We already explained how to take Spatial Video with iPhone 15 Pro / Max. But now you’ll learn to record even better Spatial Videos in HDR at 60fps or 4K, and also how to take Spatial Photos (not available in the iPhone’s Camera). Moreover, in this tutorial you will learn how to export to other 3D formats, and from 3D to Spatial.
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With the latest update, Spatialify can record Spatial video in HDR at 4K30 or 1080p60! Check the comparison between Spatialify and i3DMovieCam/i3DMovieMaker. We’ll soon add another comprehensive comparison between the new capabilities of these two apps.
Taking Spatial Pictures and Videos
Open Spatialify, and then push the camera button at the top. That’s it!
Remember that it’s better to take mid to close-range pictures with the stereo base of the iPhone’s cameras (or recording far landscapes but including near subjects, like vegetation or people). For subjects and landscapes that are further away, you can do great manual 3D photographs with any camera or phone.
Once a Spatial Photo is taken, you can watch them in various formats (including Anaglyph or Cross-eyes) and export to other Apps or save to the iPhone gallery or export to other Apps, for pictures always use Full-SBS or other undistorted format (never use Half-SBS for photos).
If you are capturing video, remember to always activate HDR instead of SDR (at bottom left). The quality of your recordings will improve greatly, with no extra cost in storage needed or any drawback. Then select the maximum resolution or the maximum smoothness according to the scene you’re recording, usually is better to use 60fps, but if your subject is quiet, and you won’t move the camera much, it will look better at 4K.
Remember: You can configure the Action button on iPhone 15 Pro / Max to directly open Spatialify Camera. Just go to settings to change the Action button to execute a Shortcut, write Spatialify to look for actions available, then you can choose between Opening Spatial Camera, directly taking a Spatial Photo, or a Spatial Video.
Don’t convert to old 3D formats if your device supports Spatial MV-HEVC format, but if you need to watch on an old 3D device, in the next part we’re teaching you on how to convert to the old-fashioned cumbersome 3D formats.
Converting Spatial Videos/Photos to 3D
If you have an iPhone 15 Pro / Max and followed our previous tutorial, you already own some MV-HEVC (Multi-View High-Efficiency Video Codec) Spatial Videos. If you want to enjoy on 3D displays apart from the Vision Pro, you should convert them to other 3D formats (except for Quest 3, which now supports MV-HEVC videos).
To begin, open Spatialify (if the camera is opened push the X to close it), and select Browse Spatial Album to find the Spatial Video (or photo) you want to export to 3D.
Then, you can view it in Anaglyph, VR Visor (Cardboard), Cross-eyes, or even connected to a 3D display via USB-C to HDMI cable (select Cardboard for this).
To directly export the video or photo, push the Export button to save the video in Full-SBS (recommended, but use Half-SBS if your device doesn’t correctly show Full-SBS videos).
Note that it will appear the setting Horizontal Disparity Adjustment, leave it enabled. One of the advantages of the Multi-View HEVC format is that it can store the best disparity adjustment; The iPhone and the Vision Pro automatically calculates this while recording to avoid too much/low disparity, or window violations.
Then select Save Video to the video to be exported to the Gallery (or transfer with Airdrop, Telegram, PhotoSync, or the App you usually use to transfer files to another device).
Remember to only convert MV-HEVC videos to old 3D formats if your 3D device doesn’t support Spatial Format. The Spatial MV-HEVC format is a better way for storing 3D videos, is a format ready for the future.
Converting 3D to Spatial
You can export your existing 3D videos to MV-HEVC Spatial Video so you can watch in Vision Pro and other compatible devices. We expect more devices will add support for Spatial Videos, particularly from Leia ecosystem, but also from us, and in a device you already own, stay tuned…
Let’s start.
On the main screen, you have to select Create Spatial Video.
You have to specify the format of source files, if you followed our i3DMovieCam tutorial, you will know that two independent videos is the way to have the best possible quality, so select Videos for Each View. But if your files are in another source format, select it.
Once selected, you should choose which will be the video that will appear for non-3D users. If your videos were recorded with the iPhone itself, the best quality is produced with the main Wide lens: If you take videos in landscape orientation with lenses at top, the main lens will record the opposite eye than if you record in landscape with lenses at bottom. For iPhone 15 Pro / Max the main lens records the right eye when the lenses are at the bottom in landscape orientation.
When you selected the file(s) you want to convert, push the Create button and wait some seconds until the process finishes.
Now you can Save Video or share to the App you usually use to transfer files to another device (AirDrop, Telegram, PhotoSync…).
Now, your video will be in a new modern standard for 3D videos. A universal file everybody can watch, no matter if you are a 2d or a 3D user, and watch it accordingly to the display. MV-HEVC is the 3D file format for the future, long life to the Spatial Video format.
As you see, it’s straightforward and convenient using Spatial and 3D on your iPhone. Don’t wait to start capturing in 3D or Spatial, you can watch your memories in 3D on an increasing number of devices with 3D display, including VR headsets (and soon on your iPhone itself). 😉