IDL virtual reality (was 3D Object IDL )

[george(at)apg.ph.ucl.ac.uk (george Millward)]

Hi There,
Thanks for your input.  Actually I am well aquainted with the "flicker
glasses" technique.  I have done a fair amount of  3d animation and
used both the "flicker glasses", and twin polarised projectors, as the
virtual reality technique.  However, up till now my method has been to
render 2 separate animations in IDL (one for left, one for right) and
then recombine these in special 3D video software to create the final
virtual reality scene.  This works fine - but is completely "offline".
 So, my question here is how to do this in fully interactive mode.  I
am not thinking here about the actual 3D technique ("flicker glasses
etc.") as much as how to achieve this within IDL.  My question really
is:  What is the most efficient way to write 2 separate scenes (L and
R) at the same time.  I.E., are there any techniques in IDL that make
this a "no brainer" - has anyone done this before ?  I am really
looking for technical IDL input.  Do you write the data to the
Z-buffer and alternate between the 2 scenes in real time (as fast as
the render engine will do it) etc. etc. ?

Any help much appreciated.  
Cheers ,

George Millward

"Rick Towler" <rtowler@u.washington.edu> wrote in message news:<9kp8m8$16n2$1@nntp6.u.washington.edu>...
> You might want to look into 3d shutter glasses.  They work by alternately
> rendering a left and right eye view to the screen while simultaneously
> covering the opposite eye by darkening the lens.  All of this is done at the
> driver level so you don't have to render your two views by hand.
> 
> I would start with a consumer level product.  Both Elsa (glasses are called
> Revelator) and Asus (glasses are called VR Spectacle) make glasses that work
> with some of their graphics cards for the PC.  The glasses tend to be a
> little flimsy and aren't the most comfortable but they are cheap and a good
> place to start with this sort of thing.  They do work quite well but I know
> some people that get headaches or sick to their stomachs using them.
> 
> If you decide that shutter glasses are the way to go, you can start looking
> for a more professional product.  I know they exist but I just haven't
> gotten that far.
> 
> good luck!
> 
> -Rick Towler
> 
> 
> "George Millward" <ghm@appleonline.net> wrote in message
> B795A847.14F%ghm@appleonline.net">news:B795A847.14F%ghm@appleonline.net...
> > Hi there,
> >
> > I am wanting to generate full 3D output from IDL object scenes.  I can do
> > this offline (i.e., create two different views in which the "eye" is
>  offset
> > for left and right view).  But I want to be able to do all this fully
> > interactively.
> > So my setup would be:
> > Computer running IDL - output to (maybe) 2 graphics cards - > 2 projectors
> > (with polarised filters) and then viewed using 3D (polarised glasses).
> >
> > In practice therefore I need a system for outputting 2 slightly different
> > images (left and right) of the same scene.
> > Does anyone know how to do this ? Are 2 graphics cards required or can it
>  be
> > done with one ?
> >
> > Thanks in advance for any help.
> >
> > George Millward.
> >