There are three major ways to create Lightfield 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 Lightfield images. We'll list them here from highest potential for quality to lowest.
The best way to capture Lightfield 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 percision 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 or Quad Lightfield format for viewing on Lume Pad. High disparity images made this way will look much better viewed in Stereo View Mode (ST) instead of Lightfield View Mode.
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 for photos if you can find it. High disparity images shot on stereo 3D cameras will look much better viewed in Stereo View Mode (ST) instead of Lightfield View Mode.
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 13 Pro and iPhone 12 Pro series devices with LiDAR generally are expected to produce better images than LeiaCam on Lume Pad, while standard iPhone 13 and iPhone 12, as well as all iPhone 11 Pro series device and lower are generally expected to produce worse results than LeiaCam. Feel free to try and explore to see what works best yourself.
One of the best ways to create Lightfield 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 both Lightfield and 2D shooting modes. 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 Lightfield 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 Leia icon (Lightfield View Mode Button) in the bottom left hand corner. Voila, your formerly 2D image now has a Lightfield 3D copy!
There are a variety of software tools that let you render out a stereo 3D or Lightfield image.
In LeiaPix Converter, 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 or an SBS to view on Lume Pad.
You can use the Leia Maya Plugin to render out a Quad Lightfield image in Maya.
Some creators compose Quad Lightfield and SBS images in PhotoShop.
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 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 are 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.
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 from 3D 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.
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.
Everything you need to know about Lightfield images on Leia devices.
The sharing process for Lightfield images is a little different depending on the recipient's device.
The best way to share Lightfield 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 Lightfield 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 Lightfield image to another device directly. You can plug in a USB-C cable and transfer the image to another device, including a PC, Mac, or other Lume Pad. 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 in your vicinity.
The primary filetype used on Leia devices is LIF (Leia Image Format). In a perfect world, you could just send an LIF 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 Lightfield 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 it as an SBS. To export the file 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 it's visual quality, and the image will show two side by side images when it's recieved.
Older 3D devices and XR headsets don't support Lightfield file formats. Unfortunately, there's no golden standard for 3D file formats. Some devices 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 Lightfield 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 Lightfield 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 Lightfield 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 Lightfield images onto your other devices.
There are broadly two ways to share Lightfield images to a 2D device: as a LIF or as a Lightfield Animation. If you share a LIF to a 2D device, it will simply look and work like a normal JPG! No additional work required. Lightfield Animations however are a way for people on 2D devices to get a sense of the depth of the image without a Leia device. To learn more about Lightfield Animations, go to the Lightfield Animations page.
There are many ways to edit 3D images just like 2D images, including PhotoShop, GIMP, Photopea, and more. Once you get comfortable with using LeiaPlayer, you should explore using other tools to better suit your needs too.
But for now we're going to focus on the primary method for the Leia platform: LeiaPlayer. LeiaPlayer is an incredibly robust editing tool for Lightfield photos, primarily because it will take photos of any format including LIF, SBS, MPO, and JPS. Quad Lightfield images, however, can not be edited in LeiaPlayer and must be edited elsewhere.
Editing images in LeiaPlayer
To improve the visual quality and add artistic flair to your images, open an image in the gallery and then tap the edit pencil icon. You will see 5 main editing tool sections from left to right: depth, color, resize, Styles and Relighting.
Depth
The Depth editor controls the disparity of your image
The Focus slider controls the convergence value of your image
The bokeh slider controls the blur of background pixels that are behind the convergence plane. So if you move the convergence slider to the very top, there are no pixels considered as behind the convergence plane, and thus aren’t part of the background. So you won’t see any Bokeh effect even if you increase it to the top of the slider.
If you feel the need to increase the depth of your image considerably to the point where you start to see visual artifacts in the background of the image, you can add in some Bokeh to blur the background and conceal the artifacts.
Color
These are straightforward chroma editors including brightness, contrast, saturation and hue.
Color Pop will remove color from pixels considered as part of the background, to make certain colors in the foreground and focus plane “pop”.
Resize
Simple tools for resizing and rotating your image. Note that if you crop an image down to a smaller size, its disparity and convergence values will increase, gibing it more of a depth feeling.
Relighting
This is where the artistic flavor gets added. Tap any of the relighting presets, and you will have different lighting configurations added to your image. These lighting placements use the depth map to get placed into different parts of the image.
Pro tip: after applying a preset and hitting check, you can open Relighting section again and add another preset. This lets you create custom presets by combining many of them together. If you keep adding them, your pictures will start to take on a very different tone.
Filters Apply styles to your images by selecting the presets. As with relighting, you can apply multiple presets to each image to create your own custom styles. Combine this with a bunch of relighting presets to make each image a unique work of art.
To learn more about editing in LeiaPlayer, check out the LeiaPlayer page on Editing Images.
Lightfield 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 Lightfield Images You'll find all of the 2D, 3D, and Lightfield 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 with any other cloud image service, just download the service's Android app through Google Play and download the images to your device.
If the image 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 dowload here.
Many kinds of 3D and Lightfield image filetypes 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 and Lightfield 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 Lightfield images, click here or simply visit the next page.