The i-Art PC-controller uses a VGA-pass-through cable and behaves exactly like my beloved homebrew VGA-PT circuit.

The VGA-dongle fits between VGA-card and monitor and just syncs to the vertical synchronization. This means the controller works all the time, even in a standard screen mode. This behaviour guarantees an excellent range of soft- and hardware compatibility.
There is no sync-doubler or line-blanker functionality though.

The IR-transmitter/controller features an on/off switch, a power led and a small holder which keeps it from falling off the monitor.
The IR transmitter cable is 200 cm long, that's good.

There's also a stereo reverse switch on the glasses. I like this switch more than any software solutions. When using the original i-Art software package the switch isn't needed that much, but it's crucial for the use of 3rd party drivers, applications and games.

The only task of the user is to get an interlace or page-flipping stereo-3D image up there on the monitor-screen. The controller will just sync to it. No questions asked. - That's the way I like it.

For example LCD-BIOS doesn't need any parameters anymore. Also functions like /lockflip which eat up valuable CPU-time aren't required. (Please read the Drawback section for possible problems.)

The i-Art controller gets its power from the keyboard connector or (in case of an emergency <g>) by battery. The emitter unit holds 4 standard AA batteries if required. That's the best solution I saw so far. Great idea!!!
 
 

VirtualEyes PC version	Virtual Eyes TV/Video version

Always check the stereo orientation by using the calibration program and the reverse-switch at startup (and from time to time during a page-flipping -i.e. LCD-BIOS- stereo-session).
Beginners can easily miss the fact that the image is reversed, which results in eye&brain-strain and an unsatisfying 3D-experience.

While using the i-Art glasses with the original i-Art software under windows there are no significant problems.

The VirtualEyes controller has the same advantages and disadvantages as the hombrew VGA-PT circuit, when it comes to hard- and software compatibility.

Please read the drawbacks of the VGA-PT controller section.

Especially page-flipping drivers, like LCD-BIOS, may yield problems, but the i-Art weren't designed for LCD-BIOS.
 
 

The i-Art VirtualEyes glasses are wireless and weight 80g. This puts them somewhere between the H3D and the VRex glasses. The feeling is very similar to the 3D-Max glasses, but the missing cable is a plus. The weight is concentrated on the nose. The nose-piece is similar to those of the 3D-Max. The nose-pads are too small which may cause a bit of pain there. The glasses come with a flexible headband which might be used to divert weight from the nose to the head, but this isn't very comfortable either.
The VirtualEyes fit even big headsizes (like mine) and cover most prescribed glasses.
The best solution is to "hang" the glasses onto some prescribed glasses. The weight will be supported by the nose-piece of your own glasses, while the VirtualEyes' nose-piece will have no contact to the skin. That's the way I use the VirtualEyes and the 3D-Max and I like it. They don't come close to the comfort of the good ole 3D-Spex though.

i-Art claims the maximum refresh rate the VirtualEyes can deliver is 180 Hz. I couldn't test it, because my monitor and/or VGA jumps off the cliff at 160 Hz - sorry <G>. I can live with that. Oh, yes 160 Hz feels good.

The VirtualEyes feature the biggest LCD-panels I saw yet. They deliver an undisturbed view, even on very large monitors. Great!!!

Please check the X-RAY Lab for a weight&size comparison of various shutterglasses.
 
 

i-Art Product Overview

 

VR Works! (hard- and software)	VR Show! (software only)	VirtualEyes (hardware only)	i-Art 3D PC - OEM (hardware only)	i-Art 3D TV - OEM (hardware only)	Virtual Gallery - OEM (software only)	3DWin - OEM (software only)
Content:  Hardware:  VirtualEyes glasses IR-transmitter (PC) cable, battery, headband Software:  3DWin (driver) 3DMaker (image/anim util) VRAlbum (multimedia tool) VRShow! (presentation) Virtual Gallery (226 images + music) Documentation:  VR Show User's Manual "How to Create your own Stereoscopic Images by Using Camera and Computer"- Booklet VR Works! User's Manual	Content:  Software:  3DWin (driver) 3DMaker (image util) VRAlbum (multimedia tool) VRShow! (presentation) Virtual Gallery (226 images + music) Documentation:  VR Show User's Manual "How to Create your own Stereoscopic Images by Using Camera and Computer"- Booklet	Content:  Hardware:  VirtualEyes glasses (without controller) battery, headband	Content:  Hardware:  VirtualEyes glasses IR-transmitter cable, battery, headband	Content:  Hardware:  VirtualEyes glasses IR-transmitter cable, battery, headband Check the movie page for compatible stereo3D videos	Content:  Software:  Virtual Gallery (226 images + music)	Content:  Software:  3DWin (driver)

3DWin is a VGA-chipset specific interlace driver for Windows95 and 3.x. It supports shutterglasses with VGA-pass-through connector, except H3D. White line code for SimulEyes/3D-Fanatix is supported. The 3D-Max hardware is also supported, but the original 3D-BIOS driver has to be present in this case.

