and 32 bpp video modes and for the BMP video mode, but you would always enter a dithering value of 4 normally for those video modes. FormatCodes 1 and 2 were added after the initial release of v2.7H so that the eye views could be displayed separately such that the ghost mask could also be included. See the notes about these changes in Section: 3.3.7.8. When you want to include a stereoscopic background image you need to do some special things with the background image file. If the last letter of the background image filename coded is an letter S, and a stereoscopic FormatCode other than 0 is also entered, the program then replaces the S with R in the background filename when making the Right eye view image, and replaces the S with a L when making the Left eye view image. If you want the same BMP file loaded as the background image in both the Right and Left eye images then the last letter should not be a letter S, and should be a letter M, although any other letter than S may work in present revisions, in the future M may be required. The letter S just before the period in the BMP background filename keys stereoscopic background mode, the letter M just before the period in the filename keys monoscopic background mode. The filename coded with the last letter being S does not exist on the disk, and will not appear in the file directory, you would need to look for the filename ending with R or L since those are the names you would save the stereoscopic background images under. Thusly: Code C:\MYDIR\MYBACK1S.BMP then C:\MYDIR\MYBACK1R.BMP is loaded for the Right eye view background, and C:\MYDIR\MYBACK1L.BMP is loaded for the Left eye view background. Code C:\MYDIR\MYBACK1M.BMP then C:\MYDIR\MYBACK1M.BMP is loaded for the Right eye view background, and C:\MYDIR\MYBACK1M.BMP is loaded for the Left eye view background. This way of keying the background image name lets the program use just the usual one filename string variable, i.e. B24BACK_.VAR, with both stereo and non-stereo display modes, and lets you pick the use of a stereoscopic or monoscopic background image. To make the two stereoscopic background images with DANCAD3D.COM (tm) you can use the STEREO and DISPLAY macro commands to display the background elements with the same settings and FormatCode that the rest of the elements will be displayed with. After a combined stereoscopic image is made you just copy the temporary eye image files the program leaves on the disk, so that they can be used as the background files later. { Example way to copy background image files } FILES COPY DANR0000.BMP C:\MYDIR\MYBACK1R.BMP FILES COPY DANL0000.BMP C:\MYDIR\MYBACK1L.BMP When making stereo backgrounds be careful about the direction and amount of disparity since the background must appear behind the elements to have the elements display over the background, and the direction and amount of disparity must be small enough to allow the viewer to fuse the images easily. And be sure the display values are the same when the background is used to make a rendering so that the foreground and background will look like they go together. --- VIEWING THE STEREOSCOPIC DISPLAY FORMAT MODES Although some of the stereoscopic formats supported can be viewed without special equipment, for instance the "crossed eyes" format can be viewed by some people just by crossing their eyes, you might want to understand some of the limitations of various stereoscopic viewing hardware and stereoscopic viewing methods before you get involved with them and possibly become disappointed by the results. In order to view the stereoscopic images generated by DANCAD3D.COM (tm) from inside DANCAD3D.COM (tm) you will need, under the initial release of v2.7H, a video board that supports compatible VESA SVGA 15, 16, 24, or 32 bpp video modes and is compatible with my DOS programs. The 32 bpp video modes only display 24 bpp, the additional 8 bpp is ancillary. The video refresh rates, color depth, chip set, and resolutions that your video board supports, as well as the capabilities and size of your monitor might limit which stereoscopic display aids you can use, and therefore which stereo formats you can try to successfully view. Some additional detailed discussion is included in the discussion of the stereo format codes, a.k.a. FormatCode, in the description of the STEREO macro command, so be sure to read that information as well. Below is on overview of the use of liquid crystal shutter glasses, a.k.a. LCS glasses, Anaglyph colored glasses, and some other types of stereoscopic viewing aids. --- VIEWING STEREO IMAGES WITH LIQUID CRYSTAL SHUTTER GLASSES Shutter glasses are electronic filter glasses that have special electro-optical filters for each eye that can be rapidly electronically controlled, such that when the right eye filter is opaque black the left eye filter is transparent gray, and then when the left eye filter is opaque black the right eye filter is transparent gray. The power signal for the electro-optical shutter filters might be derived from a flip-flop circuit triggered by a signal derived from the vertical sync signal that comes out of your video board's video monitor connector. With the electro-optical filters operated in such a way, the monitor can show a different image to each eye by blinking the right eye and left eye views rapidly and alternately in sync with the monitor's vertical refresh period. There are various stereo image formatting modes the shutter glasses controller might operate using that work in this general way but differ in how the stereo controller circuit operates in particular so as to have it go along with the particular video signal stereo image formatting selected in the displaying software. When the shutter glasses controller is operating under full manual control the viewer needs to press one button on the controller to select the stereo mode that corresponds with the image displayed and video mode currently operating, and then press the eye reverse button on the controller to have the right and left eye images be visible by the correct eyes. When purchasing, or building, a controller for using liquid crystal shutter glasses, a.k.a. LCD shutter glasses or LCS glasses, to be used with my programs you probably would want to make sure that the controller offers "full manual control", that means that the controller will work without special software drivers installed and that the controller has buttons on it to select the stereo format modes and the left or right eye reverse. You may also want a shutter glasses controller that can work with any video board to the degree required, not just one chip set. The shutter glasses controller may require a special chip set for playing video games, but if it is has fully manual control it might work without any of its game or OS drivers and therefore might work as required with other VESA SVGA video boards while using some DOS type programs, that is, it might in some cases work with the video board you now have when using my programs. A special video board may be required to play video games, and such, or to use other third party graphics programs with the shutter glasses. I cannot tell you what hardware is compatible or will work with your computer system, you will have to do what testing and research you can before making your own purchase decision. Even if the controller has "full manual control" and is compatible with DOS and Linux (tm) programs, it may not support all four stereo image format modes. You should try to get a controller that supports "Interlace", "Line Blank", and "Sync Double" in order to have freedom to use all of the supported stereo modes. "Sync Double" stereoscopic display mode might be referred to as "Over Under" stereo mode in some literature, although "Sync Double" is a special format with an adjustable black band in the middle between the two images. A controller that supports 4-in-1 modes, with "full manual control", one would hope would support "Interlace", "Page Flip", Line Blank", and "Sync Double". Some controllers may work in "Interlace" mode while set to "Page Flip" stereo mode, so a 3-in-1 controller may be satisfactory in some cases if it supports "Page Flip", "Line Blank", and "Sync Double" stereo modes. You will probably have occasion to use all three supported stereo modes, i.e. "Interlace", "Line Blank", and "Sync Double", since your video board may output interlaced video at higher resolutions, and non-interlaced video at lower resolutions. Also the default vertical refresh of the various video modes your video board supports may produce too much flicker on some modes to use the "Line Blank" mode effectively, so you would want to use "Sync Double" but your monitor might not work at the "Sync Doubled" frequency, so some compromises might be needed, particularly if you don't want to get a better monitor and video board. Here is a brief explanation of the stereo modes shutter glasses use. Interlace: When the video board is operating in interlace video mode you might trigger a flip-flop from the vertical sync pin on the video card's monitor connector and use the two complementary outputs of the flip-flop to drive the drivers for the two electronic Liquid Crystal Modulators, a.k.a. LCM filters, in the shutter glasses. Since electronically the stereo shutter glasses controller operates about the same sometimes in "Interlace" and "Page Flip" stereo modes you may be able to view interlaced images using both the controller's "Interlace" and "Page Flip" stereo modes when the video board is in interlace mode. If the controller does not say it supports "Interlace" stereo mode at all video resolutions and refresh rates, it might have some sync problems at some video resolutions or refresh rates when using interlaced video signals. My FormatCode 160 makes images that have alternating scan lines going to the right and left video interlaced fields for "Interlace" shutter glasses stereo mode. The controller should have a left eye right eye reverse button, since when interlaced images are viewed in a third party graphics program and the screen image is scrolled up or down the first line in the image may be on the even or odd video field, and you need to reset the stereo shutter glasses controller so that the right eye image ends up in the right eye and the left eye image ends up in the left eye. You might try to tell the correct setting of the eye reverse button by closing your left eye, then press the reverse button until you get the view that shows more of the right side of the object in the stereoscopic image to your right eye when the object is in front of the stereo rotation point. Page flip: In the initial release of v2.7H "Page Flip" stereo mode is not directly supported since it might be somewhat hardware dependent and may require some particular operations in the video board's memory to sync the stereo images with the shutter glasses filters. However if your shutter glasses controller does not have an "Interlace" stereo mode, you may be able to view interlaced video by setting the shutter glasses controller to "Page Flip" stereo mode, since those two stereo modes may operate similarly in a fully manual controller circuit. If you are viewing stereo images made in my programs with a Windows (tm) program, and that program supports "Page Flip", then you might be able to view from there using "Page Flip", perhaps from a side by side image in "Crossed eyes" stereo format converted to a JPS file by some other graphics program, or something like that. Using "Page Flip" stereo mode may require that the shutter glasses and controller be used with a specific video board type, special drivers, and a particular operating system, so if you are using a video board other than one suitable for playing games with the shutter glasses drivers you might not be able to view in "Page Flip" by using some other third party graphics programs. If you want to make "Crossed eyes" images for conversion to JPS files use the BMP video mode, with the DISPLAY or Preview commands, rather than the VESA video modes, since the VESA modes shrink