Integrating Stereoscopic Video in 3D Games

Abstract

Abstract. Recent advances in commercial technology increase the use of stereoscopy in games. While current applications display existing games in realtime rendered stereoscopic 3D, future games will also feature S3D video as part of the virtual game world, in interactive S3D movies, or for new interaction methods. Compared to the rendering of 2D video within a 3D game scene, displaying S3D video includes some technical challenges related to rendering and adaption of the depth range. Rendering is exclusively possible on professional hardware not appropriate for gaming. Our approach, Multi-pass Stereoscopic Video Rendering (MSVR), allows to present stereoscopic video streams within game engines on consumer graphics boards. We further discuss aspects of performance and occlusion of virtual objects. This allows developers and other researchers to easily apply S3D video with current game engines to explore new innovations in S3D gaming.