This tool can be used in special circumstances when camera synchronization and alignment are not required. Computer Graphics Image (CGI) video files may already be synchronized and aligned, and the many manual “Creating Video Pairs” and “Processing the Video pairs” procedures are unnecessary. Professional 3D rigs with GenLock cameras and tight camera alignment may generate video files that do not need realigned.

The Bypass Camera Sync and Align Procedures tool creates default Align (*_A.txt) files and left and right JPG files for all 3D video pairs in the working directory. The default Start Frame, ShiftX, ShiftY and Rotation values are set to zero, and the default Scale values are set to one.

Existing Align files and their corresponding JPG files will not be overwritten.

Mirrored or rotated videos will not have correct Flip values written to the Align file, but this can be corrected later using the Adjust 3D Pan Crop tool. Also, the Create Thumbnails tool will not have the information to correct for mirrored input files.

Separate left and right video files are required. The left filename must be suffixed with “_L” and the right filename must be suffixed with “_R” to form a stereoscopic 3D video pair, as shown in the following examples:

cat_L.mpg
cat_R.mpg
dog_L.wmv
dog_R.wmv

1) Outside Make3D create a directory to hold the 3D video pairs.

2) Make sure the video pair filenames have the required “*_L.*” and “*_R.*” formats.

3) Copy or move the video 3D pairs to the new directory.

4) Open Make3D inside Vegas, and use the [Sync Align Bypass] button to start the tool.

After the Bypass Camera Sync and Align Procedures tool finishes creating the Align (*_A.txt) files and JPG files, you should be able to use the Create 3D Timeline tool.

Creating Video File Pairs

For various reasons, the video files from the left and right cameras, which will form a stereoscopic video file pair, may not have the same file names. Moreover, there may be orphan video clips that must be located and disabled.

Use the following procedures to verify you have matching left and right video files, and to rename the video files and move them to the working directory.

Create Directories Tool

WARNING: Do not mix video files with different extensions in a single directory! Use separate directories for different video file types.

1) Use the Create Directories button to open the Browse For Folder dialog.

2) Use the directory tree box to select the root directory where you want to create the new video directory.

3) Use the Make New Folder button to create a New Folder directory.

4) Rename the New Folder directory – a recommended directory name format includes date and place, such as 20080704_Fireworks. You may need to right click the New Folder directory and select Rename from the popup menu

5) Make sure the new renamed folder is selected before continuing.

6) Use the OK button to create empty LEFT and RIGHT subdirectories.

Note: If you Exit the Browse For Folder dialog, then the New Folder directory will not contain LEFT and RIGHT subdirectories.

Change Video Ext Tool

Make3D defaults to use video files with the .MTS extension, but can change the working video file extension to handle any video file type that Vegas supports.

Thus, Make3D can support almost any existing video camera and Create New 3D Timeline can create Vegas timelines using video pairs from multiple directories that each contain a different video file type.

1) Use the Change Video Ext button to open the Make3D Change Video Ext dialog.

2) Use the directory tree box to navigate to any directory that contains a video file with the desired new extension.

3) Select any video file with the desired new extension.

4) Use the Open button to change the working video file extension.

Note: Change Video Ext does not change the working directory.

Import Left Video and Import Right Video Tools

When connected to a computer, many video cameras will allow access to the internal directory where the video files are stored. See your cameras documentation for instructions on establishing a link to the computer.

The Import Left Videos and Import Right Videos procedure copies the video files directly from the cameras and is normally faster than a pop-up camera file import utility that may be installed on you computer. If desired, you can close the pop-up camera file import utility when establishing a link between a video camera and the computer.

You can use the Change Video Ext tool to look for the camera internal video directory, and also set the appropriate video file extension. Many Sony video cameras will store the video files in: <Removable Disk letter>:\AVCHD\BDMV\STREAM

If your camera allows access to the internal directory and video files:

Import Left Video requires that an empty LEFT subdirectory exists, and will save the camera video directory path when exiting.