the two images to half size so that the can fit side by side on the video screen. Line blank: Video boards might operate in non-interlaced video mode at lower resolutions, and so the non-interlaced resolutions might not be viewable with a shutter glasses controller circuit that only supports "Interlaced" stereo mode. What might be worse is that newer video boards may output all video modes in non- interlaced mode so none of its resolutions will work in "Interlaced" stereo mode. To correct for the problem of viewing non-interlaced video modes, the controller may add a second flip-flop wired to the horizontal sync signal, and some other circuitry, so that every other scan line going from the video board to the monitor is made to "blank" or to look black, hence the term "line blank". This makes the non-interlaced video resolutions work as if they were interlaced, and the shutter glasses can separate the right eye view from the left eye view. Line blanking circuits may have some proprietary issues, and controllers that support "Line Blank" may not be available or permitted everywhere. When permissible you would probably want to look into getting a shutter glasses controller that supports "Line Blank" if you want the maximum flexibility with using your video board for viewing interlaced stereoscopic images when your video board is displaying in non-interlaced video mode. Sync double: An alternative way to get around the problem of video boards outputting non- interlaced video signals is to "Sync Double" the vertical sync signal by taking the vertical sync signal from the video board and sending the monitor two approximately equally spaced sync signals for every one vertical sync signal that the video board outputs. This "Sync Double" stereo mode also helps to reduce the shuttered image flicker by doubling the refresh frequency of the monitor. "Sync double" stereoscopic display mode might be referred to as "Over Under" stereo mode in some literature, although "Sync Double" is a special format with an adjustable black band in the middle between the two images. Since the monitor will now show the top half of the video image superimposed behind the lower half of the video image, the stereoscopic image needs to be formatted in a special variant of the over-under vertically squeezed format. Since it takes some time for the monitor's electron beam to fly back from the bottom of the screen when the second vertical signal is picked up, i.e. the sync double sync signal, there needs to be a black band in the middle of the stereo image with the top of the second image area starting below the middle of the full raster. So the image for "Sync Double" stereo mode will have images that are vertically squeezed to less than half the usual image size and there will be a black band across the center of the screen separating the upper and lower squeezed images. The height of the black band probably needs to be adjusted to correspond to the particular timing of your monitor, and so images made for "Sync Double" display may not be transportable from one computer to another. Increasing the vertical frequency may have the disadvantage that your monitor may not work at the higher frequency, and the faster sweep rates may make phosphor ghosting worse since the decay time may be shorter. The shutter glasses filters will also be switching faster, and may show more ghosting or filter leakage since they will have less time to complete switching. Another problem you may encounter is that at higher resolutions if your video board is interlacing, "Sync Double" may cause video lines to double up on top of each other cutting the vertical resolution to one forth rather than the usual one half or so, possibly making the image quality undesirable for some applications. Probably, you might only be able to use "Sync Double" for video resolutions that your video board outputs as non-interlaced video signals, but you will have to check and see how your shutter glasses controller reacts to interlaced signals while in "Sync Double" stereo mode. Some video boards might send two video lines rather than one for each video line when 320x200 mode is used, this might act to prevent the "Interlace" and "Line Blank" from working, but "Sync Double" might work since it just splits the image in half and not line by line. So having a stereo shutter glasses controller that supports all the supported shutter glasses stereo modes, i.e. "Interlace", "Line Blank", and "Sync Double", may be required to be able to use many of the resolutions your video board can output in order to stay within the frequency limitations of your monitor and such. Images formatted for "Sync Double", i.e. FormatCode 121 in my programs, need to be displayed full screen, and so may not be as good for viewing on the internet as the interlaced images are, i.e. FormatCode 160 in my programs. When it works, though, "Sync Double" stereo mode may show little or no flicker, and so the overall 3D effect may be pleasing. Stereoscopic shutter glasses are not a new idea, before electro-optical shutter filters became available mechanical shutters of various kinds were experimented with. Shutter glasses and their control electronics have undergone development over the years, and are available as a computer accessory available for general use in the home. My first experience with shutter glasses was seeing a demonstration many years ago using glasses made, I think I recall, with a ceramic like optical material in thin wafers called "Lead Lanthanum Zirconate Titanate", a.k.a. PLZT or P.L.Z.T. Current home use shutter glasses replace the PLZT electro-optical shutter filters with Liquid Crystal Modulators or LCM shutter filters. Todays shutter glasses have fairly thin low voltage wires or no wires at all, i.e. wireless infrared, and the shutter glasses controller circuits can sometimes work in several stereo modes and with computer monitors that have refresh rates high enough to reduce flicker, especially in the "Sync Double" stereo mode. Although shutter glasses have improved and come down in price their future development may be hampered by their linkage to use with CRT monitors. If CRT monitors get phased out in the coming years, then would shutter glasses that are to be used with them also get phased out? If you are planning to use shutter glasses for viewing stereoscopic images made with my programs, you might not want to wait, since compatible shutter glasses might not be available when you want them. Who knows what the future will bring, I am just mentioning these issues so that you can investigate for yourself and do what you think is best for your selection of viewing aids. Some of the companies that have sold LCS glasses, a.k.a. LCD shutter glasses, and controller kits might have discontinued some of their products, and such. Because this may be the case, you may be able to find shutter glasses and controller kits available for a discount. You may also be able to find used shutter glass kits available at auction or other internet sites, at "flea markets", at garage sales, and such. Because all shutter glasses' controllers may not support 4-in-1 "full manual control", some brands or models of shutter glasses may not work well with my programs, other than perhaps to view the "Interlaced" images, made with FormatCode 160, from inside a Windows (tm) or Linux (tm) graphics program, such as MSPAINT.EXE (tm) or GIMP (tm). It may be possible to view "Sync Double" FormatCode 121 images from inside some other third party graphics program if it has a full screen display mode, this might be done in such a program that has a feature called "show screen" that displays the image full screen if the image is the same size as the graphics mode that the OS is using for the desktop, i.e. if the OS is running at 1280x1024 then a "Sync Double" image of 1280x1024 would fill the "show screen". In order to get full advantage of viewing 3D stereoscopic animation with my program's ANIMATE command while using shutter glasses, and the convenience of viewing stereoscopic images in the main menu Preview and Run commands with shutter glasses, you will probably want to get a shutter glasses kit that supports the various desired stereo modes, and probably one that has "full manual control". Stereo artifacts may arise when images are animated and viewed with shutter glasses, particularly perhaps in "Sync Double" and when the animation frame rate is relative to the shutter frequency. There may be some shutter glasses controllers that would work without fully manual control, i.e. no buttons on the controller, but I do not know how you would operate such a system under DOS if the controller does not have buttons, perhaps through a TSR and special keys on the keyboard? Inquire about such matters in the shutter glasses manufacture's documentation and support. You might want to understand the capabilities of what you are purchasing to avoid not getting all of the capabilities you desire. Here is a list of some names of some shutter glasses kits that you might what to investigate thoroughly the capabilities of. I do not endorse these shutter glasses products or the companies that make or sell them, this is just some information you can follow up on yourself, see below. Another EYE 2000 (tm) by AnotherWorld (tm) at www.anotherworld.to Eye3D Premium (tm) by i-Art (tm) at www.iart3d.com I do not endorse these shutter glasses products or the companies that make and sell them. I have not completed extensive testing on any of the listed shutter glasses. At the time I am writing this I have not even done any testing at all in some cases. So these shutter glasses might not operate satisfactorily in all regards on your computer system, or with any or all of my or some other programs that you wish to use. I am just mentioning them so that you can do your own investigations to see if there are any products "out there" that might be useful to you. When you read the manufactures product descriptions look for the feature of "full manual control" and look for information about other compatibility restrictions or issues. Other model shutter glasses products may be different or lack desirable features, so be sure to check that the shutter glasses kit you look for has the desirable "full manual control" without software drivers, e.g. works under DOS and Linux (tm), and will have manual buttons for selection of at least "Interlace", "Line Blank", and "Sync Double" stereo modes along with a manual eye reverse button. Due to your video board possibly interlacing in some resolutions and non- interlacing in other resolutions, your video board and monitor's capabilities may limit which, if any, stereo modes you can use at various resolutions, no matter what shutter glasses kit you purchase. Some shutter glasses kits may not fully work with some brands of CRT monitors, so check to see if your monitor is compatible. Shutter glasses do not generally work with current LCD monitors, so if you are using a LCD monitor you might want to look into using an add on lenticular screen or other viewing aid rather than shutter glasses. --- VIEWING STEREO IMAGES WITH ANAGLYPH COLORED GLASSES Anaglyph glasses work by having two filters of different colors that route different images of the same subject to your two eyes. Anaglyph images might be easy to share since the sync issues present in some shutter glasses images are not relevant, and the colored glasses in cardboard mounts are not too expensive to purchase. There are however some issues with Anaglyph viewing that may make the viewing results less than satisfactory for some people under some circumstances. One of the problems with Anaglyph viewing is that each eye sees a different color, normally both eyes see about the same color at a given point on the subject, this makes for some "twinkling" effect where your mind is trying to decide which color the image point is since the signals from the two eyes are different, the impression is a little like looking at a glossy object that has reflections on it. This effect might perhaps contribute