Blender Tutorial: How to Render a 3D VR Video from Blender

28 Jun , 2018 University VeeR VR

Blender Tutorial: How to Render a 3D VR Video from Blender

Could VR give more realistic experiences? If yes, how? Those are questions every VR creator has been working on. The highest grade of immersive media gives its viewers the feeling that they are viewing the scenes in person and directly with their own eyes. Nosotros perceive the real worlds effectually the states with two eyes that are two~iii inches apart. Whatever object we expect at, its image gets projected on our left and right center retinas at slightly different positions, and such binocular disparity helps the states perceive the calibration and the depth; the larger the disparity is, the closer we experience the object is to u.s.a. (depth). For a sure perceived size, the further away the object is from u.s., the larger we know it actually is (scale).

When we lookout contents in VR mode, VR goggles or VR headsets employ two separate input channels for each of our eyes and thus 'immerse' us into the scene. If the content is in 2D, the system automatically generates ii scenes onto two display screens and so that the left display presents a fraction of the scene slightly more than on the right than the right display does.

360 photo-vr headset

the left display presents a fraction of the scene slightly more on the left than the right display

In contrast, 3D is produced past using two cameras offsetted from each other to capture materials with dissimilar binocular disparity for each center and can thus requite viewers a much more than existent sense of depth and scale. So this Blender tutorial will walk you through how you can utilise a pair of virtual cameras to render a piece of 3D VR content with Blender.


Blender project: Thanksgiving Parade | 360 Video by Tate

Assuming you've got your 3D scene ready, here is a brief summary of the workflow we'd adopted:

1. Configuring the render engine

  • Modify the render engine to 'Cycles Render.'
  • Set the output format.

2. Set the stereo 3D display fashion

3. Configure the photographic camera

  • Change the camera type to a 360-degree one
  • Make your camera a stereo pair
  • Set the interocular distance
  • Consider where the convergence plane should be
  • Set the convergence aeroplane altitude and finalize the position of the stereo pairs

iv. Render the scene out and upload onto VeeR!

Blender project: Lowpoly Japanese Garden 360 in 4k past Dominik Kozuch

Stride ane: Configure the render engine

First, set the render engine from 'Blender Return' to 'Cycles Return': for diverse reasons this new engine is much more powerful in rendering photorealistic 3D scenes than the archetype i. Go to 'render layers' on the properties panel, check 'views,' select 'Stereo 3D,' and so check both left and correct.

Blender renderlayer

Then click on the camera icon and go to 'output.' Cull a destination folder. If your terminal production is a even so 3D image, select an image format. If you are making an blitheness, y'all tin can consign information technology in a video format or export individual frames as images. The starting time option is easier but too a little bit risky because you lot'd lose the whole render if some error happens half way. Images require you to do more legwork to bring together the images although it's safer. Knowing that, under 'Views Format,' select 'Stereo 3D.'

Moving on to set the output format – because our terminal production would be two renders – one for each eye, we'll demand to decide on what layout the two renders should be nowadays in. Because we are rendering for VR, we'd choose some format that presents the renders for ii eyes in parallel and without overlapping with each other. Thus, you lot can choose Stereo Style as either 'Superlative-Bottom' or 'Side-by-Side.' Platforms like VeeR recognizes the top/left render as the left middle input channel and the bottom/right render as the right eye input channel.

Blender tutorial output

Stride ii: Set the stereo 3D display mode

All the same, you don't usually use a VR headset to preview the scene when you lot are creating it, and so you can click on 'Window' > 'Stereo 3D,' and select 'Anaglyph' to preview your work. An anaglyph 3D video contains two differently filtered colored videos (overlapping with each other), one for each centre, and y'all can watch it past wearing a pair of scarlet-cyan spectacles and so each of your optics only sees a single paradigm, like you do when watching a 3D movie in the cinema.

Blender tutorial render stereo 3D

Step 3: Configure the camera

Change your photographic camera type to 'panorama,' and so 'equirectangular,' as described in this web log. This allows you to have your render results in 360-caste.

Then, select your camera, go to 'data' in the property console, and go down the 'Stereoscopy.' Select 'Off-Centrality' under Stereoscopy: this is the ideal format since it is the 1 closest to how the human vision works.

blender camera setting

Then nosotros'll need to ready the 'Interocular Altitude' and the 'Convergence Airplane Altitude.' You can prepare interocular distance based on how big you want your 3D objects to exist perceived. Click on one of your objects, press 'Northward' to check its dimensions. Calculate the ratio between the scale that object has in reality over the model's calibration. The interocular distance you lot ready for your stereo pairs should be that ratio times a normal human pupillary distance. Information technology's safe to utilise Blender's default interocular altitude value 6.291 as a normal human pupillary altitude.

In Blender, the convergence airplane is the grey airplane you can see in the 3D viewport later on changing the camera to a stereo pair. It'southward where the ii cameras converge. Visual discomfort or brain fatigue may easily occur when viewers stare at some virtual object that is too far from the convergence plane you prepare, and a larger distance betwixt the object and the plane the viewers tin can withstand is associated with smaller interocular altitude and larger convergence plane distance. And thus, Blender recommends that you gear up your convergence plane distance at to the lowest degree 30 times the interocular distance.

And so far we've got all the parameters covered but oasis't yet decided where exactly nosotros want the camera to be: it's still at the default position. To position the camera properly, nosotros'd starting time consider where nosotros want the convergence aeroplane to exist. There's no standard answer, so just keep two facts in mind:

  1. There is only a limited zone effectually the convergence plane where viewers tin can wait at objects comfortably.
  2. Every bit illustrated by the image below, virtual objects that are closer to the camera than the plane is would take a pop-out effect(right), while objects that are backside the plane would be perceived every bit 'deep into' the screen(left).

Therefore, consider what your main characters/objects are, or, say, where your chief story happens, and drag your photographic camera to move the convergence plane to that place (the plane moves with the camera given a fixed convergence plane distance). To avert visual discomfort for viewers, keep in mind: a) where important characters are the densest/where users would focus on for the longest period of time, and b) what objects you lot would like to apply a pop-out effect on and what objects you would like a "deep into" issue.

After y'all reached your perfect position for the convergence plane through moving the photographic camera, press '0' on the Numpad to view from the camera's perspective. If it doesn't capture all you want, you can make the convergence airplane larger and drag the camera pair further away from the scene to keep the convergence plane at the aforementioned position as before.

Step 4: Render the scene out and upload onto VeeR

And then far nosotros've got all the configurations done. It's recommended that yous render a piece of low-resolution test to cheque if the final product is what you want. After you lot've got your final 3D VR piece of work rendered out, call back to upload it on to VeeR. Just select 3D top-bottom or 3D side-by-side when uploading and VeeR would handle everything else to take your work ready to be viewed in VR mode. We are looking frontwards to enjoying your 3D VR content with millions of users on the platform!

upload vr video to veer

For more than about Blender, also check outWhy Blender Is The 3D Animation Software You lot Demand For Your VR Projects.