Everything you need to know about 3D images on Leia devices.
Learn how to view immersive images on your device.
3D images can be found all over Lume Pad in various apps, but LeiaPlayer is your one-stop shop for viewing all the different 3D formats supported in the Leia ecosystem.
Viewing 3D Images You'll find all of the 2D and 3D images on your device in LeiaPlayer. You can easily view them by tapping on the image thumbnails you find in the Media, Camera Roll, or File Browser tabs in LeiaPlayer. Moving media to your device To add images from other devices to your Lume Pad to view in LeiaPlayer, you have a lot of options.
If you use Google Photos, you can simply use the Google Photos app on your Lume Pad to get your favorite images and download them to your Lume Pad. The process is similar to any other cloud image service, just download the service's Android app through Google Play and download the images to your device.
If the images aren't on another service, you can use a USB cable to move them to your Lume Pad. First, get all the images to your Windows or Mac computer. Then, plug in your Lume Pad using a USB-C cable. You'll see a prompt on your Lume Pad with multiple options. Choose "Transfer Files".
If you're on a Windows PC, you'll now see Lume Pad in your Windows File Explorer. If you're using a Mac, we recommend using Android File Transfer, which you can download here.
Many kinds of 3D image file types are supported on Lume Pad, though different apps may have different levels of support.
To learn which file types are supported by LeiaPlayer, please visit Supported Filetypes in LeiaPlayer.
There are lots of ways to find 3D images. You'll find them all over the internet, including on the Leia Forums. You'll find them in the LeiaPix app. You can even make your own by capturing native 3D images or converting your 2D images.
If you want to learn more about creating 3D images, click here or simply visit the next page.
Make and capture stunning 3D imagery.
There are three major ways to create 3D Images:
Shoot images with a camera
Render images using a software tool
Capture images inside real-time software
You can use a variety of 2D and 3D cameras to create 3D images. We'll list them here from the highest potential for quality to the lowest.
The best way to capture 3D images is to build a custom stereo rig using two or more high-quality cameras. Doing this is difficult, but can yield the highest quality results. The distance between the sensors, the accuracy of the synchronization, the precision of the calibration, and of course the quality of the sensors and optics all play a part in the quality of the outcome.
You should expect to use a 3rd party software tool like StereoPhoto Maker after the fact to rectify and align the images. You should create files in an SBS format for viewing on Lume Pad.
Purpose-built stereo 3D cameras have a wide range of potential quality, even within units of the same model. While there are many different models, we recommend the FujiFilm FinePix W3 or Kandao Qoocam EGO for photos. If you're comfortable using StereoPhoto Maker, you can even capture photos using a Canon camera with their Dual-Fisheye Lens and convert from their Dual-Fisheye format to SBS 3D using this tutorial.
iOS devices use a mix of software and hardware to capture superior depth in their Portrait Mode pictures. These Portrait Mode images are fully supported by Leia software. Please read Supported Filetypes in LeiaPlayer for more information.
iPhone 14 Pro, iPhone 13 Pro, and iPhone 12 Pro series devices with LiDAR generally are expected to produce very high-quality 3D images you can view on Lume Pad, while standard iPhone 13 and iPhone 12, as well as all iPhone 11 Pro series devices and lower, are generally expected to produce results that aren't as good. Feel free to try and explore to see what works best yourself.
One of the best ways to create 3D images is with LeiaCam, which shoots images and videos with immersive depth on the Lume Pad. LeiaCam lets you capture the world around you in 3D. Take images and videos with immersive depth that pops out of the screen.
To learn more about LeiaCam, check out the LeiaCam page.
This generally isn't recommended if you have alternative options, but one method that can work well with practice is the Cha-Cha Method, which uses a single camera and a quick motion from the photographer to move weight from one foot to the other to capture a stereo image. Here is a description of how to do it. Any movement in the scene between shots will make for a bad image. But it can work in a pinch! And if the Cha-Cha itself didn't work to produce a good 3D image, you can take one of the images and convert it to 3D, as described below.
You can also use a variety of normal cameras to shoot 2D images to convert to 3D later. Your smartphone, a DSLR, or a mirrorless camera can all be used. You can even use a webcam!
Simply shoot the 2D image, and then move it onto your Lume Pad. Open the image in LeiaPlayer, and tap the 3D icon in the bottom left-hand corner. Voila, your formerly 2D image now has a 3D copy!
There are a variety of software tools that let you render out a stereo 3D image.
In Immersity AI, you can upload any image you want and it will automatically estimate a depth map. You can then edit that depth map in your browser and export it as either a LIF (Immersity v 3.0 only) or an SBS to view on Lume Pad.
Some creators compose 3D SBS images in PhotoShop.
Maya and other 3D modelling and VFX rendering programs
Some creators compose a scene using 3D models and render it out in SBS 3D to view on Leia devices.
You can also capture 3D content from inside some of your favorite real-time apps on a variety of different hardware.
