Stereoscopic viewport using hardware 3D?

[tkwasnitschka]

I would like to use the stereoscopic viewing option to edit dense point clouds, using the hardware stereo option.
 
I use a Geforce GTX690 card and the Nvidia 3D vision kit (IR transmitter and 120Hz projector). before updating the driver to the latest version the hardware option was displayed as not available, now it is available but stays mono. Changing the disparity alters the perspective but that's it.

What am I doing wrong?
What hardware do I need?
Couldn't find a reference in the manual...

Tom

[shelleyeshkar]

Have you gone to nvidia control panel and added the photoscan application, explicity telling it to enable active stereo? I find most applications need this step, and then emitter goes bright green and you're good to go.

[Diego]

What am I doing wrong?
What hardware do I need?
Couldn't find a reference in the manual...

Hello, you need NVIDIA® Quadro® professional graphics boards

View compatible cards here: http://www.nvidia.com/object/quadro_pro_graphics_boards.html

[mr map]

Hello, you need NVIDIA® Quadro® professional graphics boards

View compatible cards here: http://www.nvidia.com/object/quadro_pro_graphics_boards.html

Out of curiosity, can anybody explain why PhotoScan and some other applications need the Quadro series (dual buffer) hardware to display (hardware supported) Stereoscopic Viewing? While I think today all high-end consumer graphics cards supports 3D stereoscopic displays, usable in gaming etc... presenting high quality high performance... (or don?t they?)

On a side note I read somewhere that it is possible to hack Nvidia cards/ drivers to make them function like a Quadro card, but not with "full" performance? So it appears to be a matter of drivers rather than hardware...)

And it would be just lovely if PS could display stereoscopic without requiring the Quadros... 
Anaglyph, well, the quality and viewing comfort... not good enough.

[Patribus]

Hallo,

I just bought the NVIDIA Vision 2 and an old Display capable of 120 Hz and I was so happy finally be able to work on my PS projects in 3D, which I really need for my work.

Stupid enough I though: OK I have all the hardware I need to see in 3D (Graphics GTX 660), at least as stated by nvidia, and now the limitation comes from PS? As it seems, my configuration is good enough for hundreds of games, but not for PS?

Why is this? Is there a way to overcome this?

I'm really disappointed with this situation...
Bad enough I did not read the forum before. but I never thought there could be this limitation...

Best regards.

[Diego]

Hi Patribus,

Hello, you need NVIDIA® Quadro® professional graphics boards

View compatible cards here: http://www.nvidia.com/object/quadro_pro_graphics_boards.html

Quad Buffered Professional Stereo Technology: http://www.nvidia.com/object/quadro_stereo_technology.html

You need a range Quadro card, the Geforce line is for 3D multimedia and gaming, does not work in professional 3D applications (Quad Buffered OpenGL applications). Not a problem PhotoScan, you just have to understand that they are different technologies, additionally you have to be aware that the Quadro cards are slower for the extraction of point cloud in this are better geforce.

regards,

Diego

[Patribus]

Not a problem PhotoScan, you just have to understand that they are different technologies,

additionally you have to be aware that the Quadro cards are slower for the extraction of point cloud in this are better geforce.

Hello, thanks for your answer. I'm aware that this is no problem of PS but rather a conceptual thing. NEvertheless, it's a pitty, if you have to choose between Quadro and 3D visualization of your data or Geforce and best perforamnce but no 3D visualization possibility.

Maybe a stupid question, but is there somthing like an external Quadro Graphic Card?

Added later:

I did some research,

so I'm using a GTX 660 Card, as I understand, the corresponding Quadro card is a Quadro 4000, i.e., they use the same chips and have even the same architecture (Kepler GK106) [I hope this info is correct].
So, should I decide to go for this card, can I expect that the performance of the point cloud generation (or eventually of the depth maps) will be worse, as stated by Diego above?

Who has experiences with PS using both this cards?

Cheers

[Patribus]

Hello again,

I sill have question.

In principle one could also see the PS 3D data with Geforce cards, if only the technology would be implemented in the software. Correct?

So, does someone know if this will happen in a near future? Or will only the Quadro technology be available?

Cheers

[Diego]

Who has experiences with PS using both this cards?

Hi Patribus,

Indeed the solution is the use of the two technologies, I personally need the Quadro cards using photogrammetric applications. It depends on the capacity of your computer.

My configuration is as follows:

- NVIDIA Quadro K5000 and Dual GeForce GTX 780 Ti

You have the best of both worlds, and runs smoothly.

Regards,

Diego

[Patribus]

Hello Diego, thanks for your comment.

My Problem now is, that I just have a Barebone with slots enough for 1 (!) graphic card. I do have another Workstation, but I do not work on it directly, it runs as a server.

So, schould I decide to go only for the NVIDIA Quadro K5000, how much does my performance suffer in comparison with the GTX 660?

added 23.08.2014:

I did some research. Based on this benchmark overview http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/high_end_gpus.html the Quadros Series lie far below the GTX cards. But what makes the Quadros so special for them to be sooooo expensive?

[Lambo]

A "basic" easy to understand explanation of the main difference: Quadro cards are "workstation cards" made for use in CAD software, that means, they can handle really high amount of polygon data (could be in NURBS, SUbD, etc.) but they do not care much about high frames per second.
Gaming cards like the GTX cards are made mainly for games so they can handle less amount of polygons data but they are optimized to give you a fast refresh rate or FPS.
Many of those cards are almost the same on the inside but there are features that are enabled or not depending on the type of card.
Since Quadro cards are used mainly in companies they are more expensive and the gaming cards are bought by everyone like you and me, thats why they are cheaper.
There used to be a software that was able to unlock most of the features that were disabled on the GEForce cards and made them almost as powerful as the Quadros (Riva Tuner) but as far as I know it doesnt work as it used to anymore.
Leo

[Patribus]

Just a pity the Agisoft team did not go for the possibility to display in 3D (i.e. for 3D monitors, glasses, etc.) using the GTX technology.  Cause that is the one more used by PS users.

Can you give a hint how these 'unlocking' software for GTX cards is (was) called?!

Thanks

[Patribus]

So, after some research I found this post: http://www.eevblog.com/forum/chat/hacking-nvidia-cards-into-their-professional-counterparts/

It is possible to mod a GTX to a Quadro and other Card models.

This should be very interesting for all here in the forum!

[Lambo]

That looks pretty nice. The only problem is that you have to go into the actual hardware and change things there right? It might be a little hard for some people, but good nevertheless.
The software unlocker that used to do the same job but just with a little software that you had to configure without having to touch the actual card was Riva Tuner. The main guy there used to work for Nvidia. Unfortunately after the series 8xx I think, NVidia change the cards to make the software mods impossible.
Leo

[Patribus]

Yes, you need to have some experience with soldering, which I have, heheheh 

Concerning the software part: I did find some people who discovered how to change cards ID in the driver files, you kind of put GTX .inf files into the Quadro installation files and your GTX will be used as a Quadro.

But I'm still to try everything out (also the soldering, since it is still not clear which resistances are to be changed on the GTX 660 card)

I'll let you know.

Cheers