Setting+up+an+animation+for+stereo+viewing

=__**Stereo Camera Setup**__=

To make an animation 3d, you need an image for the left eye and an image for the right eye. Here's how to set up left and right eye images in Blender.

Start by adding a camera. (Space>Add>Camera)

Rotate it 90 degrees on the x axis so it is pointing horizontal. (R>x>90>Enter)

Duplicate that camera and move it only a little ways along the x axis. (Shift-D>x) Name both of these cameras left and right respectively. (N key brings up the transform properties where you may change the name) These will be our left and right eye images.



Now, select both cameras and snap your cursor to the middle of them. (Select cameras>Shift-S>Cursor to Selection)

Add an Empty at your cursor's location. (Space>Add>Empty) Name this "camera" The empty is so you can move the empty without messing up the camera spacing.

Select both cameras and empty and move them backwards along the y axis. (B>Drag over objects>G>Y)

Re-center your cursor. (Shift-C)



Add another empty. This will be what our camera points at. Name this "target"

Select the two cameras and the empty beside them, then select the target separately and make a Track-to Constraint. (B>select cameras and empty>B>select target>ctrl-t>TrackTo Constraint) Now the cameras will always point toward the target.

Make the empty a parent of both cameras. (Shift-right click both cameras>Shift-right click empty>ctrl-p>Make Parent) Whenever you move the empty, the cameras will follow.

Your setup is complete! Here is the completed file:

**How to Use the Camera Setup**
It's very simple to use, and gives you more control than a single camera. To move your camera around, you just grab the empty we named as "camera". To change where the camera is pointing at, just move the empty "target" and both cameras will always point in it's direction. To render separate left and right images, select your left camera and make it active. (ctrl-Numpad 0) You can render your animation and rename the rendered file so you know it's the left image. Then make your right camera active and render the animation again and rename the rendered file so you know it's the right. In a later tutorial, we'll go over how to use these rendered images and show them in 3-D.

//Just a note: If the object you're viewing in stereo is in front of the camera target, it will appear to "pop-out" of the screen. If it's behind the camera target, it will "sink-in" to the screen.//