Any game that has a Photo Mode with the following features can be used to take 3D photos:
In Photo Mode, EVERYTHING on the screen stops moving
In Photo Mode, you have horizontal directional control of the camera
After taking a photo in Photo Mode, the scene doesn't change in any way
If all of the above is true, you can simply take two or more photos in a horizontal line from within the game's Photo Mode and stitch them together into an SBS using a 3rd party app like 3DSteroid from Google Play.
Supported platforms include PC, PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5, XBOX One and XBOX Series S/X, and Nintendo Switch.
Games that have Photo Modes that are known to work include Marvel's Spider-Man, Final Fantasy 7 Remake, and God of War. Games that are known NOT to work include Animal Crossing: New Horizons and Pokémon Scarlet and Violet (because characters continue to move/sway while in Photo Mode).
Here is an example of what a good 3D image can look like when captured in this method:
Some games on some platforms have built-in 3D cameras that let you natively capture 3D content from inside the app.
Platforms that support this frequently are 3D-first platforms like the PlayStation 3 and Nintendo 3DS. Games like WipEout HD on PlayStation 3 will natively capture 3D photos in MPO format when using Photo Mode to capture photos when the game is being displayed in 3D mode. Games like Animal Crossing: New Leaf, StreetPass Mii Plaza: Flower Town, and Nintendogs & Cats on Nintendo 3DS all allow for the capture of 3D screenshots in parts of the games which will be saved on the device's SD card in MPO format.
You can actually capture 3D images from almost any PC game using a 3rd party tool that gains access to the graphics engine's depth buffer like SuperDepth3D. Try these tools yourself to experiment and see the best ways to capture 3D images inside your favorite PC games. SuperDepth3D supports over 100 of the most popular AAA PC games of all time. Here is SuperDepth3D's game compatibility list.
Make your 3D images even better
There are many ways to edit 3D images just like 2D images, including PhotoShop, GIMP, Photopea, and more. You should explore using these tools to see which best suits your needs.
In LeiaPlayer, you can edit the 3D Depth and 3D Focus of supported images, but to crop and do other kinds of edits on your images, you'll need to export the image as an SBS and use another 3D image editing tool.
Bring 3D images to other devices and share with your friends and family!
The sharing process for 3D images is a little different depending on the recipient's device.
The best way to share 3D images to other Leia devices is to your account on LeiaPix! LeiaPix is already the place where everyone is sharing and talking about the best 3D images on the platform. If you want to show off your images, LeiaPix is definitely the place to do it.
You can always just send a 3D image to another device directly. You can plug in a USB-C cable and transfer the image to another device, including a PC or Mac. You can also move the files onto USB storage. Finally, you can use Android Nearby Share to send the file directly to another Leia device or other Android device in your vicinity.
The primary file type used on Leia devices is LIF (Leia Image Format). In a perfect world, you could just send a LIF using any method you want. Unfortunately, a lot of the most popular communication platforms compress images, which turns 3D LIF files into regular 2D images.
Options for sharing LIFs:
Send an LIF through a known-good communication platform
Send a zipped LIF through any platform
Send an SBS instead
Unfortunately, there are only a few messaging platforms that don't compress your images. They include:
Email (choose Full Size)
Discord
That's it! All the other major platforms we've tested do NOT support transmitting LIF files, as they compress all images and wipe data of images sent on them.
Slack
Signal
Telegram
Messenger
To ZIP a LIF file to send over one of the above incompatible messaging platforms, you can simply put the LIF files into a folder in the Files app on your Leia device, tap the ellipsis button (three dots in the right corner), and then tap "Compress". This will ZIP the entire folder, including the LIF files. You will be able to send this through any platform that supports basic file transfer, and when the recipient unzips the folder, they will be able to access the LIF images in full 3D View Mode!
If you don't wish to spend the time zipping the files, an easy way to get them onto another device is to export them as an SBS. To export the files as an SBS, simply go to the image in LeiaPlayer and tap the Share button, then choose Side-By-Side under Export Options. These will be able to be sent through any messaging platform that supports images. Two potential issues however: the platform may still compress the image which lowers its visual quality, and the image will show 2 side-by-side images when it's received.
Older 3D devices and XR headsets don't support the LIF format. Some older 3D devices instead use full-width SBS, some support half-width SBS, some support MPO, and some of them support multiple of the above file formats.
The first step in getting your 3D files to a format viewable on your target device is to find out what file format the device supports. Then, you need to find a path to getting your 3D image into that format.
Because full-width SBS is so popular, there is a good chance your device supports it. In many cases, all you have to do is export your 3D image from LeiaPlayer into an SBS file and it will simply work on your legacy 3D device or XR headset. If not, you can often easily find 3rd party programs on your computer to turn your full-width SBS file into a half-width SBS or MPO file. This makes it easy to get your favorite 3D images onto your other devices.
If you share a LIF with a 2D device, it will simply look and work like a normal JPG! No additional work required.