to some degree to eye strain after prolonged viewing for some people sensitive to this effect. Another issue with Anaglyph glasses is that the filters may leak light of the color for the other eyes view, making ghosting noticeable in some cases. If ghosting is very bad and the stereoscopic disparity of the image is large, you might not be able to easily fuse the right and left eye views, and not see the stereoscopic effect well, or perhaps have problems enjoying looking at the image. Since the images are in different colors ghost masking might not be as effective in some cases as when used with images that are viewed with polarized or shutter glasses. Reducing the brightness of the images might render their color differences somewhat desaturated and perhaps thereby help ghost masking somewhat, but that requires viewing in a very or totally dark room and having the images very dim. Reducing the stereoscopic disparity to a very small amount and viewing the Anaglyph images from a great distance may somewhat help reduce the apparent color fringes of the parts of the images with the greatest disparity since the eyes may not see color differences in some very small details, just differences in brightness, that however might mean that one would need to be too far back to view well. The mixing or overlap of the colors from the phosphors or filters in your monitor or the dyes used in the print out may be another source of ghosting in viewing Anaglyph images, in addition to mixing of the colors because of the filters in the glasses being impure. Ghosting happens when your right eye sees a dim image of the left eye view superimposed with the right eye view, and the reverse for the left eye. To keep the right and left eye views separate you need color filters that transmit very little or none of the color used for the other eye. The standard Anaglyph colors used are generally red for the left eye and cyan for the right eye, the result when viewing is an approximation of a grayish image, except for the "twinkling" due to the two eyes seeing different colors at the same time. If your monitor's "purity" is not good, due to poor degaussing, poor alignment of any purity magnets, or design and construction issues including cross contamination of the phosphors while the CRT was being made, phosphors type, or a shadow mask with holes that are too big, some ghosting might be visible no mater how good the filters are in the Anaglyph glasses. To test how good your Anaglyph glasses are at rejecting ghosts, display a bright element as a stereoscopic wire-frame outline of the triangle elements with a large amount of stereoscopic disparity by using perspective display mode 10 and in this Red-Cyan case use stereo format code 205, with the ghost mask set to 0 and the background set to black. Cover your right eye and look through the red filter with your left eye, you should not see any green or blue fringes or colored double images around the red wire-frame lines. Cover your left eye and look through the cyan filter with your right eye, you should not see any red fringes or colored double images around the cyan wire-frame lines. The ghosting may be worse in one eye or the other. Try looking through more than one kind of Anaglyph glasses at the same time, for example stack red-cyan glasses with yellow-blue glasses, the combination would then transmit red-blue. Or you might try combining red-cyan glasses with red-green glasses to get a stronger red-green separation. Stacking red-cyan, red-green, and red-blue glasses may help equalize the light transmission to the two eyes, depending on how strong the blue and green filters are. Some red filters transmit a little blue because they are really reddish magenta filters, so adding a yellow filter over a reddish magenta filter would cut off the blue light and might make it a better red filter. Some red filters also transmit some green light, combining a strong magenta filter with the red and yellow filters can cut the green transmission somewhat. Some blue filters transmit some red light because they are really a bluish magenta filter, putting a blue-green or cyan filter over a bluish magenta filter can cut some of the red transmission and might make it a better blue filter. Some blue filters also transmit some green, so combining the blue and blue-green filters with a strong magenta filter can cut the green transmission somewhat. Just stacking three or more pairs of Anaglyph glasses of similar type might help increase the relative peak transmission for the desired color, and decrease the unwanted transmission, particularly if the individual filters were of good purity to start with. Making print out of Anaglyph drawings begs for dyes or inks be of high color saturation, using perhaps just two color printing with ideal inks for the right and left eye views, the red filter eye looking at a green or cyan ink image, and the cyan or green filter eye looking at a red or magenta ink image. To test the inks look at just an red ink image with the red filter, you should see almost nothing, then look at the green ink image with the green filter, you should again see almost no image against the white paper, then exchange the images so that you look at the green image with the red filter and the red image with the green filter and they should seem very dark and contrasty like a good black and white photograph. It may be somewhat difficult in some cases to find a combination of filters and inks that give both very faint images through the same color filter and very dark images through the other filter. For making printout you may do better to print the drawing for "Crossed eyes" viewing or one of the other side-by-side or over-under stereo formats since ghosting might be less of an issue. When making stereoscopic images for viewing with leaky Anaglyph glasses you might want to reduce the amount of z shift, stereo x shift, eye rotation, and eye offset to about half or less of the amount that you would use with shutter glasses or other viewers since reducing the stereo disparity tends in some cases to lessen the difficulty of viewing images with some residual ghosting visible through the Anaglyph glasses. This of course may make the Anaglyph images look less deep, but it may be better to have a shallow image that looks 3D than one that is un-fusible. Cardboard Anaglyph glasses with various combinations of color filters may be available from several sources on the internet. There may be some places that suggest they might send you a "free sample" pair of cardboard 3D Anaglyph glasses, although such offers may require some payment or S.A.S.E. and probably could be of limited term, so you will have to check to see what is out there currently. Stacking several pairs of cardboard Anaglyph glasses may give more filtration than using a single pair of molded lens Anaglyph glasses. The filters used in some cardboard Anaglyph glasses may diffuse or scatter the light somewhat, so how many of such filters you can stack may be limited by the amount of diffusion or scattering that you can tolerate. You may be able to put a pair of Anaglyph flip-ups on a pair of Anaglyph molded glasses to get additional filtration. You should test the filter combinations or stacks for ghosting as was described by using a bright wire-frame element displayed as two colored stereoscopic wire-frame images against a black background. You may be able to make some better Anaglyph glasses for your own use with really good filters that might show less visible ghosting. Such glasses might incorporate narrow band yellow absorbing filters over both eyes to cut red- green cross transmission, some deep amber and magenta filters combined with some very strong red filters to cut blue transmission to the left eye, and stacked green-blue, blue-green, and cyan filters combined to transmit next to no red light to the right eye. The filters would be quite dark, but the glasses could have added leather side blinder shields like glacier glasses to control the reflections off the back side of the filters and reduce stray light entering from the sides. You might also incorporate chromatic diopter correction, if such would be permissible. When wearing such glasses the room might need to be totally dark so you might want a self illuminated keyboard to make typing easier in the dark. It might take 15 to 30 minutes of viewing in the dark for your eyes to adjust to the low light transmission of such powerful filters. Interestingly you can purchase special glasses that have a narrow band yellow blocking filter. These glasses are made for people who work glass in a flame, and are used because the Sodium in the glass makes a bright yellow light that blinds and obscures the workers view, by blocking the Sodium light's yellow color it may be easier to see the glass in the flame. I do not endorse or recommend the use of such glasses for eye protection or use in glass working and other applications. The lenses in these glasses are made from glass that has some rare earth minerals added to it such as Neodymium and Praseodymium, a.k.a. Nd Pr, didymium, rose didymium, Didymium Glass Filters, DGFs, Contrast Enhancement Filter, Amethyst Contrast Enhancer, A.C.E., ACE, Shott (tm) S-8801 (tm) Didymium filter 3.4mm, S8806A (tm), S8807 (tm), Phillips 202 (tm), with some of those perhaps being compound filters or having other adjustments. Some of these types of glass filter may come mounted in eyeglasses frames, and in clip on units that you can clip onto eyeglasses. You might be able to use clip on anaglyph filters over the didymium filters in eyeglasses frames, or use the clip on didymium filters over anaglyph filters mounted in eyeglasses frames. You could then sandwich good purity gelatin or plastic filters between the didymium filters and the anaglyph filters to further improve the narrowing of the pass bands and blocking of the out of band residual leakage. How much if any improvement the didymium or other rare earth glass filters might help would depend on the spectral transmission of the other filters used, and since the didymium filter glasses can be expensive the extra cost might not be worth the possible added benefit. If you are going to purchase rare earth glass filters you might want to check that they are what you expect, and not just tinted plastic or some other analog. Check the spectragrams for all of the filters you will be using to see if they overlap properly and have their transmission peeks at points that correspond with the eyes various nerves and the computer's monitor phosphors or filters output. Several companies make flexible filter sheets for cutting out filters to fit in front of theatrical lights for stage lighting and such. They sell or provide sample books with filters about 1 by 3 inches that have one of each color filter with an intervening sheet of paper printed with the transmission spectragram, the filter code number, and the filter's color name. To see how well the ghost images in Anaglyph display images could be suppressed with better filters I tried stacking filters from the sample books of some of these types of flexible filters. I tested the filters as described above using a wire-frame image that has a large amount of stereoscopic disparity against a black background. Since I only used one book for each type of filter I did not double up the same color filter, which might have resulted in a pack with fewer filters and better transmission. In some cases extra filters where added not just for reducing the ghosting but also for better balancing the transmission in the right and left eyes, and for balancing the color of the eye that will see two colors for semi and full color Anaglyph images. The filters used in the filter stacks are grouped by the type of Anaglyph image to be viewed since different packs were made up for Red-Cyan, Yellow-Blue, Magenta-Green, Red- Blue, Red-Green, and Green-Blue. You might want to check the filter combinations you come up with against these to see if there is actually an improvement in ghost reduction. Better results