Import Right Video requires that a non-empty LEFT subdirectory exists, and that an empty RIGHT subdirectory exists.

Note: Some machines may change the drive letter when a different camera is connected! If a message box appears with "directory not found!", you can continue and search for the new camera files directory.

1) Connect LEFT camera to computer, turn on the camera and establish a link.

2) Use the Import Left Video button to open the “Import Left Video” dialog that verifies: “Have you established a link with the LEFT camera?”.

3) Use the Yes button to open the “Browse for Folder” dialog.

4) Use the directory tree box to select the camera video file directory.

5) Use the OK button to copy the LEFT camera video files to the LEFT subdirectory.

6) Close the computer link, then turn off and disconnect the LEFT camera.

7) Connect RIGHT camera to computer, turn on the camera and establish a link.

8) Use the Import Right Video button to open the “Import Right Video” dialog that verifies: “Have you established a link with the RIGHT camera?”.

9) Use the Yes button to open the “Browse for Folder” dialog.

10) Use the directory tree box to select the camera video file directory.

11) Use the OK button to copy the RIGHT camera video files to the RIGHT subdirectory.

12) Close the computer link, then turn off and disconnect the RIGHT camera.

If your camera does not allow access to the internal video files:

Outside of Make3D:

1) Import the left camera video files.

2) Move the left camera video files from import directory to the LEFT subdirectory.

3) Import the video files from right camera.

4) Move the right camera video files from import directory to the RIGHT subdirectory.

Return to Make3D:

Create LR Data Tool

Create LR Data is an automatic utility that opens each video file in the new LEFT and RIGHT subdirectories, extracts the first video frame and creates a JPG file for use by the Verify Video Pairs tool and creates a WAV file from the first 4 seconds of audio for use by the Find Audio Clicks tool.

Use the Create LR Data button to automatically create first frame JPG and WAV files in the LEFT and RIGHT subdirectories. Later the WAV files will be renames and moved to the working directory by the Renumber Videos tool.

Do you want to save the current project?

Because Create LR Data uses the Vegas timeline to create the first frame images, it gives you the chance to save you current project timeline. Normally, you will be processing a new group of video files, and will not need to save the current project.

Note: On some machines Create LR Data will occasionally halt. If this occurs, Restart Create LR Data, it will not recreate already generated JPG and WAV files.

Verify Video Pairs Tool

The Verify Video Pairs tool is used to make sure that the video files in the LEFT and RIGHT subdirectories match. Occasionally when you use a remote control to start recording, both video cameras will not start recording. The video camera that is recording is creating an orphan video clip. The Verify Video Pairs tool is used to find and disable orphan video clips.

When Verify Video Pairs starts the LEFT and RIGHT subdirectories are scanned and thumbnail images are created and added to the left and right ListView boxes.

Use the [Up] and [Down] arrow keys to scroll through the ListView boxes and locate orphan video files.

NOTE: Using the mouse wheel to scroll through the ListView boxes can move the highlighted pairs out of view.

When the mouse is hovering over a thumbnail, the matching image in the other ListView box is highlighted. The video pair highlighting works in either ListView box.

NOTE: Leaving the mouse hovering over a thumbnail when using the arrow keys to scroll through the ListView boxes may cause unexpected results.

Mirrored and upside down input file handling happens later using the Find Camera Alignment tool, for now you must put up with mirrored images in the ListView boxes.

If you find a mismatched video pair then check the next pair to determine which video file is the orphan. Click on the orphan thumbnail to popup the Make3D Verify Pairs message box.

If you click the Yes button then the orphan thumbnail will be removed from the ListView box and the corresponding video file’s extension will be prefixed with an underscore character. This does not delete the video file, but makes it invisible to Make3D. You can delete the disabled video file, or restore it by removing the underscore character from the filename.

Continue checking the video pairs until you are sure they are all matched correctly, only then click the Exit button.

