Beginners Guide to StereoPhoto Maker by David Starkman
StereoPhoto Maker (SPM) is a FREE program for just about anything that you might want to doto a stereo image pair to make it suitable for comfortable 3-D viewing.
I first mentioned this program in my "Stereo World" article "Getting Started in Digital 3-D: One
User’s Report" in "Stereo World" Vol. 30, No.6, 2004-2005.
This article is not meant to be a full tutorial, but rather a basic introduction to the program, andwhat it can do for you.
Before you begin using SPM, the first step is to organize your files. This is also covered in myprevious article, so refer to that for more details. At a minimum you want to create four folders:
first a folder with a subject name (such as the name of a person, place or event) and within thatfolder at least three subfolders. The suggestion is to name these with the master folder name,and then with and underscore, and then an Left (for the left original images), and Right (for theRight original images) and ADJUSTED for the adjusted image pair. Thus you will have folders
for Name_Left, Name_Right, Name_Adjusted, in this example. (Name is not yet filled in below)

Once you have created the folders you are ready to upload your digital images. If these are froma pair of digital cameras you will upload the LEFT images into the Name_Left folder, and theRIGHT images into the Name_Right folder. The Name_Adjustedc folder will be used later. Isuggest that the easiest way to transfer the images from digital cameras is to use a card reader foryour desktop and laptops. Most newer machines come with multi-format card readers built-in,but, if not, an external USB or PC Card reader is inexpensive and worth it!
Now that you have your Left and Right images uploaded and in their separate respective folders,
you are ready to begin using StereoPhoto Maker (SPM).
First, you will need to have SPM downloaded and on your PC (sorry, no MAC version iscurrently available). It is completely FREE, and available fromhttp://stereo.jpn.org/eng/stphmkr/. The latest version of SPM is 3.25. Versions 3.0 and higher
represent a quantum leap for this program, as they include an "Automatic Alignment" feature.
Downloading and installation instructions are all available at the SPM website.
Assuming SPM is installed, the next step is to open the program. Once this is done you will get amysteriously black box, with the usual popdown commands at the top, and a strip of icons.
Next click on the OPEN
IMAGE FILE LIST icon
(fourth from the left, ayellow folder on top of alist box). This looks
similar to Windows
Explorer, with a File liston the left. If you scroll
around to find the left
image file list for
NAME_Left and click on
it, all of the left images
will appear on the righthand side of the screen as
small thumbnails.
Clicking on theappropriate icons willchange the size of thethumbnails.

If you are using atwin camera rig where
the Left camera is
upside down, orsideways, you can"Select All" of theimages, using theEdit/Select All
popdowns. When all

of the images have been selected click on the EXIF word on the function bar at the top. There
you will find the choice to rotate or invert the EXIF tag to make the LEFT images appear rightside up. This operation does not actually invert the upside down original image, but it changes aninformation tag which tells programs that recognize these tags (such as SPM) to INVERT theimage when opening it up.
The next function of SPM that I use is the MULTI RENAME function, located in the FILE
popdown menu. This will allow you to rename groups of images from the cryptic number names
given by the cameras (for example: DSC00001) to more useful names such as Name001_L and
Name001_R. Even if there were holes in the original number sequence due to deletion, the batch
rename function will number them 1 to the total number in the file, consecutively. This is very
useful, because the automated features of SPM require that the matching left and right images
have the same numbers.

The next step is the alignment and cropping of your images. Since the introduction of SPM 3.0(3.25 is the latest as of this writing), there are now two choices for alignment: Easy Adjustment(individual, user controlled alignment), and fully automatic alignment.

A good tutorial in all of these functions would require lots of pages and screenshots to show you
how these functions work. The purpose of this article is to let you know what the program cando, not to be a step-by-step instruction manual.
The most significant feature of this FREE program is the new AUTOMATIC ALIGNMENT
function. This can be done for a single image pair, or for large groups of pairs.

NOTE! For the Automatic Alignment to work, a second program called Autopano must bedownloaded and installed. Due to copyright reasons the maker was not allowed to include it aspart of the program, but you can add it easily. Starting with version 3.1 you have to download
Autopano and use EDIT / Preferences / Adjustment to put the Autopano program into theAutopano Folder using the Browse button. Here is the URL of the Autopano Download page>>http://autopano.kolor.com/
Here is the URL to the SPM instruction page that explains the installation in more detail >>http://stereo.jpn.org/eng/stphmkr/help/panoinstall.htm
Note that you have a choice of using Autopano or Autopano-Sift. It is easier to use Autopano,and there is virtually no difference:
Once you do this installation the Auto alignment Icon will not be gray, and you can use it.
For large groups of image pairs you first have to do the batch rotation of the left or right images(if necessary - if not, skip this step), and then the batch renaming of the groups you are working
with. It is important that the total number of left and right images be the same, and that thename/numbers of the corresponding left and right images match.
Then you go to the File popdown and choose MULTI CONVERSION. You will then get themulti conversion screen which lets you browse to the name of the file you want to work with,then choose the input file type (Side-by-Side, Above/Below, Interlaced, Anaglyph, orIndependent(L/R).

If you choose Independent(L/R) a check box and window to browse to the Right image appears
below the Input File Type (Stereo) line.
Next you choose the file type, which offers the same options as the input file type, as well as theimage format (JPG is the default).
Then there is an Adjust section of the box where you may check the "Auto Alignment" option as
well as the "Auto Color Adjustment" option. There are many other options available, but notnecessary for the beginner. Explore them when you become more familiar with the program.
Last you set the Output Folder location by clicking on the browse button in this section. This iswhere you want to use the "Adjusted" file folder that you have already created for this purpose.
Then you can click on the CONVERT ALL FILES BUTTON and walk away. Depending on thespeed and configuration of your PC it can take from 5 seconds to 3 minutes per pair. My oldcomputer takes about 45 seconds per pair. My new dual core Pentium laptop takes about 18
seconds!
Hard as it is to believe, the program automatically adjusts the images for a correct stereo
window, corrects image rotation, size differences, and vertical difference errors. I can say from

personal experience that it really works! (If the exposures of the right and left images are
significantly different, or very low light and contrast, the program may not be able to do a goodjob, or work at all. If you are using a twin camera rig, or scanned images, there should be no
problem in the majority of the images.). Problem images may be done manually, if possible.
The program itself is amazingly small in size, at only about 0.5 MB. There is also a help filewhich can be downloaded, and it takes up about 5 megabytes. This has extensive illustrated
instructions, and is strongly recommended both for help and tutorial.
I hope this will provide you with enough information to get started using StereoPhoto Maker,
and inspire you to download it and give it a try. For further details of the program, see the SPM
web page, and, when you download the program also download the HELP files. The HELP files
contain extensive instructions on all of the features of the program.
-David Starkman, Culver City, CA-email: reel3d@aol.com
Below is the basic screen you will see if you bring a Left & Right pair into the program for
manual adjustment, cropping, or even exposure tweaking or matching. Note that if you hold thecursor over the icons that it will tell you what they do. Feel free to explore. There are many
output formats, and the Print section will format various stereo card formats! Explore! You don’t
have to save any mistakes!