2 x Ricoh Theta S - 3D Mode

I tried to search around but “3D” is too short for using it, if I am creating a double topic, thank you to give me the former one.
Hello there,
So, after over 6 months using the Ricoh Theta S (and really happy, just waiting for video quality improvement) it turned out that I won a second camera. Instead of selling it, I decide to go into 3D - 360 by putting side by side 2 Theta S and play around.
So my first question is: is there people around doing 3D - 360 using Ricoh Theta S? What is your workflow?
I will update this topic with my user experience.
Thank you!

PS: I am following this guy already and will try to do the same setup, if people are interested I ordered the components (dual micro-usb cable, plate, monopod/tripod, wire-remote shutter…)

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People have looked into this, but I don’t think anyone has been successful
yet. If they have, they haven’t posted successful results.

Are you taking still images?

The fist step might be to trigger the camera to take the images at the same
time. You can use the USB API for this.

Please share more information about what your idea is.

I know nothing about the math in order to combine the two images. I heard
that it’s difficult.

Pick your 3D googles

Ca 1.5 meter between the two thetas Google actually liked the image :grinning:
got an answer in the monthly Local Guide mail from them

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Hello there and thank you for your answers.

@craig to sum up, here is the idea:

Following the setup of Katsuhiko Inoue, I would like to connect 2 Ricoh Theta S, like that:

2 x Ricoh Theta S
1 x RICOH cable switch CA-3 Wire Remote Control
1 x USB 2.0 to Micro USB 2.0 Cable Twin Head / Dual Plug

Then using Monopod / Tripod with a plate.

To do pictures / videos in 360/3D.

@Svendus your example is cool but 1,5 meters between the 2 Ricoh seems a bit too much, especially for a portable, video solution. On the tests provided by Katsuhiko Inoue, it seems to work pretty well by putting them just side by side.

Pano2VR5.1 has a Stereo mode where you can select the nodes from two cameras or images Edit:
Normaly it will do with one Image or Video file, the nature of 360 are borderless and editing the center of a copied file playing it back offset you will get the 3D effeckt in the Carbord Television.

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Thanks, I will give it a try!
I will first work with Adobe Premiere / After Effect CC 2017 since they are integrated realtime VR monitor, alongside with Mettle Skybox plugins solutions. I will also try to turn my Smartphone into a VR headset, connected to my computer so I can work on the 3D settings live too. Will publish my workflow as soon as I will receive my accessories!

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A Panorama made in stereo mode from 3x2 128 Megapixel images
created with the filter Offset in PhotoShop CS6
PhotoShop/Filter/Other/Offset +600 pixels right
a 360 image has no borders so you do not need 2 cameras in this way
a HTML5 multi resolution Panorama on this link
Pick up your Cardboard Television

i am wearing googles so it is no fun for me :grin:

the panorama has:
Direct node access:
Gyro use true north:
Nodes are stereo pairs:
Smooth interpolation:

Thanks for the tips!
Just a question: what is the point of doing a stereoscopic panorama with the same duplicated image?
The point on having 2 cameras is to create the 3D effect, here it’s just flat, right?

@Jean-Nicolas the duplicate should give some 3D effect i am wearing googles so it is not easy to see
the Question is how mush offset the image needs
the example is 600 of 16000 pixels

3D is made by the perspective difference: objects close to the lenses have more space difference than the ones really far. Just raise a finger in front of you and blink one eye then the other and see for yourself. If you just use the same picture, you won’t have the perspective.

Making stereo panorama with two videos or images, how far apart should the cameras be?
we have two THETA S
i think it also should work with video even they are not started exactly at the same time i can be fixed in the editing software :innocent:

Exactly!
Seems that you can put the camera side by side, like this:

Should get some gear by next week, will try and keep you posted! :wink:

Oh, that’s a nice hack.

I’m going to contact this guy and see if we can get more info

Dang, would love to upgrade my virtualforest setup with true 3D captures. I’ll keep a close eye on this. Keep us posted Craig!

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My understanding is that there are 2 different issues with the 3D captures. The first is to trigger the cameras simultaneously. The second is the combine the two images into a single 3D experience.

Trigger 2 Cameras Simultaneously

The guy in the picture above is using the RICOH remote trigger, CA-3.
http://a.co/g5Uddlq

That is $40 and may not meet the needs of people that want to trigger two cameras with a Raspberry Pi. So, one thing we can do is to test two THETAs from one computer on two different USB ports. I have two THETA S cameras and can try the test if the community comes out and indicates that it would be helpful.

Merging the two Spheres into One 3D Scene

I had heard that this was difficult to do, but I’ve seen @Svendus build some projects that have a 3D scene. Maybe it’s not so difficult? Would this be a technical problem in your application? Can you match up the two spheres to build a stereoscopic scene?

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If I’m not mistaken parallax will decrease to roughly 0 to the edge of each half image. So you lose the ‘effect’ and won’t be able to reconstruct it easily.

So although it will work for most of the image straight ahead from each lens the effect will become significantly smaller progressing to the edge of each circular image. I think you can compensate for this deformation, but it will require some additional math (deformation maps of sorts). Errors will also blow up significantly due to optical deformation compounded by decreasing parallax.

So, it’s possible and worth pursuing for various reasons, but the effect might be nauseating when done crudely. However, I’m enthousiastic non the less.

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From my side I am interested in the 3D mode for video, not picture.
So the triggering is not a problem in my case (starting manually recording then sync it on post).
Now I have to figure it out how two make the 3D blending together, or at least, but the video side by side / one on the top of the other, any solution that make YouTube thinks it’s 3D. Any advice?
I’ve shot couple of test with my 2 Theta S, trying different spacing between them to see what is working the best, I can give away footage as well if people want to play around.

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I think you may be right. this is good info. About six months ago, I was talking to the THETA product manager about this (he has an engineering background) and he indicated that getting the 3D image would be difficult. At the time, I didn’t understand the reason, but your explanation sounds like a good guess.

I have the email for Katsuhiko Inoue (the guy on Facebook that posted the two cameras) and can ask him how far he’s got. I suspect that he’s only got the center part of the image working. What should I ask him?

It’s not clear what happens when the image is viewed in a headset.

Another idea is for @jcasman and I to search through the Japanese sites for information on these techniques. There’s a sizable number of Japanese researchers working with the THETA on different types of graphics problems. We may be able to find one of their research projects that has a possible solution.

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I think you should as how he calculates proper parallax offsets. I’m not sure what the picture looks like if you put it in a 3D sphere and look at it with those tinted glasses. Sadly I don’t have a pair to test this.

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It gives 3D effect in two directions
if the thetas are situated East-West the 3D effect
will be strongest North-South

Read-Blue Theta test the greenhouse have a lot of mirror effects
do to the sun
I think the 3D effect are strongest looking North and South do to the camera position West ~ East tripod 1.5 meter apart
click the East ~ West hot spots to see the red blue raw images

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