3DeeCentral for Windows 7 Help

The 3DeeCentral™ application for WindowsÃ�Â® allows you to browse our award winning indie 3D content, purchase it (if it is not free), download it to your 3D compatible Windows 7 computer and enjoy rich 3D stereo experiences on your computer.

This document provides an overview of the application and explains how to get the most out of it.

System Requirements

The most up-to-date information on supported devices is always available on the Supported Devices page.

Windows^®Computers

Operating Systems

The 3DeeCentral application for Windows runs on Microsoft Windows 7, 32-bit or 64-bit platforms.

Neither the Windows XP nor Windows Vista operating systems are supported.

Display Devices

In order to view 3D Stereo content on a Windows 7 computer, you will require a compatible monitor and graphics card as well as secure (HDCP compatible) connection between the computer and the monitor.

In order to achieve an HDCP connection (the same as is required to view Blu-ray content), you need either:

a computer with a built-in internal screen (like a laptop)

a computer with external monitor protected by an HDCP connection. For this you need an HDCP capable graphics card and monitor which must be connected to the computer via digital cable (i.e. a DVI, DisplayPort or HDMI cable). If your monitor is connected to your computer via an old style VGA cable, it will not be possible to establish an HDCP connection and 3DeeCentral will refuse to display any content.

The following display types are currently supported:

Polarized screens
NVIDIA 3D Vision capable systems (see http://www.nvidia.com/object/3d-vision-requirements.html for 3D VISION requirements)
2D displays while wearing Red/Cyan glasses. (Please note that the colored glasses used for viewing 3D content come in different colors, but only Red/Cyan (cyan is a shade of blue) will work with 3DeeCentral at this time.)

We recommend that before purchasing content from 3DeeCentral that you download some of the free content (including the free 3D Previews) and make sure they work on your configuration.

Known Problems and Release Notes

Platform Independent Issues

The first time you start the app, you will be presented with an screen requesting that you log in. You must click the "Create Account" button the first time to create a 3DeeCentral account. Once you have done that and have logged in once, 3DeeCentral will remember your login credentials and automatically log you in for future sessions.
The first time you log on from any application, the app can appear to hang, for up to 30 seconds, while it downloads the list of all available content from the server. Subsequent sessions will start up much faster.
You can only be logged into 3DeeCentral once. If you are logged in from any platform (Web, iOS, Windows) and then log in again from another place, your first session will get logged out. To recover, just log in again, or quit the iOS or Windows app and restart it. This limitation will be removed in a future release.

Windows Issues

Installation Notes

During the installation of 3DeeCentral, you will be given the option of downloading and installing the Microsoft DirectX Redistributable. You must install this in order to be able to view content in stereo 3D. The installer will update your system with the June 2010 version of this software. If you have an older version of the redistributable and don't want to upgrade, it should work properly with 3DeeCentral, but otherwise, you should accept this download. You only need to do this once, if you reinstall 3DeeCentral or upgrade to a newer version, you do not need to reinstall the Microsoft DirectX redistributable.
During the installation of 3DeeCentral, you will be given the option of downloading and installing the Xvid codec. If your version of Windows 7 came with Microsoft's Windows Media player, you will already have this codec and don't need to install it again. If your version of Windows 7 came without Windows Media player (and some European versions are delivered this way) you must install the Xvid codec before you will be able to view any content. You can also install this free codec directly by visiting http://www.xvid.org/ from which you can download it.
The first time you launch 3DeeCentral for Windows, a dialog will pop up and ask you to set your desired "Stereo Mode" for display of content. If you have an NVIDIA 3D Vision graphics system, pick "3D Vision" from the pop-up. If you don't have this, but you know your screen is 3D capable, pick "Polarized" from the pop-up, this is most likely the right setting. If you do not have a 3D capable graphics system, but have a pair of red/cyan glasses, pick "Anaglyph" from the pop-up. If you have not picked the setting compatible with your graphics system, you won't see the 3D stereo effect.