Verify Video Pairs User Interface

Use the up and down arrow keys to check for orphan video files and click on a thumbnail to disable an orphan video file.

Left ListView Box – shows LEFT subdirectory first frame thumbnail images.

Right ListView Box – shows RIGHT subdirectory first frame thumbnail images.

Renumber Videos Tool

For various reasons, the video pair filenames in the LEFT and RIGHT subdirectories may not be the same. The Renumber Videos tool will automatically rename the video and WAV files and move them to the working directory.

When you start the Renumber Videos tool a “Medtron Renumber Videos Tool” message box will appear and ask “Did you verify LEFT and RIGHT videos match?”.

The Yes button will pop-up the Medtron Make3D Renumber Videos dialog, and the No button will exit the Renumber Videos Tool.

The Medtron Make3D Renumber Videos dialog allows you to enter a starting sequence number, and select if you want the directory name to be prefixed to the video filenames.

If you are using the suggested directory name format that includes the date and place, then you should check the Prefix Directory Name checkbox and use 1 as the Start Number.

If you prefer filenames with straight sequence numbers, then clear the Prefix Directory Name checkbox and enter the starting sequence number in the Start Number Edit box.

Time Synchronizing Video File Pairs

Create Wave Files Tool - obsolete

The Create Wave Files tool functionality has been moved to the Create LR Data tool to simplify the Make3D workflow.

Create Wave Files is an automatic utility that opens each video file in the working directory and extracts and decompresses the first four seconds of audio. The decompressed audio is written to a WAV file for use by the Find Audio Clicks tool.

X Valid .wav file pairs already exist.

This message box appears if you have already have WAV files in the working directory. There is seldom a good reason to rerun the Create Wave Files utility.

Do you want to save the current project?

Because Create Wave Files uses the Vegas timeline to extract and decompress the audio, it gives you the chance to save you current project timeline. Normally, you will be processing a new group of video files, and will not need to save the project.

X of Y / Exit

This dialog shows the progress of WAV file creation. There is an Exit button that will abort the processing, but this is not recommended.

Find Audio Clicks Tool

Use the [Run Verify] button to process all of the file pairs in the Input Video Pairs box.

Synchronizing the start of the left and right video clips is a very important step in creating professional 3D productions. Even when using a single remote control to start both cameras, the cameras may not start at exactly the same time. Fortunately, the audio tracks from each camera can be used to synchronize the start frames.

If the recording environment is not too quiet or noisy, then it is often possible to automatically synchronize the start times using a technique called correlation coefficients. However, in some cases there is not enough noise free audio information to determine the start frames with high confidence.

You can use an audio clicker to add short loud spikes to the start of the sound tracks that help when computing the audio correlation histogram, and that can be visually located in audio histograms.

When Find Clicks starts the left and right WAV file pairs are found in the working directory and added to the Input Video Pairs box. After you select and write start frames for a video clip, the WAV file pair is moved to the Processed Video Pairs box and a Click File (*_C.txt) is created. The Click File contains the video pair filenames with the associated start frame numbers.

X Valid click (_C.txt) files already exist.

This message box appears if you have already have Click Files in the working directory.

Typically you would see this if you were re-running Find Clicks to correct prior errors.

Although Shift Left [<] and Shift Right [>] buttons exist, they are seldom used, as the start frames are normally adjusted by left clicking or rotating the mouse wheel in the Left Audio or Right Audio histogram boxes.

The upper Directory Bar shows the working directory path and the WAV pair being processed, the lower Status Bar shows the processing state for the histograms.

Normally, instead of clicking on an entry in the Input Video Pairs box, you will use the Run Verify button to process all of the WAV file pairs in the Input Video Pairs box.

If you left click on a WAV file pair in the Input Video Pairs box, then the WAV files are opened, audio histograms are created and displayed in the Left Audio and Right Audio histogram boxes, and correlation coefficients are computed and displayed in the Audio Correlation histogram box.

