STAN — An assistance system for 3D productions: From bad stereo to good stereo

The production of high quality stereoscopic content demands skilled production staff which is able to cope with a set of stereoscopic production rules. Among these rules, the mechanical alignment of the two cameras has to be ensured as well as a proper choice of the interaxial distance and convergence plane. Against this background the STAN assists stereographers by analyzing and monitoring important stereoscopic parameters. An image based analysis reconstructs the scene geometry based on the left and right camera images, deduces calibration parameters and proposes a suitable interaxial distance and convergence plane in accordance to the depth structure of the scene. The analyzed parameters can either be used for controlling the stereo rig, or can be stored as meta data for post-production purposes or can be used for real-time corrections of remaining stereoscopic distortions.