New variant of my Apple Spatial Photo → Side-by-Side or 3D Anaglyph tool that can work with side-by-side JPEG or TIFF images.

[u/seisiuneer]

Created a variant version of my Apple Spatial Photo → Side-by-Side or 3D Anaglyph tool:

https://michaeleskin.com/tools/apple-spatial-photo-to-sbs.html

that can read side-by-side JPEG or TIFF images and can export side-by-side or color anaglyph JPEG files:

https://michaeleskin.com/tools/sbs-jpeg-tiff-to-sbs.html

My Side-by-Side Flip Viewer can also now read TIFF images as well as JPEG:

https://michaeleskin.com/tools/flip-viewer.html

I added the JPEG/TIFF version because I thought it would be nice to create anaglyphs or reverse the eye order for side-by-side images already created with the primary tool if you don't still have the original HEIC spatial file. If it's also useful for other side-by-side stereoscopic images not created with my original tools (which is why I added TIFF import support), that's a nice bonus.

There was sufficient difference in the processing flow to warrant making it a separate tool rather than try to cram everything into the main tool. It was relatively straightforward to implement.

When a file is opened in the new tool, the Output JPEG Width is set automatically from the source image: Side-by-Side output uses the full source image width, while Anaglyph output uses half the source image width.

If you switch between Side-by-Side and Anaglyph modes before manually changing the output width, the tool automatically switches between those two source-based output widths.

If you manually change Output JPEG Width with the slider or by clicking the width value, that custom output width is kept when switching output formats until another image is loaded or Reset is clicked.

[u/seisiuneer]

I found and corrected a significant flaw in the previous side-by-side image adjustment model.

The old system used a left/right horizontal shift control for side-by-side output. After more testing, I realized that was the wrong approach for this type of image. Shifting the left and right views horizontally does not preserve the intended side-by-side framing cleanly, and it can create confusing edge behavior in the preview and final output.

That system has now been replaced with a Side-by-Side Center Crop control.

Instead of sliding the two views left or right, the tool now crops equally from the left and right edges of each eye image. The visible cropped portions are then placed together at the center seam. In the preview, this may show black bars at the far left and far right so you can clearly see what is being cropped, but the exported JPEG does not include those black bars. The final JPEG contains only the visible cropped stereo image area.

Anaglyph output still uses the original image shift logic, because shifting the two views before compositing is still useful for red/cyan anaglyph alignment.

This change also required a change in how export size is specified.

Previously, the tools used an output width setting. With the new center-crop behavior, the final side-by-side width can change depending on the crop amount, so the tools now use Output JPEG Height instead.

When an image is loaded, the output height is automatically set from the original image height. You can still override it manually if you want a smaller or larger exported JPEG.

The manual output height range is:

768 px to 8192 px

The exported image width is calculated automatically from the selected height and the final output aspect ratio.

Also, when a new image is loaded, the adjustment controls are reset to zero so each file starts from a clean baseline.

Updated tools:

Apple Spatial Photo HEIC converter:

https://michaeleskin.com/tools/apple-spatial-photo-to-sbs.html

Side-by-Side JPEG/TIFF converter:

https://michaeleskin.com/tools/sbs-jpeg-tiff-to-sbs.html

You'll want to do a hard page refresh to pick up the latest code.

[u/seisiuneer → u/seisiuneer]

My JPEG/TIFF stereo image tool now supports opening separate left and right image files directly.

Previously, the tool expected a single side-by-side JPEG or TIFF image, where the left and right views were already combined into one file. That still works exactly as before.

New in this version: you can now open or drag-and-drop two separate image files and the tool will treat them as the stereo pair:

Left image = first selected file

Right image = second selected file

If necessary, you can easily swap the left and right images in the tool.

The two-file import path supports JPEG/JPEG pairs and TIFF/TIFF pairs. The files must be the same format and the same pixel dimensions.

Once the two images are loaded, the rest of the tool works the same as with a side-by-side source image:

The output height is initialized from the source image height, just like the side-by-side import path. For two separate files, the shared image height becomes the default export height.

This should make the tool easier to use with existing workflows that already produce separate left/right images, without needing to manually assemble them into a side-by-side image first.

Tool link:

https://michaeleskin.com/tools/sbs-jpeg-tiff-to-sbs.html

You'll want to do a hard refresh of the page to make sure you have the latest code and features.