Automatic Audio Click finding

Automatic click finding locates the two loudest audio spikes in the four second long WAV file and assumes the earlier spike is the press spike and the later is the release spike. The press spike is marked with a blue vertical line and the release spike is marked with a red vertical line, the start frame is set approximately two frames after the release spike and marked with a thicker black vertical line. Although the press and release spikes may not line up with the frame boundaries, the start frame is always placed at a frame boundary.

The small Audio Correlation histogram box is usually the most important information to observe when selecting the start frames.

If the start frames are within ten frames of each other then the Audio Correlation histogram box will also contain a red vertical line that shows the timing difference between the left and right start frames.

The center position of the Audio Correlation histogram box represents a zero time shift between the left and right audio clips. Typically, the best correlation spike will be within a few frames of the center position.

The Audio Correlation histogram usually looks like a small mountain range with one or more peaks. Often there is a spike sticking up from the top of one of the peaks like a flagpole. Adjusting the start frame positions so that the red line is as close as possible to the tallest flagpole is usually provides the best camera synchronization.

If the recording environment was not too noisy and you have a good click, then automatic click finding usually works correctly, and all you have to do is confirm the start frame black line positions in the Audio histogram boxes and the red line position in the Audio Correlation box.

In a quiet recording environment, the audio histograms will look like thin horizontal black line with occasional fuzzy pink blobs, and colored vertical lines. The light green lines mark the frame boundaries. The blue and red vertical lines are the result of automatic click finding and the black vertical lines are the start frame positions.

If the press spike blue lines are followed by the release spike red lines and start frame black lines in the Audio histogram boxes, and the red line in the Audio Correlation box is as close as possible to the tallest flagpole, then automatic click finding worked. Use the Write button to create a Click File that contains the start frame information for the video file pair.

In a noisy recording environment, the audio histograms will look like thick fuzzy pink bands, and automatic click finding may fail, and you will have to select the left and right start frames manually.

When Automatic Audio Click finding fails

When automatic audio click finding fails you must set the left and right start frames by hand. Left clicking in an Audio histogram box will set the start frame position. Rolling the mouse wheel in an Audio histogram box will move the start frame position.

If you can clearly see the press and release spikes in the Audio histogram boxes, then click two frames after the release spikes in each of the Audio histogram boxes to change the start frame positions.

If you do not see the press and release spikes in the Audio histogram boxes, then left click in the Audio Correlation box. This will reset the start frame positions in both Audio histogram boxes to the first frames. An automatically computed “Best Shift” may be applied to move one of the start frames.

Now, use the mouse wheel in either Audio histogram box to adjust the start frames so the red line in the Audio Correlation box is as close as possible to the tallest spike near the center of the correlation histogram.

After you are satisfied with your start frame selections, then use the Write button to create a Click File that contains the start frame information for the video file pair.

Find Audio Clicks User Interface

Position a start frame by left clicking in the audio histogram boxes and then fine adjust the start frame by rotating the mouse wheel.

If automatic audio click finding fails, then left click in the Audio Correlation box to reset start frames.

Directory Bar – Shows the working directory and WAV file pair being processed.

Status Bar – Displays Find Audio Clicks processing status.

Shift Left [<] and Shift Right [>] – Adjust the start frame positions.

Audio Correlation – Displays audio correlation histogram and start frame offset.

Left Audio – Displays left audio histogram, click and start frame positions.

Right Audio – Displays right audio histogram, click and start frame positions.

Write – Create a new Click File (*_C.txt) using the LEFT and RIGHT start frames.

Run Verify – Process all of the WAV file pairs in the working directory.

Exit – Close the Find Clicks tool.

Input Video Pairs – Shows unprocessed WAV file pairs in the working directory.

Processed Video Pairs – Shows Click Files created in the working directory.

Aligning Video File Pairs

Create Jpg Files Tool

Create Jpg Files is an automatic utility that opens each video file in the working directory and extracts and decompresses the start frame identified in the corresponding Click File (_C.txt). The start frame is written to a JPG file for use by the Find Camera Alignment tool.