The current version 2.2 of 3DWin supports the following chipsets:

• S3 (from stone-age up to the latest Virge/GX2)
• Tseng (up to ET6000)
• Trident (up to 9750/9850 AGP 3D)
• Cirrus Logic
• ATI

The chips are usually pushed to their limits, i.e. up to 1024x768 in true color. The refresh rate is doubled by the driver. Setting the windows desktop to 75 Hz results in a 150 Hz interlace mode. There are also "low" settings for weaker monitors.
 
 

3D-maker is a tool which merges left/right images into interleaved line stereo3D-images. We saw that before, but 3DMaker supports a wealth of formats including animation files! For example 3DMaker merges two AVI-videos containing left and right perspectives into a stereo-movie.

Currently the following formats are supported:

• still images: BMP, JPG, GIF, TIF, PCD, PCX, TGA
• animations: AVI, FLI, FLC

VRAlbum is a multimedia data organizer. It reads 2D/3D-image, 2D/3D-animation and sound files. It creates thumbnails and slideshows. Sound and vision can be combined. Each image or animation can be linked with a fitting tune. By creating individual "albums" in different "categories" all 2D and 3D data can be organized.
It accepts the same image formats as 3DMaker including 3DX plus WAV and MIDI audio files.
 
 

VRShow is a 2D/3D multimedia presentation program which accepts VRAlbum multimedia slideshows. It contains a comfortable scheduler where the play sequences can be rearanged with exact individual timing for all events (i.e. images, videos, text, sound). CD-audio is also supported. All elements of the presentation are represented by thumbnails with information on run-length and accompanying sound. The whole presentation is also displayed as a playlist. The program reminds me a video-editing application.
 
 

Virtual Gallery is a slideshow consisting of 226 stereo3D images combined with lots of fitting musical tunes.
The program is designed for a 800x600 resolution. Each image is available in 3 different formats: 3D-true color, 3D-256 color and 2D.
The images show hi-contrast and large stereo-parallax, resulting in quite some ghosting.

The images cover the following topics:
Scenery, Nature, Tibet, Egypt, Thailand, Europe, Orchid, Lotus, Flower, Misc.
 
 

This little booklet is a real gem (41 pages). It covers the principles of stereoscopy and more. All kinds of stereo photography are discussed. There is info on 3D-photography using a single 2D-camera, two single 2D-cameras and real stereo3D-cameras.
It explains how to create synthetic stereo images using 3D-construction software like 3DStudio-Max, trueSpace2, 3D/FX, Extreme3D, LightWave3D. There are many example screen shots from trueSpace2.
The booklet closes with a commented collection of interesting internet links for stereo3D-addicts.

Hardware Compatibility

You'll need a VGA-card which supports interlace and/or page-flipping. Many common chipsets support interlace. Almost all chipsets support hardware page-flipping. Only a few cards support neither of the two, such as the Voodoo 1&2 add-on boards. These boards might be able to perform software page-flipping, but I don't know of any current driver. They might be supported by SSDI in the future, but this is uncertain. Voodoo Rush boards do work with the i-Art glasses in theory since the signal is generated by an Alliance chipset, not by the Voodoo chips.

The current version 2.3 of i-Art 3DWin supports the following chipsets:

• S3 (from stone-age up to the latest Virge/GX2)
• Tseng (up to ET6000)
• Trident (up to 9750/9850 AGP 3D)
• Cirrus Logic
• ATI
• intel
• Matrox (some chips)
• NVidia (some chips)

As far as I know the i-Art VirtualEyes are 100% hardware compatible to the following shutterglasses systems (apart from the known drawbacks):

• 3DTV 3D Magic
• 3DTV 3D PCTV
• Nuvision 3D-SPEX
• Cyberstuff Cyber3DVisor
• Woobo Cyberboy
• Chinon Cybershades
• Stereographics SimulEyes
• VRex VRSurfer
• miro 3Dfanatix
• APEC Virtual Visor
• APEC VR97
• homebrew controllers: serial, parallel, VGA-PT

• Kasan 3D-Max
• H3D Eyewear
• i-glasses
• VFX-1
• CyberMaxx
• Canopus Total3D

The i-Art VirtualEyes controller should work with the following driver-software:

• i-Art 3DWin
• LCD-BIOS
• Nuvision NuvFrag
• Nuvision WinSPEX
• APEC VR(97)-Viewer
• Stereographics SG-Toggle
• VRex VR-BIOS
• VRex SSDI
• VESA3
• The VirtualEyes work also with programs which invoke interlace or page-flipping by themselves, like SimulEyes titles or, in some cases, H3D-titles

Incompatibilities:

• H3D-split-screen format isn't supported.
• Kasan 3D-BIOS can be used with the i-Art hard- and software, but the Kasan 3D-Max ISA card still has to be installed!