Last year, YouTube rolled out an interesting feature (part of their video creator tools program) which allowed YouTube creators to convert a YouTube video into 3D and allowed viewers to watch 3D YouTube videos. Creating a 3D video in a real world scenario is a really laborious job, as you would have to setup two video cameras, shoot your footage and then use special video editing software to do a proper 3D effect. However, it is still very much impossible to get the same clarity, when you are comparing the mixed scene with a footage that has been shot with a professional 3D camera. Converting a 2D video to 3D also takes a lot of time and owning a professional 3D camera might feel heavy for the average pocket.
Hence, YouTube’s new venture was well accepted by the global community of video creators, which provided one click option to convert an HD video to 3D. Today, YouTube has moved the video creator program from Beta to all YouTube users which means, now you can convert your YouTube videos to 3D and let viewers watch any of your videos in 3D mode. They will need those 3D glasses, which sadly, many of us don’t own yet.
If you ask me, I don’t find 3D videos that fascinating. The very first problem is the lack of proper 3D content on the web. Barring Avatar and a couple of other movies available in 3D, there is nothing earth-shaking about the 3D magic. Sometimes, I feel the 3D specs are too heavy on my face and it would be better, if I enjoy the movie through clean eyes. But maybe, that’s just me.
How to know if a YouTube video is available as 3D?
To know if a YouTube video is available in 3D mode or not, look for a tiny 3D icon in the right corner of the YouTube video player (positioned just left to the video quality drop down). Click the 3D option button and you would see the following options:
- Turn off 3D: This will toggle the video from 2D to 3D mode and from 3D to 2D mode.
- You can choose to watch the video in full colour by clicking the “Full Colour” button”.
- The optimized mode will load a more optimized version of the video but it is not recommended for slow connections.
- The grey scale button converts the YouTube video to grey scale, looks very cool if you want a Black and White effect. The quality in the grey scale mode will be reduced for most videos.
What if you are watching a YouTube video in 3D mode and don’t have 3D glasses or specs? You will see a drastically poor video quality because the 3D mode is worthwhile only if you have 3D glasses, otherwise it is just a waste of time.
Here is an example where I have turned the 3D mode on and looking through clean eyes (not 3D specs):
From first looks, it seems that the video is of bad quality or blurry. But the fact is that it is not at all blurry as you will get the best quality only when you watch the video through 3D glasses. Of course, YouTube’s machine 3D conversion will not be very optimized but I would rate it as grayish.
Find And Watch 3D Videos On YouTube
YouTube has a dedicated 3D channel at YouTube.com/user/3D where you can watch the best 3D videos on YouTube and download the videos on your computer using video downloading tools. The videos in the official 3D channel are neatly organized into playlists, here are some useful links which will get you started:
- Latest 3D videos of best quality - YouTube playlist
- Best 3D videos – playlist.
- Film and animation – 3D playlist.
- Cartoon films – 3D playlist
- 3D Games - playlist
- Nature and travel – 3D YouTube playlist
- How to videos and tutorials in 3D – YouTube playlist
Alternatively, just do a search for yt3d:enable=true followed by your keyword phrase and you can find 3D YouTube videos related to a particular topic. For example, if I want to find and watch 3D videos on YouTube related to sports, I would type the following in the YouTube search box:
yt3d:enable=true sports
Notice that there is a 3D icon placed just right to a video thumbnail, which confirms that the given video has been converted to its 3D mode by the uploader. Further, click the tiny 3D icon and you can filter 3D videos on YouTube and find videos related to a specific keyword or topic.
Since YouTube has just upgraded the video creator program from Beta to public use, the amount of video content is still meager. Hopefully, we will see more 3D video content in YouTube in coming months.
Convert A YouTube Video To 3D
If you would like to convert all or a few of your YouTube videos from 2D to 3D, just follow these steps:
1. Login to your YouTube account, browse to the video page and click “Edit Video”. Next. click “3D video” at the extreme right corner, as shown in the following illustration:
2. Next, choose “Please make this video 3D” and hit “Save changes”. YouTube will acknowledge your conversion request and hopefully, your 3D conversion would be complete within a few hours.
You can further choose to disable 3D effect on a YouTube video at a later point of time. Does that mean that your chosen video will not be available in normal mode? Nopes.But like I said, YouTube will convert your video into 3D mode and will allow viewers to watch a machine processed 3D version of the same.
To be honest, this project is still in its nascent stages and I am not very convinced about the overall output. There are a couple of exceptions but as you would agree, the genuine effect will always be missed. But, do we really have any other choice?
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