X Valid .Jpg file pairs already exist.

This message box appears if you have already have JPG files in the working directory.

Do you want to save the current project?

Because Create Jpg Files uses the Vegas timeline to extract and recompress the start frame, it gives you the chance to save you current project timeline. Normally, you will be processing a new group of video files, and will not need to save the project.

X of Y / Exit

This dialog shows the progress of JPG file creation. There is an Exit button that will abort the processing, but this is not recommended.

Note: On some machines Create Jpg Files will occasionally halt. If this occurs, Restart Create Jpg Files, it will not recreate already generated Jpg files.

Find Camera Alignment Tool

Use the [Run Verify] button to process all of the file pairs in the Input Video Pairs box.

Correcting camera misalignment is critical to produce professional 3D video, as watching poorly aligned video can cause eyestrain. The moving the left and right camera images up or down to achieve correct vertical alignment is called ShiftY. Horizontally moving the images relative to each other is called ShiftX, and is a more artistic adjustment.

The Find Camera Alignment tool uses multi-spectral correlation histograms to automatically find the correct ShiftY value for each video pair. The correlation technique normally works correctly, but occasionally is fooled by certain images. For example, bright or dark diagonal objects can cause incorrect ShiftY values. The results of the automatic calculations are displayed as the initial ShiftY value. The ShiftY value is also reflected in the positioning of the horizontally compressed tall image boxes on the left side of the Find Camera Alignment tool.

The ShiftX value is displayed and reflected in the positioning of the 3D Window display. The initial ShiftX value is set to zero. Often you will want to make an artistic ShiftX adjustment to set the stereo 3D window.

Vertical Image Alignment

The tall narrow box at the left side of the Find Alignment tool displays a horizontally compressed image created from the left video start frame, the right start frame image is shown in the tall box to the right. Horizontally compressing the images helps to visualize the effects of changing the ShiftY, Scale and Rotation values. The compressed images are overlaid with white and black horizontal grid lines that help position objects contained in the images directly beside each other when changing the ShiftY and Scale values.

The automatically computed ShiftY value is displayed and reflected in the positions of the left and right images in the tall narrow image boxes. Usually, the initial ShiftY value is very close to correct, or wildly incorrect. Wildly incorrect ShiftY is easy to spot because the images do not line up beside each other.

The ShiftY value is easily adjusted by rotating the mouse wheel when the cursor is in either of the tall narrow image boxes. As you rotate the mouse wheel the ShiftY value will change and you will see one of the images shift up, the other image shift down.

The Zoom radio buttons magnify the contents of the image boxes, and are useful when making precise ShiftY adjustments.

Horizontal Image Alignment

You may want to use anaglyph glasses when making this adjustment.

The large 3D Window box displays an overlay or anaglyph of the left and right video images. This allows you to see the 3D alignment and adjust the ShiftX value to avoid window edge violations.

The ShiftX value is easily adjusted by rotating the mouse wheel when the cursor is in the 3D Window image box. As you rotate the mouse wheel the ShiftX value will change and you will see one of the images shift left and the other image shift right.

The new ShiftX value is saved and re-used for subsequent video pairs, but can always be reset.

Mirrored and Upside Down Video File Correction

The Flip checkboxes are used to correct mirrored or 180 degree rotated input files. The Flip Left X checkbox horizontally mirrors the left input file. The Flip Left Y checkbox vertically mirrors the left input file. The Flip Right X checkbox horizontally mirrors the right input file. The Flip Right Y checkbox vertically mirrors the right input file. Using both Flip X and Flip Y together will handle upside down (180 degree rotation) input files.

WARNING: There is no support for 90 or 270 degree input file rotation.

Handling Mismatched Camera Zoom

This problem often occurs when attempting to zoom the left and right cameras.

