Tutorial: Stereoscopic panorama with Corona + Cardboard

[atelieryork]

This is my latest test render with the newest build. 3d effect in Google Cardboard is now superb (just right, not too big, not to small).

I'm using standard eye separation (6,3cm) which in most cases corresponds with real life IPD. (To make 3d effect more visible and still believable you can make it bigger, to about 65mm) This setting sets the scale of a scene.
Smaller Eye distance makes everything look bigger than in real life, making it bigger makes you feel like an ant in a huge room:)

Another thing is Eye Front Separation - I'm not sure about this but I believe it is digital version of "eye to nect" distance. You never move your head with axis in the middle of your eyes, it's usually around 8cm away from your eyes, so i set it to 8cm.

Converge eyes - this is important to make you feel comfortable and avoid "strange feeling in your stomach".
In real world when you look on objects that are close to you, you have to cross your eyes a little and this is what you're trying to replicate in VR.
In general I set it to about 120% of a distance to the most important part of your image. In an image I attach here it was set to 120% of a distance from camera to the wall behind a TV.

I'm not sure I'm 100% right, but the setting I use seem to work very well:)

I hope it helps!

Thanks for the write-up! Very useful. Will try out these settings next time I get a chance and see how they work. Can't wait to test out your android beta app too by the way.

[romanbuha]

Hi again.

I have just ordered a Google Cardboard Viewer. However, I can not find PSViewer app for iPhone.
What app should I install to test how it works? Or it is only available for now on Android?

Thanks,

Roman

[maru]

Sorry, but I have 0 experience with Apple products. All you need is an application capable of turning 1 or 2 images into a stereoscopic panorama. Maybe you can ask around, for example on Reddit.

[88qba88]

And you can write me PM, I think I'll be able to help you soon:)

[romanbuha]

Maru, Thank you for your reply!

88qba88, just sent you a private message.

[marqueso]

One easy way is to just render two 360 panoramic spheres 6cm apart.

then upload to InciteVr.com It is pretty cool because if you look through your phone it changes the perspective on your computer in "presentation mode". You can see what your client sees and even change the scene from your desktop computer.

here is one i made

http://www.insitevr.com/view/VyLp6s2_x

[romanbuha]

marqueso,

Thank you very much for your post! Will test it as soon as I can.

[rambambulli]

@ romanbuha
I use safari or chrome on my Iphone to view my stereo images. Because app store sucks. In the meantime 88qba88 is creating an app (I'm very interested btw) you can send me your image and I'll send you a link so you can test your images with the webbrowser on your Iphone.

You can upload the image yourself if you want:
use ftp://corona@go-stereo.com in windows explorer
user: corona@go-stereo.com
pass: Corona001

paste this url in safari on your Iphone:

http://www.go-stereo.com/viewer.html?img=corona/YOUR_IMAGE_NAME

default FOV = 75. If you want to use a different FOV use:

http://www.go-stereo.com/viewer.html?img=corona/YOUR_IMAGE_NAME&fov=YOUR_VALUE

If you encounter a problem please email me.

(it is absolutely free but public. So if you dont want anyone to see your stereos don't us it)

[romanbuha]

rambambulli,

Thank you very much for that information.
I am still waiting to get my first cardboard - so I will test it as soon as I can.

Roman

[romanbuha]

Hi guys,

Finally, I got my google cardboard and did some tests on it. I decided to buy View-Master because it has nice rubber cover - so you can normally see virtual pictures.
http://www.view-master.com/

First of all I tested one of their app (something about space) which is totally sucks.
Then I've checked few their pictures and they were also terrible. I tested it with my iPhone 6 and also with my friend's iPhone 6 plus and the result was the same.
The quality of picture is just terrible. Specially, when you want to turn your head around and see more... 3D effect is absolutely blurry and I have no idea if it can be fixed somehow.

Then I tested www.insitevr.com and was a little happy because I was surprised that my panoramic jpg file was easy converted to a VR picture.
Here is that image: https://www.insitevr.com/p/4yLedMztl
However, a little later I understood that it is actually not that good like it was when I tested Samsund Gear VR glasses one month ago.
Because as I understood it is made by using different technologies(?). May somebody explain it to me?

Please download two jpg files from my dropbox (because I can not attach it here):
https://www.dropbox.com/s/a2qqcllbn2bzp5x/No_Gravity.jpg?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/af1cbk354tue5sz/pano.jpg?dl=0

VR-image (pano.jpg) that was rendered on V-Ray 3.2 specially for Samsung Gear VR glasses. Please take a look on this image.
And then - look on the panorama image (No_Gravity.jpg) that was rendered in Corona - specially for creating panoramic image (NOT VR).

As you can see - these images are different.
pano.jpg has 18432 x 1536 pixels and contains from 12 squares (I gues 6 for left and 6 for right eye).
No_Gravity.jpg image was rendered in Corona and was made specially for panorama effect (which is perfectly work by the way).

However, when I tried to use this No_Gravity.jpg on www.insitevr.com - the image was just divided on two same parts.
But it is not a real VR effect. It is like a fake VR effect. You can not fill real space and deepness like I remember in Gear VR.
Yes, you can see the image but it doesn't looks that good. And it is terrible uncomfortable to look down or up. Only okay when you look slowly left or right.

So my conclusion for now is that Google Cardboard can not give the true VR effect like it is when you look on Samsung Gear VR glasses.

And question for Corona team - can you guys improve some option in Corona, so it can render such images like I provided in the attached file (pano.jpg)? Because it doesn't look like there is something special. I mean - it's like there are 6 sides of the box for both eyes connected in one large jpg file.

