2014-06-22 - NerdCam3D - Now on sale: http://www.themissinggear.eu/where-to-buy/

2014-05-14 - Important Notice: Before reading through this rather lengthly discussion please visit my new website www.themissinggear.eu for technical information and market launch of the NerdCam3D. Thank you.




With this post I will start my (official) thread on the NerdCam3D, my 3D-FPV board camera module, that has been introduced here in this forum some time ago.

In the meantime I have build up a second prototype together with a fancy balsa wood case for better protection.

For the next weeks this prototype is going to be field-tested here in Germany with the help of some members of the German FPV community. In parallel to these activities I also have got some interesting response from the other side of the big pond right after my first post. After that I thought that now is the time to open a dedicated thread here on RC-Groups, where I can inform you about the current status, technical progress, example videos, etc.

Basically I use an RC-car (Axial Wraith) for FPV-driving, as I do not possess any flying equipment. The Wraith is a good choice due to its frame with lots of mount points for RF-equipment, camera, etc. Here are some photos of the car taken this winter on my terrace with the prototype #1 mounted inside an unpainted wood case.

Driving around with this car controlled from my couch was really big fun (also at night as the Wraith comes with good headlights), but I think flying this cam with a copter or a plane must be really awesome.

Attached below are three videos I grabbed with an on-board DVR. The first one is taken at night in the snow, the second on a muddy playground and the third one during Christmas on bumpy grass ground.

You can enjoy these movies even without 3D-goggles. Play them on a smart phone (I use my old iPhone 3GS) and do the crossed-eye trick. Please note that the display size must correspond somehow to your interpupillary distance. The size in which such videos appear on YouTube is usually too large. If you are not familiar with crossed-eye 3D viewing here is the explanation:

1. Watch on the phone display and relax your eyes. Try to focus on the infinite. The scenery will become blurred.
2. When the video appears blurred you should be able to see the scenery in three (almost) identical and horizontally adjoining frames. Concentrate on the middle frame.
3. While still focused on the infinite you will perceive the depth of the scenery in the middle frame. Try to re-focus with your eyes until the picture in the middle frame becomes sharp. The left and right frame will still be present and blurry. Do not pay attention to them.

The 3D-scenery is a little bit shrunken horizontally. This is due to the technical nature of 3D side-by-side video. Please note that YouTube slightly degrades the video quality. The camera outputs full SD video.

Deep Snow Crawling 04 (3 min 25 sec)

Mud Crawling 05 (1 min 36 sec)

Crawling the Summer Residence (4 min 15 sec)

Again, what you see is not taken with two GoPro's in 3D mode, you see the native 3D video output at standard definition (NTSC and PAL supported) with audio (at your wish) from the NerdCam3D. You do not need a second RF-transmitter/receiver set in order to enjoy 3D, the set you already possess will fit. Of cause you will need 3D-capable goggles like the Zeiss Cinemizer Plus or Cinemizer OLED. However, other goggles will work as well, provided that they accept analog side-by-side 3D-video (no HDMI).

More is yet to come in the following weeks. Stay tuned.

Fantastic work. Looking forward to the developments...phil

Yeap, +1 on the achievements.

Already use a pair of Vuzix goggles this would be some awesome flying with that camera. I would be happy to test them out for you lol

From all of us 3D geeks, its great to have a fellow Nerd on the scene! lol
Great work Kritzel!
How did you separate the video channels for youtube uploading once it was recorded?
I have two cameras on my set up with two transmitters and am having a hard time finding a way of recording both signals.
Keep up the great work!

Originally Posted by luciduous

I have two cameras on my set up with two transmitters and am having a hard time finding a way of recording both signals.

Thanks. The point is that the NerdCam3D captures directly in side-by-side format. Both cameras are absolutely in sync all the time. So I don't have to convert my recordings on the computer manually. What you see in my sample videos is really the raw footage directly from the camera and recorded with a small ground DVR, which is mounted on my RC-car.

