Software that makes 2D images look 3D by using depth maps?

[SelLi]

Hello everyone.

I occasionally would like to have a 3D feeling environment or CG in the visual novel I'm making, but I'm planning on mostly/only using 2D images.

I've heard of a website called Depthy which lets you upload a 2D image and a special black and white image called a depth map, which defines the depth of your first image, with the foreground being darker shades and the background with lighter shades. Then, it moves your 2D image slightly, as you wish, making it look as though you're looking at a 3D model of your original image from different angles.

When used properly, it makes an effect like this, but, unfortunately, I can't use Depthy due to technical difficulties.

I think that a depth map is a very artistic way of transforming a 2D image into a nearly 3D image and I'm looking for free software that does something similar to what Depthy does. Can anybody please help me? I think a moving, nearly 3D image would be really cool as a CG.

[SparkyRailgun]

What difficulties are you having with Depthy? I doubt there's a lot of programs, if any, that do the same thing as Depthy. 3d parallax is usually achieved through layering of the subjects within a photo.

My other question would be how you plan to implement it into a VN BG? Given that it is an image in fairly distracting motion.

[SelLi]

What difficulties are you having with Depthy? I doubt there's a lot of programs, if any, that do the same thing as Depthy. 3d parallax is usually achieved through layering of the subjects within a photo.

My other question would be how you plan to implement it into a VN BG? Given that it is an image in fairly distracting motion.

I get an error that says "Sorry, Depthy works only on browsers supporting WebGL." But I'm using firefox, and I'm pretty sure firefox supports WebGL.

I've heard of moving and scaling multiple layers of a 2D image to achieve a 3D effect, but I'd prefer this method that uses depth maps. Though, if I don't get this to work, that's a cool effect, too.

I would use the effect once, when the player switches from one background/CG to another. It would probably make the transition between backgrounds feel more immersive.

For instance, when you go from the classroom to the hallway, as you enter the hallway, the background moves horizontally slightly as though you're actually entering it.

[SelLi]

Aha, this article helped me out a lot. I can use Depthy now, as far as I know. Thanks.

Alright. WebGL works and I'm not getting the error with Depthy anymore, but I still can't use it. I can't see any images on the site.

[SparkyRailgun]

What OS are you on? Do you have the latest version of Firefox?

The idea for the transition affect is an interesting one, I'd definitely like to see it in action.

[SelLi]

What OS are you on? Do you have the latest version of Firefox?

The idea for the transition affect is an interesting one, I'd definitely like to see it in action.

Thank you I think it's cool, too.
I'm using the latest version of Firefox, and I'm on Windows Vista.

Edit: It's also not working with the latest version of Firefox on Windows XP, either.

[SparkyRailgun]

Weird. I'm not an expert on WebGL by any stretch of the imagination, but see if this site works for you: http://get.webgl.org/

If not, there's probably a problem with your browser. I'd try and see if it works in Chrome, in that case.

[SelLi]

Weird. I'm not an expert on WebGL by any stretch of the imagination, but see if this site works for you: http://get.webgl.org/

If not, there's probably a problem with your browser. I'd try and see if it works in Chrome, in that case.

I'm not either. I just know depthy is quite cool.
That site works fine for me and I've tried using chrome for depthy, but that doesn't work, either.

[SparkyRailgun]

Well, I'm afraid I'm out of ideas. Perhaps Vista and XP are somehow incompatible with the site, though I'm not really sure how or why that would be. Maybe someone else will have some idea.

[SelLi]

Well, I'm afraid I'm out of ideas. Perhaps Vista and XP are somehow incompatible with the site, though I'm not really sure how or why that would be. Maybe someone else will have some idea.

My brother has a laptop that runs on windows 7 (I think). Maybe I can try using it some time soon.
I seem to remember trying it before and having it not work, but that was before I knew about the article I shared earlier, so maybe things will be different.
All well. Thanks for helping me out, anyway.
I suppose the worst case scenario is that I can just split images into a bunch of individual layers as we talked about before, and move them with ATL in Ren'Py itself. It would be slightly different but depending on how many layers I cut an image into, it can still look good and maybe even look comparable to depthy stuff.
Thanks, again.

[SelLi]

Depthy works properly on my brother's laptop, which is great news ^_^
I had the opportunity to try it out a bit, and I downloaded one of their examples as a .webm and transferred it to my computer.
I think .webm videos aren't supported on Ren'Py, so I downloaded a converter to convert .webm to .avi files.
I'm still having trouble, but its trouble of a different kind, so I started a new thread. If you're interested, you can check it out, here.

Thank you, guys.

[PyTom]

Webms have been supported on Ren'Py for a couple of releases.

[SelLi]

Webms have been supported on Ren'Py for a couple of releases.

Thanks