Stereo Property Editor (Camera)

Defines how the stereo camera rig is set up and "sees" the scene.

For procedures about working with stereo cameras in general, see Stereoscopic (3D) Camera Rigs [Cameras and Motion Blur].

To display, do one of the following:

Choose Get Primitive Camera Stereo.
Choose Properties from the Stereo menu in a viewport or Object view.
Click on the Stereo property set icon under the StereoCamera_Root node in the explorer.

Stereo

Controls the basic properties of the selected stereo camera.

Stereo Type

Select the type of stereo camera to define the output images:

Off disables the stereo effect by disabling any eye separate, Interaxial Separation, and Zero Parallax plane calculations on the StereoCamera node.
Converged computes the zero parallax plane by automatically "toeing in" (rotating) the cameras toward a single shared point in the distance. This point is defined by the center stereo camera's interest.

You should use this type only when there is little depth beyond the object of interest, or when an object is at the center of the screen with no other objects at the right and left edges of the camera frustum.

The Converged stereo type can create a vertical offset between the left and right images, which can be irritating to the eyes. The left and right eye each see a different image, and flicker back and forth trying to focus on the combined image. To prevent this problem, you can use the Off-axis type.
Off-axis (also known as the "optical shift" type) computes the convergence point for the cameras by leaving the cameras parallel, but then doing a lens shift. The stereo camera operator automatically computes the lens shift on the left and right cameras, then sets the Optical Center Shift parameter for the stereo camera's (center camera) projection plane. This gives the same effect as converging to a point, but the camera's frustum is bent so that the images are converged without a vertical offset. This makes it easier for the eyes to focus.
Parallel computes a parallel camera setup where there is no convergence plane. The left and right cameras are not direction-constrained to the center camera's interest. This type is useful for landscape settings where objects effectively exist at infinity.

Interaxial Separation

The distance between the left and right cameras in Softimage units.

When you change this value for the Converged type, the cameras automatically rotate inward (toe-in) so that they continue to point at the convergence point.

You may want to keep this value fairly low so that there is not too much disparity between the images from the left and right cameras, which makes focusing more difficult.

Zero Parallax Distance

The distance in Softimage units from the camera to where the zero parallax plane occurs. This is the plane at which objects appear to be on the screen.

NoteYou can hold down the Shift key when adjusting these values to increase the slider's precision.

See Setting the Zero Parallax Plane [Cameras and Motion Blur] for information on setting this distance and displaying the zero parallax plane in the viewport.

This option is not available for the Parallel type.

Stereo Adjustments

Adjusts the camera's rotation or offset to the image.

Toe In (degrees)

Rotates the left and right cameras inward toward the center camera. This value is specified in degrees.

For the Converged type, this is an offset to the computed toe-in effect that is automatically computed for the left and right cameras to reach the convergence point.

This option is not available for the Parallel type.

Left/Right Film Offset (inches)

Adjusts the positioning (in inches) of the image for the left/right camera without changing the camera angles. This value is an offset to any lens shift that is computed by the stereo camera operator.

These options are not available for the Parallel type.

Display

Toggles different display options that are useful when using the stereo camera rig.

Toggle Zero Parallax Plane	Toggles the display of the zero parallax planes for the center stereo camera in all views. Make sure that the camera isn't hidden.
Toggle Left/Right View Volumes	Toggles the display of the frustums (cones) for the left and right cameras in all views. The color of the frustum wireframes match each the camera's color for each identification.
Toggle Non-Renderable Object Visibility	Toggles the visibility of non-renderable objects (such as cameras) in all views.