I only need one transmitter and one receiver, as the stereoscopic video fits into a standard CVBS 4:3 video frame. The left and right video stream is shrunken by 50% horizontally in the camera. The price for being able to use just one Tx/Rx set is the loss of horizontal resolution. My video goggles at the Rx side stretch the left and right video streams to the original 4:3 aspect ratio, but do this of cause by interpolation (in the horizontal dimension). The vertical resolution is unaffected.

So, when you upload it to Youtube, it automatically converts it into 3D format by detecting this separation?

I recently finalised the 3rd protoype of the NerdCam3D and I am quite happy to report here that now all thre prototypes are working as expected. Here are some photos and details of the self-made case for the 3D-camera.



In the meantime I also had a small fight with the auto exposure control, as the imagers are not of the "Wide Dynamic Range" (WDR) type.

This is an example (recorded by sausarus with onboard-DVR) with the faulty firmware. Notice the strong brightness changes whenever the camera points towards the sky, which is almost the case every time you fly with a copter at medium altitude. Not really acceptable.

155821 (2 min 19 sec)

After this experience I decided to limit the auto exposure measurement area over the video frame to the lower half. Now it looks like this (again: thanks to sausarus and felias, raw footage with interferences by analog video transmission):

Testflug NerdCam3D (10 min 52 sec)

This is much better, though the sky is almost white all the time. Can be considered as the price to pay for not using WDR-imagers. The few, small glitches of the right camera (also addressed at the end of the video) were due to a bug in the SDRAM-control and should be fixed in the current firmware.

Now I'm looking forward to resolving the regulatory issues to be able to make a real product out of these three prototypes. My hope is that the mandatory EMC-tests will not break up my business case...

Originally Posted by luciduous

So, when you upload it to Youtube, it automatically converts it into 3D format by detecting this separation?

There is a property where you can set the 3D-kind of the footage. I don't know the wording of the English YT interface but you can specify something like "video is already in 3D" and "left camera on left side". That's it.

Just a short clip from yesterday morning. It was snowing a little. Best time for a short wheelie in the snow to clean up the tires.

Muddy Snow Crawling (0 min 50 sec)

Taken with my lousy on-board DVR and NerdCam3D prototype #1.

Nice. Make some more of these cameras :-)

phil

Hello!
I will soon have a Zeiss Cinemizer Plus goggles, and I might be interested in this camera setup as I am a 3D guy. How much would cost this camera? I saw one on nghobbies but i think 250$ is a bit too much for me now. Also I would like to ask you if you have any idea how to connect the Cinemizers to a PC with an nVidia GTS450 video card so I can watch 3d movies or play in 3D. Thank you, keep up the good work! Currently viewing your videos on my glasses free HTC EVO 3D

Originally Posted by blacksto

Hello!
I will soon have a Zeiss Cinemizer Plus goggles, and I might be interested in this camera setup as I am a 3D guy. How much would cost this camera? I saw one on nghobbies but i think 250$ is a bit too much for me now. Also I would like to ask you if you have any idea how to connect the Cinemizers to a PC with an nVidia GTS450 video card so I can watch 3d movies or play in 3D. Thank you, keep up the good work! Currently viewing your videos on my glasses free HTC EVO 3D

Got PN.

Cheers,
KK

FYI: I'm still working on the minimum effort industrialization. In the meantime I have found a lab for my EMC-testing. For those of your who might wonder why this is necessary - w/o EMC-testing no valid CE-declaration. No CE-declaration, no legal market entry.

I made a Europe-wide survey with larger and smaller labs and finally ended up with a small lab very near to my hometown. The cost for CE/FCC-testing is about 1.5k€ , however this still does not break my business plan.

Other aspects are also interesting. Apparently the 3D-FPV-camera falls into the category of dual-use goods. No joke. I'll need an export license to legally sell those cams to you over the pig pond. However there are some national general export authorizations (here, page 253) which cover dual-use-goods with minimum administrative effort. This might be the way out.

Bad and good news. I hope you will have success. In the mean time, I got my pair of Vuzix AV920 glasses, they also can do 3D, after a FW upgrade. I am now waiting for my order from SecurityCamera2000 for my Sony camera and Tx/Rx. The guy from Ebay.co.uk selling the Cinemizers would not ship to Romanians. I'm sorry that for some stupid people from my country, everyone has to suffer.
Best regards