Because the two cameras may have slight differences in their lens adjustments, the resulting left and right video images may be different sizes when compared to each other.

This problem can become serious with even slight differences in camera zoom settings, and may make it impossible to simultaneously align the top and bottom of both images.

If this occurs, pick an object in the middle of the images and adjust the ShiftY value to vertically align the target object. Then adjust the Scale value to match the left and right image magnification. Repeat the ShiftY and Scale adjustments until objects in the images are horizontally aligned.

Because the camera zoom mismatch tends to remain constant until the cameras are re-zoomed, the Scale value is saved and re-used for subsequent video pairs, but can always be reset.

Handling Intra Camera Rotation

This is not usually a problem if the left and right cameras are properly attached to a mounting bar, or slide bar. However, if the cameras are attached to separate tripods, or there is a problem with the camera mounts, then there might be some inter-camera rotation.

The tall narrow image boxes exaggerate the rotation differences for horizontal lines. If the left and right images contain some long horizontal lines, then it is easy to adjust the Rotation value. Otherwise, it can be difficult to correctly adjust the Rotation value.

If your camera rig is susceptible to inter-camera rotation, then it is a good idea to capture a short (~5 to 10 sec) video clip that contains a long distinct horizontal line. You can use this horizon test shot to adjust the Rotation value for all of the video pairs in the shoot.

Because inter-camera rotation tends to remain constant as long as the cameras do not move on the mounting bar, the Rotation value is saved and re-used for subsequent video pairs, but can always be reset.

Find Camera Alignment User Interface

Adjust the alignment values by using the mouse wheel in the image boxes or the numeric input boxes.

Left Vertical Image – Shows horizontally compressed left image

Right Vertical Image – Shows horizontally compressed right image

3D Window Display – Shows Overlay or Anaglyph of left and right images.

Grid –Turns the main display Grid on or off.

Directory Bar – Shows the working directory and Click File (*_C.txt) being processed.

Status Bar – Shows processing state

Zoom Group

x1 – Sets image display magnification to 1.

x2 – Sets image display magnification to 2.

x4 – Sets image display magnification to 4.

Camera Alignment Group

Reset Shift X – Resets the ShiftX value to 0.

Shift X numeric box – Adjusts the ShiftX value.

Reset Shift Y – Resets the ShiftY value to 0.

Shift Y numeric box – Adjusts the ShiftY value.

Reset Rotation – Resets the Rotation value to 0.0.

Rotation numeric box – Adjusts the Rotation value.

Reset Scale – Resets the Scale value to 1.0.

Scale numeric box – Adjusts the Scale value.

Display Group

Overlay Left + Right – Set 3D Window Display to overlay left and right images.

Anaglyph Red/Cyan – Set 3D Window Display to red/cyan anaglyph.

Anaglyph Green/Magenta – Set 3D Window Display to green/magenta anaglyph.

Anaglyph Yellow/Blue – Set 3D Window Display to yellow/blue anaglyph.

Flip Left X – Horizontally mirrors the left input file.

Flip Left Y – Vertically mirrors the left input file.

Flip Right X – Horizontally mirrors the right input file.

Flip Right Y – Vertically mirrors the right input file.

Run Verify – Process all of the Click Files in the Input Pair List Box

Write Alignment – Create a new Align File (*_A.txt) in the working directory

Exit – Close the Find Camera Alignment tool.

Input Video Pairs – Shows unprocessed Click Files in the working directory.

Processed Video Pairs – Shows newly created Align Files in the working directory.

3D Timeline Creation

Make3D includes tools for creating and editing 3D timelines, and supports Anaglyph, Dual Stream and Side-By-Side 3D Formats.

Automatic Thumbnail (*.M3T) File Creation

When the Create New 3D Timeline, Insert 3D Videos and Insert 3D Photos tools are started the working directory is scanned for 3D file pairs and Thumbnail (*.M3T) files. This also occurs when using the [Change Directory] button. If the number of Thumbnail files does not match the number of 3D file pairs, then a Create Thumbnails tool will appear. The Create Thumbnails tool displays the number of 3D file pairs and the number of Thumbnail files found in the directory, and prompts to create the missing Thumbnail files.