might be obtained by combining flexible filters from different companies with glass filters and or rare earth glass filters. Different filter packs are used to filter the same color in different combinations since the color that causes the ghosts is different and therefore the filter stack needs different blocking wave lengths. A filter stack that works well with your monitor's phosphors or filters may not work as well with some other monitor's phosphors or filters, if they are somehow different. This information is very preliminary and experimental, and is not a declaration of recommended practice. Filters for viewing Red-Cyan Anaglyphs: Red stack by using "Roscolux (tm)" #19 Fire #27 Medium Red #339 Broadway Pink #342 Rose Pink Cyan stack by using "Roscolux (tm)" #95 Medium Blue Green #94 Kelly Green #70 Green Blue Red stack by using "Lee Filters Numeric Edition (tm)" #027 Medium Red #029 Plasa Red #113 Magenta Cyan stack by using "Lee Filters Numeric Edition (tm)" #172 Lagoon Blue #183 Moonlight Blue #241 Lee Fluorescent 5700K #354 Special Steel Blue #729 Scuba Blue Red stack by using "GamColor Deep dyed polyester filters (tm)" #140 Dark Magenta #220 Pink Magenta #235 Pink Red #245 Light Red #250 Medium Red #270 Red Orange #280 Fire Red Cyan stack by using "GamColor Deep dyed polyester filters (tm)" #690 Blue Grass #725 Princess Blue #760 Aqua Blue #770 Christel Blue #780 Shark Blue Filters for viewing Yellow-Blue Anaglyphs: Yellow stack by using "Roscolux (tm)" #10 Medium Yellow #310 Daffodil #12 Straw #312 Canary #14 Medium Straw #92 Turquoise #3201 Roscosun 85 #3407 Roscosun CTO Blue stack by using "Roscolux (tm)" #44 Middle Rose #358 Rose Indigo #79 Bright Blue #80 Primary Blue Yellow stack by using "Lee Filters Numeric Edition (tm)" #010 Medium Yellow #015 Deep Straw #017 Surprise Peach #100 Spring Yellow #102 Light Amber #138 Pale Green #764 Sun Color Straw Blue stack by using "Lee Filters Numeric Edition (tm)" #002 Rose Pink #071 Tokyo Blue #079 Just Blue Yellow stack stack by using "GamColor Deep dyed polyester filters (tm)" #395 Golden Sunset #410 Yellow Gold #450 Saffron #460 Mellow Yellow #480 Medium Yellow #525 Lime Sun #535 Lime #540 Pale Green #1543 Full CTO #1585 Plus Green Blue stack stack by using "GamColor Deep dyed polyester filters (tm)" #140 Dark Magenta #847 City Blue #850 Blue (Primary) Filters for viewing Magenta-Green Anaglyphs: Magenta stack by using "Roscolux (tm)" #39 Skelton Exotic Sangria #339 Broadway Pink #344 Follies Pink #48 Rose Purple Green stack by using "Roscolux (tm)" #06 No Color Straw #10 Medium Yellow #310 Daffodil #12 Straw #66 Cool Blue #86 Pea Green #91 Primary Green Magenta stack by using "Lee Filters Numeric Edition (tm)" #002 Rose Pink #048 Rose Purple #128 Bright Pink #158 Pale Salmon #201 Full C.T. Blue #328 Follies Pink Green stack by using "Lee Filters Numeric Edition (tm)" #089 Moss Green #101 Yellow #121 Lee Green #322 Soft Green #738 JAS Green #763 Wheat #765 Lee Yellow Magenta stack by using "GamColor Deep dyed polyester filters (tm)" #110 Dark Rose #120 Bright Pink #130 Rose #140 Dark Magenta #180 Cherry #950 Purple Green stack by using "GamColor Deep dyed polyester filters (tm)" #395 Golden Sunset #410 Yellow Gold #480 Medium Yellow #655 Rich Green #660 Medium Green #680 Kelly Green #710 Blue Green Filters for viewing Red-Blue Anaglyphs: Red stack by using "Roscolux (tm)" #26 Light Red #27 Medium Red Blue stack by using "Roscolux (tm)" #74 Night Blue #79 Bright Blue Red stack by using "Lee Filters Numeric Edition (tm)" #019 Fire #027 Medium Red #029 Plasa Red Blue stack by using "Lee Filters Numeric Edition (tm)" #071 Tokyo Blue #085 Deeper Blue Red stack by using "GamColor Deep dyed polyester filters (tm)" #140 Dark Magenta #220 Pink Magenta #235 Pink Red #245 Light Red #250 Medium Red XT #270 Red Orange #280 Fire Red Blue stack by using "GamColor Deep dyed polyester filters (tm)" #845 Cobalt #847 City Blue #848 Bonus Blue #850 Blue (Primary) Filters for viewing Red-Green Anaglyphs: Red stack by using "Roscolux (tm)" #26 Light Red #27 Medium Red #39 Skelton Exotic Sangria Green stack by using "Roscolux (tm)" #91 Primary Green #94 Kelly Green #95 Medium Blue Green Red stack by using "Lee Filters Numeric Edition (tm)" #019 Fire #027 Medium Red #029 Plasa Red #113 Magenta #128 Bright Pink Green stack by using "Lee Filters Numeric Edition (tm)" #124 Bark Green #327 Forest Green #729 Scuba Blue Red stack by using "GamColor Deep dyed polyester filters (tm)" #140 Dark Magenta #220 Pink Magenta #235 Pink Red #245 Light Red #250 Medium Red XT #270 Red Orange #280 Fire Red Green stack by using "GamColor Deep dyed polyester filters (tm)" #655 Rich Green #660 Medium Green #680 Kelly Green #685 Pistachio #690 Bluegrass #710 Blue Green #725 Princess Blue Filters for viewing Green-Blue Anaglyphs: Green stack by using "Roscolux (tm)" #10 Medium Yellow #310 Daffodil #11 Light Straw #12 Straw #16 Light Amber #89 Moss Green #389 Chroma Green #94 Kelly Green #3401 Roscosun 85 Blue stack by using "Roscolux (tm)" #349 Fisher Fuchsia #83 Medium Blue #383 Sapphire Blue Green stack by using "Lee Filters Numeric Edition (tm)" #010 Medium Yellow #015 Deep Straw #100 Spring Yellow #101 Yellow #102 Light Amber #121 Lee Green #122 Fern Green #204 Full C.T. Orange #441 Full C.T. Straw #764 Sun Color Straw #779 Bastard Pink Blue stack by using "Lee Filters Numeric Edition (tm)" #128 Bright Pink #132 Medium Blue #328 Follies Pink #713 J. Winter Blue #715 Cabana Blue Green stack by using "GamColor Deep dyed polyester filters (tm)" #395 Golden Sunset #410 Yellow Gold #480 Medium Yellow #650 Grass Green #655 Rich Green #660 Medium Green Blue stack by using "GamColor Deep dyed polyester filters (tm)" #110 Dark Rose #120 Bright Pink #905 Dark Blue #950 Purple #990 Dark Lavender Because the eye's lens may not fully focus all wavelengths of light at the same distance, some combinations of color filters may make the eye with that filter seem a little more or less far sighted or near sighted than the other eye. Red filters might tend to benefit from some addition of a positive lens, perhaps +0.10 to +0.40 or more diopter depending on the distance to the screen and other factors. Blue filters might tend to benefit from some addition of a negative lens, perhaps as much as -0.20 to -0.50 diopter or more depending on the distance to the screen and other factors. How much adjustment might be of a help would depend on various factors, such as, the age of the viewer, whether the viewer is near sighted or far sighted and to what degree in each eye, what type of eye glasses the viewer is using and what kind of glass or plastic they are made from, monitor brightness, how far the screen is from the viewer, the dilation of the viewer's eyes, ambient lighting, and the color and darkness of the filters used. Putting a diopter in from of just one of the two eyes may magnify or reduce the image viewed by that eye, and so perhaps alter the stereoscopic perception or disrupt fusing of the images. There may be proprietary claims relating to the use of diopters with Anaglyph glasses and so you may not be permitted to use them without first making compensation and such. Different combinations of Anaglyph image colors have their own advantages and disadvantages. You can try the various combinations to see which one works best for you. Red-Blue generally has the least ghosting, but the strong separation of the colors makes the "twinkling" effect very strong. Red-Green may be easier on the eyes than Red-Blue, but the ghosting might be a little more noticeable. Red-Cyan is similar to Red-Green with regard to ghosting but may require extra filtration on the red eye to block the blue light. Yellow- Blue may show more ghosting than Red-Cyan and the Blue image may seem out of focus if some supplementary lens is not used with the blue filter, but Yellow- Blue may give a nicer effect on full color Anaglyph images depending on resolving the associated issues. There may be some issues relating to proprietary rights regarding Yellow-Blue anaglyphs in some countries, so only do what is permissible in the jurisdictions applicable. Magenta-Green may give a little more ghosting than Red-Cyan perhaps, mostly because of the difficulty of getting a green filter that can reject all of the magenta light, but may seem a little easier to focus on since the green eye focuses normally and the red plus blue in the other, when balanced properly, tend to have the eye focus mid way between the red and blue focus which might be the same focus as for green, perhaps. Green-Blue Anaglyph glasses might have some value since the colors green and blue might be closer in appearance for some people than red and green, perhaps, and the "twinkling" might be less noticeable. Which colors are preferred is a controversial subject, if you want to start an argument with someone who is involved with Anaglyph I am sure that the subject could be used to get one going. Make up your own mind. --- VIEWING STEREO IMAGES WITH OTHER METHODS Free viewing does not require any viewing aids. Free viewing can be done with "Parallel" or "Crossed" side-by-side images. "Parallel" or "Wall eyes" format viewing method puts a small right eye image on the right side and a small left eye image on the left side, you then stare straight ahead at them. Putting a card between your eyes so you can only see one image in each eye may help. Since the images on the screen will probably have their centers wider than the spacing between your eyes, parallel free viewing might only be an option for printed drawings where you have adjusted the image size so that the images are spaced a distance equal to or a little less than the spacing of your eyes. Using a lorgnette with two positive diopter lenses of about 10 to 20 cm focal length might help the viewing of small "Parallel" printed images by letting you view them at closer distances. "Crossed eyes" format viewing method requires you to cross your eyes until you see three blurry images side by side, the one in the center is the stereo image. You then slowly try to refocus your eyes onto the center image without letting your eyes rotate and thereby see a sharp stereoscopic 3D image. If you have trouble doing this try cutting a rectangular hole in a piece of cardboard a little smaller than the size of one of the images on the screen. Hold the cardboard with the rectangular hole midway between your eyes and the monitor screen, look at the hole and adjust the distance of the cardboard until you see one blurry 3D image in the hole, then slowly try to refocus your eyes on the monitor screen while keeping the two images fused in the hole. It may take some time and practice before you can do "Crossed eyes" free viewing at will, but it might be a useful skill when working with stereo 3D images since it can work with images over a range of sizes both on screen or in printout. Two variations on "Crossed eyes" format are the "Mirror Left" and "Mirror Right" formats, in these one eye looks straight ahead like in "Parallel" viewing and the other eye looks across the nose like in "Crossed eyes" viewing except that the eye looking across is looking into a mirror at a reflection of the image on the same side as that eye. The front surface mirror needs to go from between the images on the screen to near the viewers nose, held like the card used for "Parallel" viewing. Some adjustment of the convergence of the eyes on the two images may be possible by tipping the mirror slightly to move the center of the reflected image on top of other image viewed directly. It might be difficult to see the whole image in stereo when the two images are close together by using a mirror to view the mirror image side. There may be other kinds of viewers that put a small prism close to the eye that looks at the mirror image. Various kinds of "Lorgnette style" stereo viewing aids have been made. Some with lenses in them, others with wedge prisms. The lens kind are for viewing "Parallel" images that have their image centers about the same distance apart as the viewers eyes, e.g. small