Other Issues

The first time you launch the player to view a video, the video will not start playing automatically. Push the play/pause button twice and the video will start.
If you are viewing content in NVIDIA 3D Vision mode, there are no player controls available in the UI. Instead you must use the NVIDIA defined hotkeys to control the image or video playback. These hotkeys are listed in a message box that will be displayed before playback begins when 3DeeCentral is set to 3D Vision mode. If you click the box in that Window telling 3DeeCentral not to show it to you again, and then you forget the hotkeys, you can re-enable the message box via the "Show 3D Vision hotkeys dialog" setting.
The "Next Button" (>>|) in the video player does not currently work. This will be fixed in a future release.
Occasionally after clicking the "3D Preview" button in the Store for a piece of content, the Preview will not appear in the download list. To force it to show up, quit the app and restart it. The download will then appear and start downloading automatically. This will be fixed in a future release.
Occasionally after clicking the "Re-Download" button in the History section of the Store, the item you selected for re-download will not appear in the download list. To force it to show up, quit the app and restart it. The download will then appear and start downloading automatically. This will be fixed in a future release.
If you delete all the content you have downloaded, the app will crash as you delete the last item. This will be fixed in a future release.

Creating a 3DeeCentral Account

When you first launch the 3DeeCentral application, you are asked to login or to create an account.

Since 3DeeCentral (3DC) takes the ownership of copyrighted material very seriously, the application maintains the integrity of the distribution policies on content set by our content providers. Those rules don't allow unlimited copying, so all downloads must be associated with a person.

3DeeCentral also respects your privacy and has a formal privacy policy explaining in detail what information we collect and what it is used for.

If this is the first time you are using the 3DeeCentral application, you'll need to click the Create Account button, fill in the account creation form and submit it.

Please ensure the email address you use as your login id is one you have access to. After you submit this form, 3DeeCentral will email an activation link to that address.

Once you have activated your account by clicking the link in the email, you can log in and the 3DeeCentral app will remember your login info and automatically log you in (to disable automatic login, click the Settings button on the applications' top navigation bar, and then deselect the option "Automatically Login".)

The 3DeeCentral toolbar

At the bottom of the screen in the application is a toolbar containing 5 tabbed areas labeled Videos, Image, Store, Downloads and Help. The purpose of each of these is:

Videos

After selecting this item, all the videos that have been downloaded and are available for playback are displayed. By default they are sorted by Title. Here's how to change that:

Select a different option from the Sort by dropdown at the top left of the display. Scroll this list, or filter it using the Sort By dropdown and select a video to view by either double-clicking it, or by clicking on it once, then clicking the play button.

* Please note that since these videos are designed for 3D viewing, you must make sure you view the videos on a 3D capable system, or while wearing anaglyph glasses [glasses with different colored lenses for the left and right eye - 3DeeCentral currently supports only red/cyan (a shade of blue) glasses] or you won't see the 3D effect. See the section Using the Video Player for more details.

Images

After selecting Images, all the images (or image sets) that have been downloaded and are available for playback are displayed. By default they are sorted by Title, but this can be changed by selecting a different option from the Sort by dropdown at the top left of the display.

Scroll this list, or filter it using the Sort By dropdown and select a image to view by either double-clicking it, or by clicking on it once, then clicking the play button.

With image sets, you can view a slideshow of all the images by pressing the Play button in the viewer. See the section Using the Image Player for Photos for more details. There are several different ways to control the slideshow. Please see the Program options section for details.

* Please note that since these images are designed for 3D viewing, you must make sure you watch the videos on a 3D capable system, or while wearing anaglyph glasses or you won't see the 3D effect.

Store

Clicking the store button takes you to the 3DeeCentral web store. The store requires that you log in, but the 3DeeCentral app will perform the login process for you automatically. Clicking the Catalog link in the web store will take you to all of our videos and photos. If you select free content, it will immediately be added to your download queue (see the next section for details). If you choose to buy content, it will be added to your shopping cart. You can view your cart at any time by clicking the Cart item in the menu, and from there you can select Checkout to purchase the content. Once the purchase has completed, the items will be added to your download queue.

