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Requirements
  • OS: MS Windows XP, vista, and 7. (32Bit / 64Bit)
  • Graphic Card with OpenGL 3.0 support
  • .Net Framework 4 (part of installation package)
  • DirectX 9 (part of installation package)
  • To use Augmented Reality mode, you also need:

Voxelo requires a relatively powerful computer setup, in order to smoothly play Free-Viewpoint Video, however lower end machines will still be able to play the video. The minimum configuration, which allowed for smooth playback during our test was the following:

  • Intel® Pentium® Processor E5200 (Dual Core 2.5GHz)
  • 2GB RAM
  • NVIDIA® GeForce® 8500 GT

Installation

  • Go to the download page and download the latest version of Voxelo
  • Execute the setup package
  • The setup package will ask you for a temporary directory to unpack the setup files to, please just choose any temporary directory
  • The setup may install some additional dependencies from Microsoft, if they are not already present on the system, before installing Voxelo. This is perfectly normal and the installation of these dependencies should be completed.
  • After installing the dependencies, the installation of Voxelo begins.
  • During the installation of Voxelo, most users should choose the typical installation.
  • After installation, you are ready to download and play Free-Viewpoint Video Files.

The Basics

Voxelo is a Free-Viewpoint Video player for Windows, which enables you to watch full 3D video content of real captured scenes. Free-Viewpoint Video allows you to freely choose your viewpoint of the scene during playback. Voxelo can play Free-Viewpoint Video Files with the file extension fvv.

Files can be opened by double-clicking them, dragging them onto the player or using the open file dialog. Voxelo has control buttons in the bottom of the window and some of this functionality can also be accessed through a right-click menu.

When Voxelo plays a Free-Viewpoint Video file, it will play the file continuously. At any point, it is possible to pause the video, and it is possible to change the viewpoint, both when the video is playing and when the video is paused. Voxelo can play the Free-Viewpoint Video files in windowed mode or in full screen mode. The full screen mode can be exited by pressing the ‘Escape‘ key, or using the right-click menu.

Voxelo can play the Free-Viewpoint Video files in Standard Mode and in two different Augmented Reality (AR) Modes. In Standard Mode, the mouse is used to navigate around the 3D Video object, and in AR Mode the web camera and marker are used for the navigation.

Standard Mode

In standard mode, the mouse is used to change the viewpoint.

  • Holding down the left mouse button and dragging, will rotate the viewpoint around the object.
  • Holding down the middle mouse button and dragging, will pan the viewpoint.
  • Scrolling the mouse wheel will allow to zoom-in and zoom-out.

Using these controls, you can freely choose your viewpoint in the 3D video file, both while the video is playing and while the video is paused.

Augmented Reality Mode

Voxelo supports two different modes for Augmented Reality, AR Mode and NFT (Natural Feature Tracking) AR Mode. Both modes require that a webcam is attached to the computer, as well as the printout of a different marker for each of the modes. The viewpoint can be changed by either moving the web camera or the marker.

AR Mode

For AR Mode you have to print out the fiducial marker (black and white marker square) provided on the download page. When the printed marker is fully visible in the camera image, the Free-Viewpoint Video file will be augmented on top of the marker.

 

NFT AR Mode

Natural Feature Tracking allows it to use an arbitrary image or photo as marker. In NFT AR Mode the marker image is augmented with the 3D video, even if it is only partially visible in the camera. The marker can be either printed as gray or color image. Voxelo provides ‘The allegory of painting‘ of Vermer as standard NFT Marker. However you can provide your own marker image by following the instructions on the download page.

 

 

 

 

 

Troubleshooting

This guide details possible issues using Voxelo, and propose ways to overcome these issues.

When I play a Free-Viewpoint Video file, the player constantly displays the buffering text, and the video plays very slowly

Playing Free-Viewpoint Video files requires a lot more processing power than playing a normal video file, since it should be possible to view every frame of the video from all angles. Therefore Voxelo requires a relatively powerful computer with a good graphics card (many laptops may be too slow for this). If you think that your computer should be powerful enough to play the files, please make sure that the latest version of the graphic card driver is installed, and make sure that no other resource intensive applications are running at the same time as Voxelo.

Voxelo tells me that my graphic card is not supported

Voxelo requires an OpenGL accelerator which supports at least OpenGL 3.0. Voxelo will check your system’s OpenGL implementation during program startup and will shut down again if some required capabilities are not supported. A Message Box will inform you in this case about which capabilities are missing. Please make sure that you update the driver for your graphics card to the latest version and try again. If the problem still persists then your graphics card might be too old and you should update to a newer card if you want to use Voxelo.

Voxelo is unable to detect my web camera

Make sure that the driver for the web camera is updated to the latest version, and make sure that your camera works with the software supplied by the camera vendor.

The camera image in AR mode is not shown correctly

Make sure that the driver for the web camera is updated to the latest version, and make sure that your camera works with the software supplied by the camera vendor. If you still experience problems, please send and e-mail to support@voxelogram.com with information about camera, driver and operating system.

Voxelo is having problems detecting the fiducial marker in AR Mode

Different issues can make it difficult for Voxelo to detect the fiducial AR marker, but in most situations there should be no problems.

The following situations can lead to degraded marker detection:

  • The entire marker is not visible to the web camera (even covering a small area of the marker with a finger may result in failure to detect the marker).
  • The marker is not resting on a flat surface or is bended.
  • The lighting of the marker is not sufficient, or there are shadows on the marker.
  • There are strong light reflections on the marker, which can result in black areas appear white to the camera.
  • The marker is not printed with sufficient white border around the black area.
  • The black color in the marker is not black enough, or the color is uneven.
  • Many cameras automatically adjust the brightness of the image, which in some situations can have a negative influence on the marker detection. You may try to set the brightness manually using the software supplied by your camera vendor.

In our experience higher quality webcams usually allow a more stable marker detection with less “flickering” of the embedded 3D video rendering.

Voxelo is having problems detecting the marker image in NFT AR Mode

The following situations can lead to degraded marker detection:

  • The marker is not resting on a flat surface or is bended.
  • The lighting of the marker is not sufficient, or there are shadows on the marker.
  • There are strong light reflections on the marker
  • Many cameras automatically adjust the brightness of the image, which in some situations can have a negative influence on the marker detection. You may try to set the brightness manually using the software supplied by your camera vendor.
  • If you provide your own marker image and Voxelo has problem detecting it, please review the guidelines for changing the marker image on the download page.

In our experience higher quality webcams usually allow a more stable marker detection with less “flickering” of the embedded 3D video rendering.

Voxelo crashes and shows a bug report window

If Voxelo encounters an unexpected problem, it will crash and create a bug report. By clicking submit bug and describing the situation which led to the crash, you are helping the Voxelo team to fix the bug and create a better and more stable product. If you have some additional information about the crash that you want to supply to the team, you are more than welcome to send an e-mail to support@voxelogram.com

I have a problem, which is not described in this guide

If you have another problem, please contact the Voxelo support team at support@voxelogram.com