side-by-side "Wall eye" printed images. Lorgnette viewers with the wedge prisms deflecting the line of sight out and to the sides can be for viewing "Parallel" side-by-side images that have their centers wider than the viewers eyes, such as viewing off of a monitor screen or from larger printout. Lorgnette viewers with the wedge prisms deflecting the line of sight up, and down, along the images center line are for viewing "Over- Under" or "Above-Below" images such as viewing off of a monitor screen or on nearly full page printout. To reduce color fringes that might be caused by dispersion of the colors in the light passing through the lenses or prisms if they are made of one kind of glass or plastic, using two or more kinds of glass might be employed to make the elements achromatic. Some Lorgnette viewers use elements similar to a half lens for each eye that acts both as a diopter and a wedge prism. In such a viewer the distance you can move away from the image pair may be limited by the focal length of the diopter, and so you might be limited by how far you can move back in order to view larger image pairs. If you have a large monitor the stereo images center-to-center distance may be too great for you to view off of the screen with some Lorgnette or prism type viewers. Reducing the on-screen image size by use of the monitor's height and width controls, and moving farther back from the monitor may help with some viewers, particularly those that do not have diopter power. When your monitor is too large you may be able to reduce the size of the image in a third party program, such as the image editor that came with your scanner, or you may be able to print out the image in reduced size and view it off of the printout with your viewer. Periscope type viewers can be made with front surface mirrors or with 90 degree reflective prisms. Although just two mirrors or two 90 degree reflective prisms could be used, to keep the optical path length for both eyes the same four front surface mirrors or four 90 degree reflective prisms generally get employed. For "side-by-side" images the mirrors or prisms can be set to about 45 degree angles. If mirrors are used the mirrors away may have an adjustment to tip them at a optical angle a little more or less than 90 degrees in order to bring the centers of the images into convergence, a feature useful if images of slightly different sizes are to be viewed, or the viewer will be used on different size monitors. The outer mirrors or prisms of the periscopes could also slide in or out to change the image center distance. The same idea goes for viewing "Over-Under" images except that the mirrors may be tilted in a little to the vertical center line and the periscopes go up and down rather than side-to-side. A lenticular screen might be put over a LCD monitor to work like the well known 3D postcards. The "Lenticular/parallax barrier" stereo format interleaves or interlaces the pixels from the two stereo images vertically, and so may work with some screens equipped with lenticular screens if the focal length is compatible and you are sitting the right distance away from the screen. The stereo images will reverse when you move your head from side to side, so you need to put your head in the right viewing zone to get the right eye view to go to your right eye. If the lenticular screen is slid from side to side by a motor driven from a head tracking device the proper viewing zones might be able to follow your eyes as you move from side to side a little. You might make 35mm transparency slides of the two separate intermediate eye images, and then view those slides in special viewers that work like the lens lorgnette except that they might have stronger lenses and diffusers behind the transparencies. Such slides might also be projected with two slide projectors and by using polarizing filters so as to let the images be viewed with passive polarized 3D glasses. Polarized 3D glasses may come in both linear and circular type, to be used with corresponding filters on the two slide projectors. To display the eye views separately, first make a parallel view by using the BMP video mode, then convert files DANR0000.BMP and DANL0000.BMP in the program directory into Pixel files with the Files Utilities BMP Pixel command, then use Files Load Pixel or Files Utilities Video Negative twice to display the resulting converted Pixel files. If Files Utilities Video Negative command is used then the slides might be made on color Positive film such as Agfa CP-30 (tm), by using yellow or orange color compensating filters, rather than needing to use reversal color slide film. Adding a rare earth color enhancing filter such as didymium glass might help somewhat to reduce color desaturation when photographing off of the monitor screen. To make a slide for "Crossed eyes" viewing projected on a screen with a slide projector, display the elements by using a "Crossed eyes" format code and then save the screen image as a Pixel file, or convert the temporary file DANS0000.BMP into a Pixel file and display and photograph that Pixel file as was just described. --- CHANGES TO THE Z-BUFFER FOR STEREOSCOPIC IMAGE GENERATION When the Z-Buffer is not going to be preserved to have more elements added to it only one Z-Buffer is required to render the images for the stereo pair. But when you want to use the perspective display modes in the 1000, 2000, or 3000 series that work by saving or reusing the Z-Buffer then two Z-Buffers are needed, one Z-Buffer for the right eye image and another Z-Buffer for the left eye image. When the program detects that the Z-Buffer needs to be preserved and a stereoscopic display format has been requested, it tries to create two sub- directories off of the current path for the Z-Buffer file. These sub- directories, a.k.a. folders, are named REYE\ and LEYE\, if you need to save the Z-Buffer files for some later use you will need to save the Z-Buffer files from both of those sub-directories if you are going to make more stereoscopic images using those Z-Buffers. So if you had a Z-Buffer path of H:\MYBUF\ for the monoscopic images, the new stereoscopic paths would be H:\MYBUF\REYE\ and H:\MYBUF\LEYE\ and so on. It should go without saying, that if you use the Z-Buffer over, most all of the perspective and stereo parameters should be kept the same so that the added elements will render in the correct three dimensional relationship to the previous elements already in the Z-Buffer. --- GHOST MASKING THEORY AND APPLICATION Ghost masking is an experimental feature and may undergo change in whatever possible future releases there might be. Information given in this document and elsewhere in the documentation with regard to ghost masking is very preliminary and may not reflect the operation of the revision of the programs you have downloaded that might be associated with this document. When filter or shutter glasses are used for stereoscopic viewing ghost images can often be seen on both sides of the fused image. The best way to get rid of the ghosts might be to use better filters. For Anaglyph viewing stacking filters as has been described elsewhere in this document may be helpful toward that end. With shutter glasses there is not much you can do to improve the ghosting from the single pair of LCM filters. Stacking of electro-optical shutter filters might be possible, but the light rotation angle of the polarizers would need to be aligned or almost no light would get through. When everything possible to improve the viewing filters has been done, further reductions in the objectionable qualities of the ghost images might be undertaken by introducing a ghost mask to try to cancel some of the ghost image. Since I do not yet know a way to have the monitor emit anti-photons to black out the ghost images, an alternative is to lift the brightness of all the areas where there is not a ghost so that the ghost fades into the mask haze and might become less apparent. Ghost masking is used to try to obscure ghost images seen through filter glasses when the filters are not perfect. Best results will probably always be obtained by using viewing aids that do not produce ghost images, but when ghost images are present combining the stereo images with masking images may make the ghost images somewhat less apparent. The combination image of the original image and the ghost mask does not look like the original image since the mask image has been combined with it, and so whether or not the masked image is more or less satisfactory is a subjective impression, and will depend on many factors only some of which may be controllable. Since the black level gets lifted during masking, reducing the monitor brightness to push the black level down may negate the masking and make the ghosts visible again, particularly in the shadows. If the filters leak quite a lot of light the amount that the black level needs to be lifted to match the ghosts from the brightest image points may be more than what might be satisfactory, so you may end up just adjusting things so that some ghosts from the highlights are left somewhat visible. To offset this issue you may select element colors that are less bright, e.g. do not use white and such, and adjust the lighting values and Stereo Gamma correction so that the foreground is not too much brighter than the other parts of the rendering. The values for RightMask and LeftMask should be set to 0 for FormatCodes that do not superimpose the right and left images in such a way that ghost images can be seen because of filter leakage, and such. The RightMask and LeftMask values set some fraction of the opposite eye view that is to be used to generate the masking image, typical values range from about 0.1 to 0.35 with larger values used for more apparent ghosts and smaller values used for faint ghosts. If the ghost image represents only a small portion of the total image brightness, superimposing around the ghost a de-ghosting image mask image might make the ghost somewhat less visible. In practice complete nulling of the ghost is probably impossible, because of non-linearity of the monitor and other factors, but some reduction may help with stereoscopic fusion under some circumstances such as viewing wire-frame images. For Ghost masking to work at all with high contrast images on a black background, such as wire-frame display modes, the black level needs to be lifted to dark tones or medium tones. Since the filters in the glasses are dark the appearance of the lifting of the black level is suppressed somewhat by the filters in the viewing glasses, and therefore the lifting of the black level may be less noticeable with the viewing glasses on. Ghost masking may tend to be more incomplete for Anaglyph images since the chrominance component might not be nulled for large bright areas in the stereo images. There are some things you might try to do to improve the effectiveness of the ghost masking when used with Anaglyph images, such as moving far back to view the Anaglyph images at a distance of more than four feet, adjusting the monitor's controls to reduce the contrast and increase or decrease the monitor brightness to the level that nulls the ghosts best, balancing the right and left masking values to correspond to the leakage differences of the right and left eye filters, improving the filters in the glasses by stacking filters to make the ghosts less bright so smaller values of ghost mask are required, adjusting the StereoGamma setting to flatten the image tones, and keeping the stereoscopic disparity small to help in reducing the size of the color fringes. Eyes tend lose the ability to differentiate color in details if they are very small and surrounded by another color. So when the ghost of a red wire-frame line is viewed through the green filter with a dim cyan mask image around the ghost, and the monitor contrast is reduced and brightness tweaked to balance the apparent brightness of the ghost and the mask, the ability to see the dim red ghost surrounded by the cyan mask tends to decrease the further you get