Thank you!

Kind regards,

Roman

[88qba88]

Hey Roman,

Be a little more patient, as Corona renders a proper VR images that look really good in VR - Samsung's Gear VR, Cardboards or Oculus. You only need a properly working App that will allow you to do it properly.

In a meanwhile you can check how Corona renders look in VR here: (open it in your phone's web browser)
http://www.go-stereo.com/viewer.html?img=corona/CRN001%20360%20salon%2003.jpg
However it's just a simple web viewer, it doesn't use proper distortion nor takes care of phone screen size or Cardboard type.

Best regards,
Jakub

PS. I've attached my simple VR render from Corona - it uses Corona's VR cam and has to be in 1:1 proportions. It works best when you set resolution to 1024x1024, 2048x2048, 4096x4096 etc:)

To be honest I think Corona's equirectangular renders are better then V-Ray's Cubemap as Apps don't have to "stitch" 6 different images per eye and from my tests you can achieve better image quality when viewed from your phone.

[maru]

Please download two jpg files from my dropbox (because I can not attach it here):
https://www.dropbox.com/s/a2qqcllbn2bzp5x/No_Gravity.jpg?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/af1cbk354tue5sz/pano.jpg?dl=0

VR-image (pano.jpg) that was rendered on V-Ray 3.2 specially for Samsung Gear VR glasses. Please take a look on this image.
And then - look on the panorama image (No_Gravity.jpg) that was rendered in Corona - specially for creating panoramic image (NOT VR).

As you can see - these images are different.
pano.jpg has 18432 x 1536 pixels and contains from 12 squares (I gues 6 for left and 6 for right eye).
No_Gravity.jpg image was rendered in Corona and was made specially for panorama effect (which is perfectly work by the way).

However, when I tried to use this No_Gravity.jpg on www.insitevr.com - the image was just divided on two same parts.
But it is not a real VR effect. It is like a fake VR effect. You can not fill real space and deepness like I remember in Gear VR.
Yes, you can see the image but it doesn't looks that good. And it is terrible uncomfortable to look down or up. Only okay when you look slowly left or right.

So my conclusion for now is that Google Cardboard can not give the true VR effect like it is when you look on Samsung Gear VR glasses.

Hi, sorry, but I don't fully understand the message. You are comparing a stereoscopic image (from Vray) and a single panorama (from Corona). If you load the single panorama into some VR app - how is it supposed to be 3D? It requires two images, each for one eye. Maybe I misunderstood something?

And question for Corona team - can you guys improve some option in Corona, so it can render such images like I provided in the attached file (pano.jpg)? Because it doesn't look like there is something special. I mean - it's like there are 6 sides of the box for both eyes connected in one large jpg file.

The new VR options are in daily builds only ( https://coronarenderer.freshdesk.com/support/solutions/articles/5000570015 ). Corona renders one image which is combined from 2 camera positions. It works just fine and no cubemaps are required.

[rambambulli]

@88qba88

it doesn't use proper distortion

How do you mean? How can I use/add proper distortion?

Guess I found it. Learning something new every day :D

Thanks

[romanbuha]

Hey Roman,

Be a little more patient, as Corona renders a proper VR images that look really good in VR - Samsung's Gear VR, Cardboards or Oculus. You only need a properly working App that will allow you to do it properly.

In a meanwhile you can check how Corona renders look in VR here: (open it in your phone's web browser)
http://www.go-stereo.com/viewer.html?img=corona/CRN001%20360%20salon%2003.jpg
However it's just a simple web viewer, it doesn't use proper distortion nor takes care of phone screen size or Cardboard type.

Best regards,
Jakub

PS. I've attached my simple VR render from Corona - it uses Corona's VR cam and has to be in 1:1 proportions. It works best when you set resolution to 1024x1024, 2048x2048, 4096x4096 etc:)

To be honest I think Corona's equirectangular renders are better then V-Ray's Cubemap as Apps don't have to "stitch" 6 different images per eye and from my tests you can achieve better image quality when viewed from your phone.

Jakub,

Thank you for your images. I have just tested your link. I opened it in Chrome on my iPhone 6 and put it in my Google Cardboard (View-Master).
Well, it is looks now more close to what I've seen in Gear VR - but the quality is still poor.
I have to say that my stomach is now filling not good :(
 
I understand that it is just a simple web viewer. Well, I will try to be patient and will be waiting for the app like you are saying.

So, did I understand you correct? When your app will be available - it will be possible to install it on Samsung Galaxy S6 and put there renders from Corona and then it will be possible to see it in Gear VR?

I'm talking about Gear VR because I still don't believe that Google Cardboard can work on the same high level.

Thanks,

Roman

[romanbuha]

Hi, sorry, but I don't fully understand the message. You are comparing a stereoscopic image (from Vray) and a single panorama (from Corona). If you load the single panorama into some VR app - how is it supposed to be 3D? It requires two images, each for one eye. Maybe I misunderstood something?

Maru,

Exactly, that was what I did. And it was just for test. Because somebody above posted that website www.insitevr.com - so I decided to try how it works.
I uploaded to that website my single panorama image and then it was just simply divided on two same parts so I was watching it in my Google Cardboard.
And yeah, it is not that truth effect of Virtual Reality.

The new VR options are in daily builds only ( https://coronarenderer.freshdesk.com/support/solutions/articles/5000570015 ). Corona renders one image which is combined from 2 camera positions. It works just fine and no cubemaps are required.

If it works - please send me any VR picture that I can see in Gear VR - so I will see how it is looks like. And yeah - also please explain where I have to put image to see it in Gear VR.

Thanks!

Roman