Creating Thumbnail files in a directory dramatically reduces the Create New 3D Timeline, Insert 3D Videos and Insert 3D Photos tools load times and is highly recommended.

For Create New 3D Timeline and Insert 3D Videos, the Create Thumbnails tool uses information in the Align (*_A.txt) files to correct the Thumbnails for mirrored camera input files.

For Insert 3D Photos the directory is scanned for LEFT (*_L.*) images of 3D Photo pairs, and corresponding Thumbnails are created. See Insert 3D Photos to Timeline tool for a list of 3D Photo pair supported image formats and required filename syntax.

Create New 3D Timeline Tool

When you start the Create New 3D Timeline tool the Add Video Pairs to Timeline dialog is opened, the working directory is scanned, the Align Files are processed, and thumbnail images are created from the corresponding left JPG files or loaded from Thumbnail (*.M3T) files, and added to the left Input Directory Pairs box.

Do you want to save the current project?

Because Create New 3D Timeline will create a new Vegas timeline, it gives you the chance to save your current project timeline.

The Anaglyph, Dual Stream and Side-By-Side radio buttons are used to select the new timeline 3D Format.

The Preview or Photo Time edit box sets the length in seconds of the preview or photo video clips added to the 3D Timeline.

Because you may want to add video files from different directories, the Change Directory button can be used to select a new working directory. Because Change Directory reloads the Input Directory Pairs box, you can add a video file to the timeline more than once.

After you process a batch of video file pairs, it is usually a good idea to create a preview timeline to check the synchronization and alignment of each of the video file pairs. The Add Previews to Timeline button will create subclips using all of the Input Directory Pairs box contents, add the subclips to the Vegas timeline and then exit. The contents of the Output to Timeline Queue box are ignored.

Left clicking a thumbnail in the Input Directory Pairs box moves the thumbnail to the right Output to Timeline Queue box.

The Add All Input to Output button will move all of the remaining thumbnails in the Input Directory Pairs box to the Output to Timeline Queue box.

Left clicking a thumbnail in the Output to Timeline Queue box will remove the thumbnail from the timeline, but will not return it to Input Directory Videos box.

The Abort button will exit the Create New 3D Timeline tool without creating a Vegas timeline.

When you are satisfied with the contents of the Output to Timeline Queue box, use the Add Output to Timeline button to allow the new 3D timeline to be created, and then the Make3D Toolkit will exit to allow Vegas to process new timeline.

Automatic 3D Timeline Creation

When you Exit the Create New 3D Timeline tool the contents of the Input Directory Pairs box is processed to create a Vegas project 3D timeline.

Make3D will create the following six tracks that are grouped together as the 3D Timeline, and that are processed as a group by the Make3D Vegas Timeline Utilities:

L Mask
L Video
L Audio
R Mask
R Video
R Audio

WARNING: Never rename or delete the 3D Timeline tracks! Furthermore, do not hand edit the Pan/Crop values of the 3D Timeline tracks or change the “Composite Mode” track settings.

The Automatic 3D Timeline Creation process:

First the old project timeline is cleared and mask, video and audio tracks for the left and right video files are created.

Next, each video pair is processed and the start frame positions and shift values are extracted for the left and right video files.

The shift values are used to compute the values for the mask and subclip Pan / Crop events.

The subclip lengths are computed from the start frame positions and video file lengths, and then time-aligned subclips and corresponding masks are created and added to the Vegas timeline.

Insert 3D Videos to Timeline Tool

The Insert 3D Videos to Timeline tool is identical to the Create New 3D Timeline tool, except for the following:

A new timeline is not created.

Video Pairs or Previews are added to the existing timeline.

The current 3D Format is used.

The Anaglyph, Dual Stream and Side-By-Side radio buttons are disabled.