back from the monitor. Greatly reducing the brightness of the image and viewing in a darkened room may reduce the perceived color from Anaglyph images since our eyes cannot see much color in very dim light. Viewing the images very dim may help reduce the color contrast between the masks and the images. The Ghost masking may be more utilitarian when used with shutter glasses. The LCM electro-optical filter elements in shutter glasses may have uneven peak density across their filter area, so no particular value for the Ghost masks may be somewhat effective for looking through all portions of the LCM shutter filter elements, that is when you look through different parts of the shutter filter the ghosts may change brightness. If you move farther from the monitor you may be better able to view the whole monitor screen through a small "sweet spot" in the LCM shutter filters, if there is one. Also the LCM shutter filter for the right eye may have a different peak density than the LCM shutter filter for the left eye, giving rise to incomplete nulling for one of the two eyes if the same value is used for both RightMask and LeftMask, hence the need for the ability to enter separate masking values for the two filters. Ghost masks may in some cases seem to reduce the subjective assertiveness of some ghosts, but the strength of the mask used may need to be adjusted for best effect with a particular image, stereo mode, and vertical refresh rate used. So masked images may not look the same when viewed on other computers or with other shutter glasses. Also the monitor brightness and contrast may need to be adjusted for each image. When using "Sync Double" stereo mode larger values for the RightMask and LeftMask seem to be needed, perhaps because the higher vertical refresh gives less time for the monitor's phosphors to decay, so values of 0.20 to 0.40 or more may be needed. When using "Interlace" stereo mode on the shutter glasses controller with the video board in interlace mode at higher resolutions values from 0.10 to 0.30 might seem satisfactory. When using "Line Blank" with the video board in non interlace mode values around 0.15 to 0.35 might seem close to a good fit. Larger values may need to be used for higher vertical refresh Hz rates. Because the ghost mask and image to mask are on different scan lines in field sequential images displayed for use with shutter glasses the ghost mask may not register or fit exactly over the image being masked. The misregistration might be caused by jitter in the monitor's sync circuits, jitter in the sync triggering of the shutter glasses controller, timing errors during "Sync Double", movement of the viewers eyes, interlacing, or similar issues. When the mask and image are not on top of each other at the same time small fringes around the ghost may be visible. Moving farther back from the monitor may make the ghost fringes and other misregistration artifacts less visible. When using "Sync Double" stereo mode be sure that you adjust the "SyncAdjust" and "SyncTweak" as best you can to try to get the right and left images superimposed or the ghost and mask may not have their images aligned well. Since the filters in the stereoscopic viewing glasses may not be balanced and may give ghost images of different brightness each eye has its own ghost mask setting value, RightMask for the right eye, and LeftMask for the left eye. Imbalance of the ghost images is probably more of an issue with Anaglyph glasses than with Liquid Crystal Shutter glasses, a.k.a. LCS glasses. The setting of the monitor "drive", "gain", and "screen" controls for the red, green, and blue electron guns may effect the "black level" and "white level" of the three colors, and make their brightness relationship on the screen "drift" or "cross over" when the brightness or contrast controls on the monitor are adjusted. To get the mask images to null optimally may require making adjustments to the brightness and contrast controls on the monitor, stacking filters on the glasses, and or in some cases perhaps having the monitor's internal controls adjusted by qualified service personal to rebalance the three colors. The three electron guns should generally be adjusted to keep the relative brightness and contrast of the red, green, and blue, images constant when the monitor contrast and brightness controls are adjusted over their entire range, and the brightness control should be able to bring the black level above black. If the monitor's colors do not track as needed, that may exacerbate the problem of finding a single setting of the monitor's contrast and brightness controls that may help null the ghosts in both eyes at the same time. To check that the correct value for the ghost masks has been entered, cover one eye and increase the monitor brightness to see if you can make the ghost image turn negative, then decrease the monitor brightness and see if you can make the ghost image turn positive, then set the monitor brightness at the point where the residual ghost image is equally positive and negative, or disappears as much as possible. If the ghost nulls with the black level set very high or you cannot get the ghost to go negative, try increasing or decreasing the ghost mask value. When you get the brightness set so that the residual ghosts are partly negative and partly positive take several steps back from the monitor to see if they will "fade out" as you get further back from the monitor, if you see a little positive or negative ghost touch up the brightness setting as best you can. If you have the two ghost mask values unequal there may be an increase in the apparent image flicker when using shutter glasses. It might be possible to balance the image brightness a little to make up for the shutter glasses filters with the ghost mask values, but for the most part it may be better to use the same value for the right and left mask values when using shutter glasses. Ghost masking may exacerbate dark ghost patterns visible for some subjects, particularly large light areas near large dark areas. To try reduce the this effect somewhat choose element colors that are in the middle tones, set the lighting values to values that are not too exaggerated, use the StereoGamma value to flatten the image, use a background in the middle tones, turn down the monitor contrast and increase the monitor brightness, and change the ghost mask values. You do not need to use the ghost masking if you do not like the results, set the ghost mask values to 0 to try to disable the feature. If the ghosting is more than optimal, you may need to decrease the monitor contrast quite a bit and then adjust the monitor brightness over its full range in order to find a point where mask and image can start to null. Decreasing the monitor contrast and using the StereoGamma value to flatten the image contrast may help reduce ghosting from some of the brightest areas of the images. Ghost masking should probably be thought of as a light "touch up" for glasses with a little leakage, and not a "panacea" for very leaky glasses. --- MISCELLANEOUS NOTES ABOUT CHANGES IN REVISED CAD V2.7H NOVEMBER 30, 2003 Two new stereo format codes have been added. In order to make transparency slides of the right eye and left eye views for projection that incorporate the ghost masks two new stereo format codes have been added: FormatCode = 1, displays just the right eye image full screen. FormatCode = 2, displays just the left eye image full screen. The eye image files DANR0000.BMP and DANL0000.BMP do not include the ghost mask in the current revision, so these new format codes can be used to generate the eye views when you want masks included. The stereo image can be generated twice so that file DANS0000.BMP can then be renamed each time to save the masked version of each eye view. That is, when the stereo format code is 1 file DANS0000.BMP will contain the right eye image combined with the left eye mask, and when the stereo format code is 2 file DANS0000.BMP will contain the left eye view combined with the right eye mask. When you are using the BMP graphics mode rather than the VESA graphics modes the combined eye and mask image goes to the BMP output filename selected, and not to file DANS0000.BMP, which might also be on the disk but would contain an older image. Polarized glasses and color transparency slide or positive film might be used to view slides of the two separate masked eye images. You could also output the separate eye views for making synchro interlocked cine film for projection using the two projector method. When you expose slide film be sure to give enough exposure to have the black level lifted by the right amount, or the ghost mask would not be reproduced in an effective manner. Likewise do not over expose Positive film or the black portions may get too dark for the ghost mask to be reproduced properly. The contrast and gamma correction of the monitor image should be adjusted to try to compensate for the increase of contrast caused by transferring the images to Slide or Positive film. if two slide or movie projectors are being used you may have difficulty registering the two projected images on the screen. If the images are masked, the registration of the two images will need to be good for the masks to be superimposed around the ghost images. If you are unable to achieve adequate registration of the right and left images it might be better not to have them masked. Making a special slide or movie projector that uses a beam splitter and one projection lens might help reduce keystone distortion between the two images. Care must be taken in selecting the beam splitter so as to not to disturb the polarization of the light from the two images. Using pin registered movements in such a projector might help make lining up the two images easier, especially if the images were photographed off the monitor using a pin registered camera. The transparencies would then be run in strip form through such a projector using one or two filmstrips rather than film clips mounted in cardboard mounts. One film strip could be used if the right and left images where printed or exposed on spaced alternating frames, e.g. by using a computer controlled camera in the optical printer or cine film recorder. Some related viewing aids for viewing "Crossed eyes" side-by-side stereo images might be of interest to viewers that have difficulty "free viewing" "Crossed eyes" stereo images. When you are using a CRT monitor you can cut some polarizer sheets so that you have two sheets half the width of the screen and the full height of the screen, one sheet has the polarization angle set to 45 degrees and the other sheet has the polarization angle set to 135 degrees. You then put 45 and 135 degree Polarized glasses on and cover your left eye, then place the Polarizer sheet that looks gray over the left half of the screen, and the Polarizer sheet that looks black over the right side of the screen. When you switch and cover the right eye you should see the right side of the screen through a gray filter, and the left side of the screen through a black filter. You then display a "Crossed eyes" image on the screen by using stereo format code 30 or 40. If you move back some distance from the monitor and view the side-by-side images through the two filters over the screen and are wearing the Polarized 3D glasses you should be able to cross your eyes and see just one stereoscopic image, rather than the usual three images side-by-side that you would see when "free viewing" without using the Polarized 3D glasses. If you are making transparency slides for projection, you might be able to use glass mounts and bind strips of Polarizer material, aligned to 45 and 135 degrees, half the width of the image on the lens side of a "Crossed eyes" color transparency. When such a slide is projected and the viewers are viewing through 45 and 135 degree Polarized glasses they should be able to fuse the two side-by-side images a little easier than if the "Crossed eyes" image was projected without the Polarized filter since they will just