Side-by-Side for YouTube VR: What SPM Does (and What It Doesn’t)
YouTube accepts 3D uploads, and the practical input is a side-by-side video with the right projection metadata. StereoPhoto Maker is a stills program — it will not edit your video — but it is where the stereo discipline for those frames is learned and checked, and its sibling StereoMovie Maker is the author’s video tool. This guide draws the boundaries honestly and gives the export recipe.
Know which tool does what
- SPM — stills: verify pairs, test alignment and window decisions on extracted frames, build the channel’s stereo thumbnails and cards.
- Your video editor / StereoMovie Maker — the timeline, the render, and (for SMM) stereo video conversion.
- Metadata injection — YouTube recognises 3D from the file’s spherical/3D metadata; renders that lack it upload as flat SBS. The common route is exporting equirectangular for VR180/360, or full-frame SBS with the 3D metadata set by your editor or Google’s spatial media injector.
The geometry rules that carry over
- Align first — VR playback magnifies vertical error exactly as headsets do (Quest viewing rules).
- Moderate depth — YouTube VR audiences watch longer than a demo clip; comfort beats spectacle.
- For Canon dual-fisheye material, the fisheye⇄VR180 conversion lives in SPM (guide) — stills and frames today, same projection maths your video path uses.
Upload checklist
- Render in the projection your metadata declares (VR180 equirectangular, or SBS as appropriate).
- Verify in the YouTube app on a headset before announcing the link — the desktop preview lies about 3D.
- Keep the SBS master file; platforms change their ingest rules, masters do not change.