Insert 3D Photos to Timeline Tool

The Insert 3D Photos to Timeline tool creates video clips from stereoscopic still image file pairs and adds the clips to the 3D Timeline. The following image formats are supported:

BMP
GIF
JPG
PNG
TIF

Separate left and right image files are required. The left filename must be suffixed with _L and the right filename must be suffixed with _R to form a stereoscopic image pair, as shown in the following examples:

cat_L.jpg
cat_R.jpg
dog_L.tif
dog_R.tif

Multiple image formats can be located in a single directory. Images are assumed to have square pixels (Aspect Ratio = 1.0) and black borders will be added to the video clips to create a 16:9 aspect ratio, suitable for rendering wide-screen video. The Photo Time box sets the duration in seconds of the created video clips. If you are adding multiple image pairs, set the duration to the longest clip than you need, later edit the other clips to the correct durations.

WARNING: There is no support for rotated or mirrored Photo files.

Create New 3D Timeline, Append 3D Pairs & Photos to Timeline User Interfaces

Left click a thumbnail in the Input ListView to add it to the Vegas timeline.

Directory Bar – Shows the directory being processed.

Status Bar – Shows the processing state

Anaglyph Red/Cyan – Create a timeline with red and cyan masks.

Anaglyph Yellow/Blue– Create a timeline with yellow and blue masks.

Anaglyph Green/Magenta– Create a timeline with green and magenta masks.

Dual Stream – Create a timeline with white masks.

Side By Side – Create a timeline with white masks and special Pan/Crop values.

Preview or Photo Time – Sets the length in seconds of the video clips added to the 3D Timeline.

Input Directory Videos – Shows thumbnails of unused video pairs in the working directory.

Output to Timeline Queue – Shows thumbnails of the video pairs that will be added to the Vegas timeline.

Change Directory – Select a new directory for processing

Add Previews to Timeline – Creates preview clips from the contents of the Input Directory Videos box and adds them to the Vegas timeline, and then exits the Load 3D Files tool.

Add All Input to Output - Move all thumbnails from the Input Directory Videos box to the Output to Timeline Queue box.

Add Output to Timeline – Adds the Output to Timeline Queue contents to the Vegas timeline, and exits the Load 3D Files tool.

Abort – Exit the Load 3D Files tool without loading the Vegas timeline.

Convert 3D Timeline Format Tool

Because Vegas creates and uses a disk file for [Edit / Undo] and for [Edit / Undo Run Script] functionality, you should use the Convert 3D Timeline Format tool as seldom as possible. This will save disk space and speedup editing.

Make3D supports Anaglyph Red/Cyan, Anaglyph Yellow/Blue, Anaglyph Green/Magenta, Dual Stream and Side-By-Side 3D Formats. The Convert 3D Timeline Format tool is a very simple dialog that allows you to change the timeline 3D Format.

Typically, you will select a preferred 3D Format and use it for creating and editing the timeline. After you have completed editing, it may be necessary to convert the timeline 3D Format before rendering a specific file type. After rendering the timeline, you can use the Convert 3D Timeline Format tool to restore you favorite editing 3D Format.

Depending upon the 3D Format conversion the Convert 3D Timeline Format tool may change the mask files and Pan/Crop values, and modifies all events in the 3D Timeline.

Cleanup Directory Tool

When editing a Vegas 3D timeline the working directory gets cluttered with many files. You can use the Cleanup Directory tool to delete temporary files created by the Make3D toolkit and by the Vegas editing process from the working directory.

Normally, you would use the Cleanup Directory tool after saving the your finished Vegas project and rendering the timeline.

The Cleanup Directory tool cannot delete files that are being used by the Vegas timeline. You should use [Vegas/File / New] to create an empty timeline before using the Cleanup Directory tool. The following files will be deleted from the working directory:

· *.sfk

· *.sfk0

· *.sfk1

· *.sfl

· TmpMake3D.*