see one image rather than three, particularly if the room is very dark and the image is small and distant. A special type of screen to project on might be needed to make the side images dim, but ghosting should not be an issue since this is a "Crossed eyes" stereo format and the images are never superimposed, except in the viewers mind. Heat from the projector lamp might be a problem with melting and destruction of the bound transparency and Polarizer filter strips, so you might want to use a dichroic heat mirror for the mounting glass closest to the light source. Since LCD monitors and screens used in laptop computers already have polarizers in them you can not tape two large Polarizer strips over them, since one side of the screen would come out black. Dr. Keigo Lizuka has suggested that in this situation you can leave one side of the LCD screen uncovered and put a sheet of about 1 mil clear cellophane over the other half of the screen. The cellophane rotates the polarized light so that you now have light coming from the two sides of the screen at angles that are similar to using two Polarizer filters on a CRT monitor. You need to use cellophane of the right thickness for this to work, using a different thickness or a different kind of plastic will probably not give the same results. If your LCD screen has an angle of 45 or 135 degrees then you may be able to use Polarized glasses set to 45 and 135 degrees to view using the cellophane technique, otherwise you might need to make Polarized 3D glasses that have the filters rotated to the same angles that you are getting from the uncovered and cellophane covered sides of your LCD screen. This cellophane gimmick may not work with all LCD displays. This "split screen filtering" idea could be used with circular Polarizer glasses and sheets on the monitor or slide, and such. This same idea might be used with colored filters over the two sides of the computer monitor, or slide transparency, and viewing with Anaglyph glasses. For instance if you display a side-by-side "Crossed eyes" image on the computer screen, then cover the right side of the monitor screen with a red theatrical gel or dyed plastic sheet and cover the left side of the monitor screen with a cyan gel or dyed plastic sheet, and view by using Red-Cyan Anaglyph glasses with the red filter on the left eye, you might then see a ghost free stereo image by crossing your eyes. The color filters in this technique might not need to be perfect since filter leakage may just make dim side images rather than ghosts within the central stereo image. Any of the other Anaglyph color combinations might operate in the same way. Moving back a distance from the monitor or screen and viewing in a darkened room might help with the ability to fuse the stereo image. I have not yet tested all of the various display viewing options, methods, and techniques described so you may need to do some experimenting to see what you might find of utility. Viewing CAM tool path file tool motion lines by using the stereoscopic display might be an aid to discerning features. Since only triangle elements are sorted by depth you should use the MUTATE command to convert the tool path lines into triangle elements so that they can be sorted by depth when displayed. If you use MUTATE mode 103 and perspective display mode 64 or 74 to convert and display the tool path lines the lines may also be shaded by depth which might also aid in discerning depth features. The Preview command can make an animated sequence by setting the Factors values to rotate the tool path element about 0.5 to 1 degree per frame. When the animated sequence of Pixel file frames is viewed in the ANIMATE command, set the viewing mode to back and forth. The animated back and forth motion along with the depth shading and stereoscopic image formatting may also help in discerning CAM tool path features. Be sure that when you save the tool path file for use with the CAM programs you only save the element that is made of lines, and not the element made of triangles mutated from lines, since the CAM programs read tool path files made of line segments and not triangles. --- MISCELLANEOUS NOTES ABOUT CHANGES IN REVISED CAD V2.7H DECEMBER 3, 2003 Changes have been made to the parts of the CAD programs that read and write to the screen in the SVGA VESA 24 bpp and 32 bpp video graphics modes. You can now use the new command "Files Utilities Video VESA" from the CAD programs main menu to select the color byte order for reading and writing pixels to the video screen. If the colors are correct using the default color byte order you should not change the default setting since doing so will make the colors incorrect. If you change the default setting by using the "Files Utilities Video VESA" command, the entered value will be stored in a file called DANCAD3D.VCO or DANCAD87.VCO depending on which CAD program you are testing. If no *.VCO file is found the default values are used. The "Files Utilities Video Pattern" command has been altered to display by using the revised VESA code, and so, can be used to check the color byte order in the 24 bpp and 32 bpp VESA modes. The top band of the pattern is black, and the bottom band is white. The second band from the top should display as dark blue, if it is red or some other color the wrong byte order is probably selected. The full color order from top to bottom should be: black, dark blue, dark green, dark cyan, dark red, dark magenta, dark yellow, light gray, dark gray, light blue, light green, light cyan, light red, light magenta, light yellow, and white. The ability to set the color byte order may be helpful for compensating for some types of hardware or software, or various BIOS revisions, and such. The default settings are the ones that work on my hardware, and will probably be the right settings in many if not most cases. Some video boards only support 24 bpp or 32 bpp video modes, but not both. The 32 bpp video modes are only set up to display 24 bpp of video color data so they do not display an advantage as far as relates to the color information. --- MISCELLANEOUS NOTES ABOUT CHANGES IN REVISED CAD V2.7H DECEMBER 14, 2003 The Oil painting feature was introduced some time ago, see also the information from UPDATE27.TXT in Section: 3.3.7.1. Overview of the Oil painting feature, the Oil painting feature has two parts. The Files Utilities BMP Oil feature reads a BMP 8 bpp image file of the picture you want to make a painting of and extracts one of the colors and then generates an ASCII tool path file that will later, or with extra processing, be executed in DANCAM.EXE (tm) or DANPLOT.EXE (tm) to automatically move the paint brush, pen, or other implement, around to apply the paint to the spots of that color. Since an 8 bpp image can have up to 256 different colors, as many as 256 tool path files may need to be generated and executed using different colors of paint in order to finish a painting. The Files Utilities BMP Matching commands facilitate the mixing of the paint colors so that you can try to have approximately the right amount and color of paint for your CAM machine to use while executing each of the up to 256 painting tool path files. The color Matching command has four Modes in this revision of v2.7H, Mode 0 shows the colors on the computer screen with VGA or SVGA video so that you can hold the paint up to the screen image and see if the colors match, Mode 1 makes a list of color mixing data, Mode 2 makes another 24 bpp BMP file of a color swatch that you can print out on a color printer with a third party program or look at with a third party program on the computer's screen, and Mode 3 makes a macro file to automate generation of the painting tool path files along with a batch file to automate execution of the painting tool path files in the CAM program. Although this feature is referred to as the Oil painting feature it might be used for similar tasks such as applying ink, water color, glass stain, etch resist, ceramics glazes, enamel, phosphors, seeds, powdered glass or stone, LEDs, colored light bulbs, and such. Seeds for different colored plants could be planted to correspond with an image so that when they bloom the picture would appear. Since plotting can take some time you may want to avoid colors and pigments that would dry out or harden in the paint pot. You might be able to rig an automatic cover for the paint pot to reduce the drying issue. It may be best to plot the painting laying horizontally to reduce problems with the paint running under the "force" of gravity. Using the new sorting option for the Matching commands will help you plot the colors dark to light, or light to dark, which might yield better results than plotting the colors in their palette index order. If you plot dark to light you might paint the canvas black and use somewhat larger brushes to paint the dark colors then use progressively thinner brushes to plot the later lighter colors over the areas already plotted by the darker colors. If you plot light to dark you might start with the canvas painted white or gray, and plot the light colors with a somewhat larger brush than you use to later plot the darker colors over the lighter colors. Because up to 256 painting ASCII tool path files can be required for a single painting you should probably save the tool path files needed into a special sub-directory set aside for files just for that painting. For instance if you use the Files Make command to make a sub-directory names PAINT001\ you would then enter the filename PAINT001\0.ASC as the filename to save the tool path file color index 0 for that painting, and enter filename PAINT001\128.ASC as the filename for saving the painting tool path file for color index 128 for that painting, and so on for up to all of the 256 tool path files numbered 0.ASC to 255.ASC. The Files Utilities BMP Matching mode 3 command might be used to automate saving of the tool path files into a sub-directory since it makes a macro file that might be able to be run with the main menu Run command. Changes have been made to the parts of the CAD programs that relate to the BMP Oil painting command and the BMP Matching command in the Files Utilities sub- menu and the corresponding macro commands. Changes to the Files Utilities BMP Oil command include changes to the way that command is coded to the automatic output macro file and some code maintenance. Changes to the Files Utilities BMP Matching command include expansion of the command to include three new operational modes. Matching Mode 0 operates as before, with some new options, and displays the selected color index from the BMP files palette on the video screen for visual matching of the paint color. Because of legacy macro code issues I did not add any new parameters to Matching Mode 0, but I did increase the range of the palette color index value that can be entered, such that by adding 1000 to the palette index entered the palette colors are sorted dark to light, and by adding 2000 to the palette index entered the colors are sorted light to dark. So you can enter palette index values 0 to 255, 1000 to 1255, and 2000 to 2255. If the colors are sorted the index numbers will probably not be in sequence when you press the [+] or [-] keys to scan through the reordered colors. Palette colors that are not used in the BMP file's image are indicated by a message. The sorting is only relevant if you press the [+] or [-] keys to scan through the colors in order. The new Matching Mode 1 makes a list of the description of the palette colors used in the BMP file skipping over the unused palette colors. You can have the color information sorted three ways, by palette index number, from dark colors to light colors, or from light colors to dark colors. The luminance values for each color is displayed in R, G, and B as well as the Y total luminance value. The ratio of the nine colors of paint are displayed in parts per 1000. The absolute weights for the amount of paint of each color and the sums are also listed. You have the option of entering the weight