1080i Anaglyph converted to DVD looks terrible

[Erik Bragg]

I've been working on a 3D Skateboarding Video for 7 months now and the master is due in 6 days. I've been very pleased with my results and the Tim Dashwood Stereo3D Toolbox 2.0. I couldn't have done the project with this tool.

All my Red/Cyan anaglyphs look great... until I put them on a DVD. I know there is a very simple solution to my problem, I just need the right Compressor settings.

My FCP sequences have the same settings as my footage:

1920 x 1080 HDTV 1080i (16:9)
Pixel Aspect Ratio: Square
Anamorphic 16:9 UNCHECKED
Field Dominance: Upper (Odd)
Editing Timebase: 29.97
Compressor: Apple ProRes 422
Quality 100%

I've tried quite a few different settings in Compressor and the end result is always the same. Heavy ghosting everywhere.


http://lifemovesprettyfast.com/ghosting.png
Look at the rear view mirror for most dramatic results.
Left: Encore's m2v. Terrible. Looks like oil in water.
Middle: Export native then drop into 720x480 timeline, FD None, Uncompressed. Ghosting.
Right: My Uncompressed native sequence. Looks good.

The end result needs to be a 4:3 ratio DVD. The right and left will be chopped off. No letterboxing.

How can I get this great looking project to look great on a DVD for distribution? Seems like I just need the right settings in Compressor and/or DVD Studio Pro to nail it.

Any help would be insanely appreciated. Only 6 days left until duping.

[Steve Shovlar]

Not sure its your DVD settings as such, but the convergence of the two images. For a closeup shot like this the two images seem a tad far apart IMO. With 3D, less is more, and subtle 3D wins every time over 3D which hurts the eyes.

[Adam Stanislav]

Are you downsizing the anaglyph, or are you downsizing the originals before creating the anaglyph? You should always do any resizing before making the anaglyph because resizing an anaglyph is rarely a good idea.

[Tim Dashwood]

You have now experienced first-hand the downside to 4:2:0 chroma subsampling for red-cyan anaglyph. Unfortunately there is no way around 4:2:0 for DVD for Blu-Ray.
You can encode at the highest bit rate available (max 9mbps total for DVD) but that still won't get rid of the red blocks that will be four times as large as their luminance counterpart.
However, turning off sharpening in your compressor preset will avoid the edge outlines that will cause even worse ghosting.

I have had success encoding anaglyph for DVD by first mastering into side by side at HD resolution, downconverting to NTSC, and then applying the plugin and customizing the algorithm for each shot (Anaglyph advanced mode) so that the red is only as intense as it needs to be to provide a depth cue.

If you can send me a side by side still image of that same shot in its original resolution I can run a test for you.

[Erik Bragg]

Currently, I have anaglyph HD sequences. You're saying I should change all those to Side by Side, then export as HD quicktimes uncompressed, then resize to NTSC in compressor, then bring them back in and customize each clip as an advanced anaglyph? Just want to confirm before I jump in.

If it'll get me better results, I'll try anything. It's definitely going to take awhile considering my feature is about 30 minutes long.

Also, what's the best way to tone down the red? Advanced Anaglyph -> Red in Left Eye = 0 & Red in Right Eye = 0? What else can be done to tone down the red? With both set to 0, the image looks great and has depth but without the glasses I can clearly see a lot of red in the Anaglyph.

[Erik Bragg]

Could better results be achieved by using Blue/Yellow or Green/Magenta?