How to Make a 3D YouTube Video the Easy Way

3D is no longer exclusive to movie studios. If you can scrape together two camcorders, some sticky tape and access to a hooked-up computer, you’re just a few steps away from making your own three-dimensional cinematic works of art, says Amy-Mae Elliot of Mashable.

This is largely thanks to YouTube‘s free online 3D Editor suite. Mashable spoke to Samuel Kvaalen, YouTube software engineer who helped develop the product. Kvaalen told why the video-sharing company created the tool in the first place: “The idea was trying to make creating 3D videos accessible to as many users as possible in a simple, easy manner.”

So is it really easy to make your own 3D YouTube video? After a quick walk-through of the software with Kvaalen, Mashable tested it out. Here’s the super-simple, step-by-step look at how to shoot and edit a three-dimensional video.

1. Shooting

As far as hardware goes, you’ll need two cameras, ideally the same model, although you can use any two that can record at the same resolution. You’ll also need some way of holding them together and some 3D glasses so you can edit and view the final result.

They used two Cisco Flip MinoHD pocket video cameras. They separated them slightly with Blu-Tack in order to reach the power button on the side of the camera. Be sure to use a ruler or other straight surface to ensure the camera’s lenses are at exactly the same height.

Once you’ve got your cameras lined up, you need to attach them together. They simply wound masking tape around the bottom of the cameras to hold them in place. Think of it as recording separate footage for your left and right eyes. This is the basic principle behind how 3D technology actually works.

With that set-up complete, you’re ready to go. What to shoot is, of course, up to you, although Kvaalen has some pointers to share. “You don’t want to film objects that are too close — you want to try and keep it at a decent distance — a few feet away is ideal,” says Kvaalen. In addition he suggests keeping the camera as stable as possible. This will yield the best results. Finally, try and press record at exactly the same time on each camera.

2. Editing

Once you’ve shot your footage, signed into your YouTube account and uploaded your two videos, head over to YouTube’s 3D Editor. It looks similar to the ordinary YouTube Editor, but you’ll see tabs on the bottom right that relate specifically to 3D editing. You can now drag and drop the two clips that you want to use to the “left” and “right” boxes.

The first thing to do is get the time sync right. Whereas this used to be done manually with editing software, the 3D Editor does it for you. Kvaalen explains: “You want to start filming with both cameras at the same time but that’s pretty much impossible, you’ll always have at least a few milliseconds off, so this uses the audio to sync them automatically.”
By “listening” to the audio from the videos — even just ambient sound — the Editor will be able to accurately time sync the two videos.

Next up is vertical alignment. Kvaalen offers some more advice: “Users should bolt the cameras together so they don’t move relative to each other, or “vertically shift,” but there is usually a small vertical difference in height. This tool lets a user manually suggest a vertical shift percentage.” As far as attempting a guess estimate the shift, they just kept tweaking until it looked right. Start at plus or minus 10% and keep going until you get the best result.

Finally, once you are happy with your video in the preview window, you can add a title in the top right hand box and publish it. After the video processes (usually a couple of minutes) you’ll have a shareable 3D video to impress your friends!

3. The Results

To view one of their test videos in 3D, you’ll have to grab your 3D glasses, but even if you can’t find a pair, they can report we were happy with the results.

With relatively little hardware and a pain-free editing process, YouTube’s aim of making 3D video creation simple, easy and “accessible to as many users as possible” has been achieved with the 3D Editor. There will be a lot of YouTube users having lots of fun with this 3D tool.

Have you used YouTube’s 3D Editor? How did you find it? Let us know and link us to your creations in the comments below.

Reinventing the Newspaper: Part 620

To date, the print newspaper’s relationship with the Internet has been a little bit like Dr. Jekyl’s learning to live with Mr. Hyde: On the one hand, enormously powerful; but on the other, quite difficult to control, and pretty easy to have turn against you, says blogger Nate Hubbell. And in recent years, the traditional newspaper has more often than not found itself on the receiving end of Mr. Hyde’s more destructive side.

The popular way of fighting back for larger newspapers and print magazines, if they have the brand
recognition and readership base required to support it, has been to launch a so-called “paywall” – basically a digital subscription – for their online content. Wall Street Journal, The Times of London, Wired, The New York Times -they’ve all got a paywall of some design erected around their Web content now.

In the main, all of these paywalls have been examples of the newspaper and magazine companies trying to apply their print business model to the digital age. Very few, with the possible exception of The Daily, have tried
to really break the mold and do something completely different.

The New York Times has launched a new section of their website, called beta620 (the 620 refers to their headquarters’ building number in Manhattan, NY), which appears to approach the idea of the newspaper in 21st
century from a truly fresh perspective.

As GigaOm noted, the site itself has the feel of a startup, “with the lower-case beta620 label, and a series of quirky images that identify the different projects underway at the NYT.” And, indeed, it does have somewhat
of the same goal in mind. The projects underway are explained quickly, and the lead developer of the project is given direct credit for the idea right on the page. Additionally, at least for the time being, all the apps on the site are free to try out – much like the give-it-away-free-at-first-to-get-them-hooked strategy of many Internet and social startups.

The new site is a great attempt by the newspaper company to actually innovate and move the industry’s model forward. In my humble opinion, we find some of the ideas very cool, especially the Longitude app, which shows
news stories’ geographical origin and spread overlaid on Google Maps; and Buzz, which puts a “filter” over the normal NYT.com site appearance to show the extent to which each story is being shared and generating “buzz” across various social networking platforms.

Of course, we have no way of knowing if this new startup-like path is the future for newspapers. But, for our money, it seems like a good idea, and at least they are trying something new. We’re certainly interested. And that’s really the point.