of the paint that will be used for each pixel in milligrams, and the amount of extra paint to fill up the paint pot that will be required in grams. The idea is that you might use a sensitive digital scale to weigh out the paints starting with the first color then add the second color to bring up the weight to the first sum then add the third color to bring the weight up to the second sum and so on. The pages are numbered so that you can print out the list and keep track of the order since the palette index values are not in order if the list is sorted up or down. You may be able to print directly from the command by entering a printer port name for the list file name. i.e. PRN, LPT1, LPT2, LPT3, COM1, or COM2. If you need to use the serial ports COM1 or COM2 you should setup the serial ports with the DOS MODE command before you enter the CAD programs. You can also view or print the list from inside a program such as a text editor or Web browser. The list file may be too long to view with the Write command in the CAD programs, but in a pinch you may be able to look at it in the Binary file editor. The colors mixed by using the weights or ratios may not match the colors displayed on screen or on color print out because of the way the weights are calculated, the color of the paints, the color of the light used while viewing, and other factors. The new Matching Mode 2 makes a color swatch BMP file with 256 numbered patches of color representing the colors used in the BMP image file you will be using with the BMP Oil command. You can sort the color patches as in Matching Mode 1, i.e. no sorting, sorting dark colors to light colors, and sorting light colors to dark colors. When the patches are sorted the palette index numbers, corresponding to the numbered tool path files for painting the the CAM machine, will be out of order. Palette colors that are not used for any pixels in the image are represented by black patches with small white spots arranged in a grid. You might look at the color swatch BMP file by opening it in the graphics program that came with your scanner. You might also print the color swatch BMP file in color by using your color printer and the software that came with your scanner. If the palette index numbers and color patches are too small when printed you might crop the swatch in four parts and print them larger on for sheets of paper. The swatch is designed for printing onto 8 inch by 10 inch color paper giving an image 6.4 by 8 inches as it is 1920 pixels wide and 2400 pixels high at 300 d.p.i. The colors produced by your color printer may not match the colors displayed on screen or color mixed by the paint weights because of the way the printer colors are applied, the color of the printer inks, the color of the light used while viewing, and other factors. If you go by the colors on the swatch print out you can put a dab of paint on the print out to check for the color match and make adjustments to the paint ratios as needed. The new Matching Mode 3 makes a macro file and a batch file to try to help automate the process of making the painting. The macro file is generated and saved to the disk. You then run the macro file with the main menu Run command in order to generate a set of numbered tool path files that correspond to the palette color indexes of the colors used in the BMP image file. The tool path file set is saved in a sub-directory. You should select a different sub- directory for each painting. Since the set of tool path files can take up quite a lot of disk space you should use a sub-directory path for a disk with lots of free disk space. The batch file is a DOS batch file that runs from the DOS prompt and calls the CAM program over and over to execute each of the up to 256 painting tool path files. The batch file displays color matching information like the list produced by Matching Mode 1. If you break the batch file before all of the colors have been plotted you might insert a GOTO command at the top of the batch file to skip down to the start of the next color when you want to resume plotting to your painting. The batch file codes for executing the tool path file in DANCAM.EXE (tm) or DANPLOT.EXE (tm) depend on your having selected a value that plotterizes the tool path file, i.e. plotterized tool path files are executed in DANCAM.EXE (tm) and un-plotterized tool path files are to be executed by using DANPLOT.EXE (tm). The batch file or macro may be too long to edit in the CAD programs Write command, but the Binary file editor may work, or you could try some other text editor just remember to save the files back as DOS TXT type files. When you select one of the MATCHING commands the program inspects the BMP image file to gather information about the colors in the files color palette and then inspects the pixels in the image to see how many pixels are used by each of the colors in the palette. This inspection data is written to a file called DANCAD3D.BST or DANCAD87.BST which is left in the program sub-directory after the MATCHING command completes, in a revision of v2.7H, so that you can possibly try to use some of the raw data for your own paint mixing calculations. The data on the color data lines goes like this, color count then color index, these are the same if the colors are not sorted, then the number of pixels of that color, then the raw red, green, and blue palette data with 0 being black and 255 being full color, then a sum of the luminance calculated by (0.30 * red) + (0.59 * green) + (0.11 * blue), which may not be quite the apparent brightness of all colors since the color temperature and other factors can effect subjective brightness. When the raw data is sorted by luminance the luminance values will go from least to most or most to least and the color index numbers will probably be out of order. --- NEW MACRO MATCHING COMMAND OPTIONS MATCHING mode 0 works as before to display a color on screen, but the colors can now be sorted dark to light or light to dark, and palette colors that are not used in the BMP file's image are indicated by a message. The sorting is only relevant if you press the [+] or [-] keys to scan through the colors in order. MATCHING 0 color_index bmp_image_file Where: color_index is an integer from 0 to 255 for the color to display. 0 to 255 select a particular palette color index. if you add 1000 the colors get sorted dark to light. if you add 2000 the colors get sorted light to dark. BMP_image_file is the BMP file that have the image to paint. MATCHING mode 1 works like this to make a color matching list, MATCHING 1 sort_mode mg_per_pixel paint_pot_grams BMPname listname Where: sort_mode is 0=no sort, 1=dark to light, 2=light to dark. mg_per_pixel is the weight in milligrams of paint per image pixel. paint_pot_grams is the extra paint needed to fill the pot in grams. BMPname is the name of the BMP image file to make a list from. listname is the name of the text file to make or port to print to. MATCHING mode 2 make a BMP color swatch file, MATCHING 2 sort_mode BMPname swatchname Where: sort_mode is 0=no sort, 1=dark to light, 2=light to dark. BMPname is the name of the BMP image file to make the swatch from. swatchname is the name of the BMP file to make the color swatch in. MATCHING mode 3 make a macro and batch file from the color palette, MATCHING 3 sort_mode mg_per_pixel paint_pot_grams oilmode xpot ypot zpot bmpscale plotterizeZ BMPname macroname batchname setpath Where: sort_mode is 0=no sort, 1=dark to light, 2=light to dark. mg_per_pixel is the weight in milligrams of paint per image pixel. paint_pot_grams is the extra paint needed to fill the pot in grams. oilmode selects the oil mode for the tool path generation, i.e. Where the modes in v2.7H are: 40, dots for each pixel of selected color. 41, goes to paint pot before plotting each pixel dot. Mode 41 is the mode you would probably want to use. 110, makes horizontal chains of line segments from pixels of right color. 111, like 110 but goes to paint pot before each stroke. xpot sets the X offset for the paint pot, e.g. -1. ypot sets the Y offset for the paint pot, e.g. -1. zpot sets the Z offset for the paint pot, e.g. 0. bmpscale sets the scale for the conversion from BMP to ASCII, e.g. 0.01. plotterizeZ sets plotterize motion, e.g. 0 or 1. If plotterizeZ is 0 then DANPLOT.EXE (tm) is used as the CAM program, and if PlotterizeZ is not zero then DANCAM.EXE (tm) would be used to execute the tool path file for the paint brush motions. BMPname is the name of the BMP image file to make the macro and batch file from. macroname is the name of the DANCAD3D (tm) macro file to make. batchname is the name of the DOS batch file to make. setpath is the file path for the sub-directory to save the tool paths in. Remember that you need to run the macro file generated with the CAD program's main menu Run or macro RUN command before you quit the CAD program and run the batch file generated. The CAM program must also be present and the CAM machine arranged properly before you can run the batch file from the DOS prompt. If you only want to generate the tool path files you can ignore the batch file and just run the macro file, and then execute the tool path files manually. --- MISCELLANEOUS NOTES ABOUT CHANGES IN REVISED CAD V2.7H DECEMBER 19, 2003 The Files Utilities BMP ASCII command has been revised to be able to read 24 bpp BMP files as well as the 8 bpp BMP files. When the 24 bpp information needs to be converted into line color information the luminance data is reduced to integer values 0 to 15 and those are used for the line colors. This line color data will only represent a range of shades when displayed in the gray scale display modes, in the color modes a shaded image will exhibit color bands. Since shaded information is normally used for conversion to depth data the color conversion more usually pertains to feed rates and filtering line segments. The background of the 24 bpp image should be full black for the BMP to ASCII conversion modes that skip over the background pixels. The Files Utilities ASCII Pixel command has been revised to also work with 15, 16, 24, and 32 bpp Pixel files. When the 15, 16, 24, or 32 bpp information needs to be converted into line color information the luminance data is reduced to integer values 0 to 15 and those are used for the line colors. This line color data will only represent a range of shades when displayed in the gray scale display modes, in the color modes a shaded image will exhibit color bands. Since shaded information is normally used for conversion to depth data the color conversion more usually pertains to feed rates and filtering line segments. The background of the 15, 16, 24, or 32 bpp image should generally be full black for the Pixel to ASCII conversion modes that skip over the background pixels. Changes to the UTILITY BMP256_TO_ASCII macro command correspond to the Files Utilities BMP ASCII menu command, that is now 24 bpp or 8 bpp BMP files can be used as the source image. The X or horizontal pixels and Y or vertical pixels in the image should be an even multiple of 32, 8, or 4 generally since some odd sizes may not be able to be loaded in some revisions of the programs. If you get a file size error try to resize the image to have one of the normal screen sizes such as 640 by 480 and such. Changes to the UTILITY SCREEN_TO_ASCII macro command correspond to the Files Utilities ASCII Pixel menu command, that is now VESA 15, 16, 24, or 32 bpp screen images can be used as the source image. The LOAD PIXEL command can be used with the UTILITY SCREEN_TO_ASCII macro command for conversion of Pixel files to ASCII files. --- ADDITIONAL INFORMATION Please visit my Web site On-Line at: http://www.DANCAD3D.com/ for additional information. Please report bugs, mistakes, or other problems with this document or the programs, see SECTION: 8 at the current On-Line version of my Web site for current instructions.

This copy of this page was compiled on or around: Y2009.M01.D14, you might check the "On-Line" version, or come back later, to see if there is a newer compile.