Downloads

Once you have purchased an item from the store, it must be downloaded to your computer before you can view it. With video, some of these files can be large, so the 3DeeCentral application contains a download manager. Purchased items (or free items) are added to the download manager and are downloaded to your computer.

Using the download window, you can pause or restart the active downloads as you wish by clicking either the Pause or Play button to the right of each entry. You can pause all active downloads by clicking the Pause All button and restart them again by clicking the Resume All button.

Help

Clicking the help icon takes you to the help page on the 3DeeCentral. You do not need to be logged in to view this content, but you do need a network connection.

Purchasing Content

Pressing the Store icon in the 3DeeCentral application will take you to the 3DeeCentral web store. You can also access this store via a regular web browser at 3deecentral.com, but you'll need to create your account via the 3DeeCentral app first.

The 3DeeCentral home page highlights our new and exciting content and the catalog allows you browse all the available videos and photos. When you choose to buy paid content, the content is added to a shopping cart and once you have decided on the content you wish to purchase you click on the Cart link to start the purchase process.

We currently support purchases via credit card or PayPal.

Credit Card

Credit card payments are processed through a secure and safe on-line payment processor. Neither the 3DeeCentral web store nor the 3DeeCentral application will remember or store any credit card information you provide when paying this way. The app will securely pass your information to the payment processor via an encrypted and secure "https" web connection. When the payment is approved, your content will be available for download. The credit card processor will provide you with a receipt and a transaction number; 3DeeCentral will email you confirmation of your purchase, and you can review the purchase in your account history. * Please note that because neither the 3DeeCentral Web Store nor the 3DeeCentral app stores your credit card information, you must re-enter it every time you make a purchase.

PayPal

PayPal is recognized leader in secure and safe online payments. Neither the 3DeeCentral web store nor the 3DeeCentral application will remember or store any PayPal account information you provide while paying via PayPal. The app will simply send your browser to PayPal via an encrypted redirect. PayPal will then handle the log in and purchase completion, and then return you to a specified page in the 3DeeCentral web store. Upon reaching that page, a request will be sent to determine the status of your payment, and payment is then entered into the order or the order is cancelled. Once your payment is complete, your content will be added to the download queue and 3DeeCentral will email you confirmation of your purchase. You can also review the purchase in your account history.

Using the Video Player

*Please note that since these videos are designed for 3D viewing, you must make sure you view the videos on a 3D capable system, or while wearing anaglyph glasses or you will not see the 3D effect.

Double clicking on an entry in the Videos list, or single clicking on an item and then clicking Play will open the 3DeeCentral Video Player.

*Please also note that 3D viewing requires that the player run in full-screen mode. Once you start the player, the 3DeeCentral interface will disappear and be replaced by your video. On Polarized display, and when viewing Anaglyph content, a control panel will display momentarily at the bottom of the screen and will allow you to control the playback of the video. After a few seconds of inactivity, it will fade out, but a click anywhere on the screen will bring it back. On NVIDIA 3D Vision systems, keyboard hotkeys must be used to control the playback. These hotkeys are displayed in a pop-up window before the video starts playing. Pressing the "ESC" key will stop the playback and return to the main 3DeeCentral interface.

You may use the scroll bar on this control panel to fast-forward or rewind through the video. Clicking the Pause button will pause the video. To return to the 3DeeCentral main menu, click the Exit button on the video control panel.

Using the Image Player for Photos

* Please note that since these images are designed for 3D viewing, you must make sure you view the videos on a 3D capable system, or while wearing anaglyph glasses or you won't see the 3D effect.

