Stereo 3d Camera Rig for Unreal Engine!

My video tutorial about this subject:

You would think to render something in Stereo 3d would be a simple task in Unreal Engine, but it seems like that’s not the case!

I tried one plug-in and started going down the “render texture” path, but that has it’s own limitations, so I came up with my own method and thought I would share it with everyone. If you know of a better way, please let me know and if I figure out how to make a plug-in to fix this, I will!

Stereo Basics

Starting with the basic concept, what we need to do is to have two different cameras, facing the same direction, with the same settings, but they need to be 63mm apart.

Unreal units are in Centimeters, so 63mm = 6.3cm.

If you want them offset from the center, you would set the y of the left camera to -3.15, and the y of the right camera would be +3.15.

It's easy enough to achieve this with just two cine camera actors. However, changing any settings of these cameras requires ensuring that the same changes are made to both.

This is not only tedious but also prone to accidental changes to one camera and not the other. The issue might not be noticeable until the footage is rendered out, combined, and viewed in 3D, which might be too late to correct.

So what do we do? Create a Blueprint!

Creating the Blueprints

Right Click>Add Blueprint Class>Search for CinCameraActor and add it.

Let’s name this one “BP_StereoCam_Parent”

Create a second one and call this one “BP_StereoCam_Master”

In the Master blueprint, search for Mesh, and set the mesh to None.

Add the Parent blueprint to your scene and set it to 0,0,0.

Add a Master blueprint to your scene

Add “_L” to the end of the name, and set it to 0,-3.15,0.

Duplicate this actor, change the end of the name from “_L” to “_R” and set it’s transform to 0,3.15,0.

Drag both master blueprints onto the parent blueprint so that it becomes their parent, if done correctly it should look something like this:

Basic operation of this Stereo camera rig

Basically think of the parent as the camera rig (tripod, steadicam, etc.), and the L and R as the actual cameras.

So the rig moves and because the cameras are attached to it, they move in the same way, but they do not move independently from the rig. So if you want to move the camera, DO NOT select the L or R cameras individually ever, just move the parent.

Same for Piloting, never pilot the L or R cameras and move them.

If you want to change the settings of the camera, DO NOT change them from the details panel, instead, edit the actual blueprint. This will ensure that the left and right cameras have the exact same lens settings, etc.

Sequencer

There are a few things to keep in mind when using sequencer, so let’s create a sequence and go through them.

First let’s create a Level Sequence and we’ll call it “Shot_Tutorial_L” for now.

Add the parent actor to the sequencer and add whatever transform animation you want to this actor.

Then add the Left camera actor to this sequence. Go to the start of the shot and under camera cuts, make sure to bind the L camera.

Now duplicate the “Shot_Tutorial_L” level sequence, change the name to “Shot_Tutorial_R” and open it up.

Delete the _L camera, and add the _R camera. Go to the beginning of the timeline, and for the camera cuts, change the binding to be the _R camera.

*If you need to change the animation or anything, I recommend deleting the right camera, getting your Left camera working correctly, then duplicate, and replace the L camera with the R camera to make sure all the settings/animations are correct in both eyes.

Movie Render Queue

Add both shots to the MRQ and render with whatever settings you want.

After it’s rendered, combine them in other software like Resolve, Nuke, etc.

I use Assimilate Scratch/Live FX because I can actually view the jpeg sequences in headset, WITHOUT having to combine, render and the sideload to a headset!

I hope this article was helpful for you, let me know if you have any questions or any suggestions!