Instructions for the authors of digital slide shows and video projections for the 3D-Online-Congress

Your content is the heart of any stereo meeting and we are grateful for every content proposal. We strive to ensure a smooth congress workflow and therefore ask you to observe the following guidelines. If you have any questions please feel free to get in contact with the This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Duration
The recommended duration for one slide show or video should be not more than 15 minutes. Exceptions to this rule are possible in consultation with the organizing committee - in general, shorter contributions are preferred. In case of multiple submissions the authors are requested to prioritize their shows.

Streaming Resolution

The contributions are streamed on the YouTube channel of the DGS with a resolution of 1920x1080 pixels. Therefore, this resolution is also recommended for creating the presentations. For shows in other heights/aspect ratios (for example 4:3) adding black borders has proven to be useful (e.g. for 4:3 scale image content to 1440x1080 pixels and fill with black borders to an image width of 1920 pixels). All formats other than 1920x1080 pixels are accepted only with reservations.

Streaming Layout
The contributions are streamed using the stereo layout top-and-bottom half (TAB-H). An other name for this layout is abq (q stands for squeezed).

Presentation Layout

Videos or Windows executables are accepted as format for your submissions. Videos can be submitted in any common stereo layout, e.g. side-by-side (SBS), top-and-bottom (TAB), top-and-bottom half (TAB-H), dualstream (both views in one file) or left-right separated. SBS-H should be avoided for quality reasons.

Windows EXE presentations, on the other hand, must necessarily be in TAB-H (left at top). However, m.objects presentations, which allow a selection of the layout during playback, have a special position. Please set your presentation software in such a way that the generated show starts immediately and really ends completely at the end without the need for any further interaction. Any pause options are undesirable for the smooth running of the program.

Video Codecs

The rendering performance is highly dependent on the choice of the video codec and the bitrate. Very good results are achieved with the current x264 codec, whose decoder supports multiple cores. Note: If you are using x264vfw, please consider, that the default settings produce an encoder latency of about 2 seconds, and not all programs correct this latency automatically. In doubt disable any encoding latency in the codec configuration settings.

For a risk-free playback of a video, it is recommended to encode with a constant (or maximum) bit rate of 10000 kbit/s per field (for an SBS layout, it is 20000 kbit/s). For a 10-minute video this yields a file size of about 1.5 GB. If you cannot set a maximum bit rate at your encoder, you should change to set a constant bit rate to avoid short-term peak bit rates, which may lead to a stuttering playback.

Figure 1: Configuration window of the x264vfw encoder for side-by-side layout

Shipping the presentations

For shipping, it is highly recommended to upload the file(s) to our DGS server. The access details are provided by email to the authors after registration for the congress. Furthermore, transfer via a file hoster service is also possible. A reliable and free service that allows the transfer of files up to a size of 2 GB is offered by www.wetransfer.com. In special circumstances the presentation file can be provided on a CD-ROM or DVD.

It is highly recommended to send in the presentation file in time (about 14 days before the event) to the Technical Advisory Board of the DGS (in case of post shipping see address below). Where necessary this may also be a trial version, if it can be ensured, that the final version can be copied to the server in time. Breaks during the performance blocks are definitely not suitable for that!

Shipping address:
Technischer Beirat der DGS
Gerhard P. Herbig
Reutenhofstr. 42/2
D-71570 Oppenweiler
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..