Double clicking on an entry in the Images list, or single clicking on an item and then clicking Play will open the 3DeeCentral Image Player. * Please also note that 3D viewing requires that the player run in full-screen mode. Once you start the player, the 3DeeCentral interface will disappear and be replaced by your content. On Polarized display, and when viewing Anaglyph content, an image control panel will display momentarily at the bottom of the screen and will allow you to control the playback of the content. After a few seconds of inactivity, it will fade out, but a click anywhere on the screen will bring it back. On NVIDIA 3D Vision systems, keyboard hotkeys must be used to control the playback. These hotkeys are displayed in a pop-up window before the video starts playing. Pressing the "ESC" key will stop the playback and return to the main 3DeeCentral interface.

Click the forward and back arrows to move to the previous and next image in the set, or click the play button to start a slideshow. During a slideshow, the length of time each image is displayed and the transition between images are controlled by program options. See the section of this document entitled Image Slideshow in the Program options section for details.

To return to the 3DeeCentral main menu, click the Exit button on the image control panel.

Program options

The 3DeeCentral app contains several options that alter the way it works:

Automatically Login

This option defaults to ON. When set this way, the 3DeeCentral app remembers your email address and password, and automatically logs you on to the 3DeeCentral store at start up. If you set it to OFF then you will be prompted for your email address and password every time you launch the app.

Image Slideshow

The three options in this section control the way each image in an image set is displayed.

Play each slide for sets the number of seconds that each image is displayed before moving onto the next one.

Transition - When set to ON each image in a slideshow will dissolve into the next one. When set to off, the next image will simply appear.

Repeat - When set to ON the image viewer returns to the beginning and starts the slide show over after the last slide is displayed.

Video Player

The Stereo mode dropdown box in this section allows you to select the way that Player will display the 3D content. The choices are:

Anaglyph displays content so that it can be viewed with Red/Cyan glasses.

Polarized displays content so that it can be viewed with Polarized glasses.

3DVision displays content intended for the NVIDIA 3D Vision display system. In order to use this option you must have an NVIDIA 3D Vision graphics card, a compatible monitor and a set of NVIDIA 3D Vision glasses.

Auto-start Downloads

This option is set to ON and when set this way, the content will start downloading automatically after you purchase it or with free content when you select it in the 3DeeCentral store. If you want to change that, you can set it to OFF, and the 3DeeCentral app will not download any content unless you start the download manually in the download manager.

Simultaneous Downloads

This dropdown box controls how many downloads the 3DeeCentral download manager will start at the same time. The default is 1, but if you have a fast connection, you can choose to download more than one item at a time.

FAQ

Why doesn't the video and image content appear in 3D?

In order to see your content in 3D you must view it on a 3D capable monitor while wearing the matching glasses or while wearing anaglyph (red/cyan) glasses. This directs different images to your left and right eyes, and this is what creates the 3D effect.
How can I view my purchase receipt?

After you complete a purchase in 3DeeCentral, the system will display your receipt for a few seconds, after which the app will switch to the Downloads tab so that your new content will begin to download. If you did not have sufficient time to review your receipt before the download began, you can see it two other ways. At the time your download begins, 3DeeCentral will email you a copy of your receipt. Or you can return to the Store tab and click on History. You will see a list of all your orders. Clicking on an order number will display the details for a specific order.
Can I delete content I have downloaded?

Yes. In either the Videos or Images tab, find the content item you want to delete, select it, then click the Delete button. You will be asked to confirm the deletion before it happens. Note that you can only re-download content you have deleted a limited number of times, so be careful when deleting content. See the next answer for details on re-downloading.
Can I re-download content that I have deleted?

Yes, although only a limited number of times. To start a re-download, click the Store icon and then the History link. This will display a list of all the content you have purchased and how many downloads of each you have remaining.
How can I re-download content that I have deleted?

If you have deleted content from your computer and want to download it again you must navigate to the History tab in the Store.

Below the list of all your purchases, will be a list of the content that has been deleted from your mobile device or computer, and for which you have an unused download left. Click the Re-Download button next to a title to add it to your download queue. It should appear immediately as one of the downloads in progress, which is viewable when you click the Downloads tab. If you have used up all of your downloads, and want to download the content again, you will need to buy it again.

If we haven't been able to answer your question or you'd like more information please contact us help_3deecentral@spatialview.com.