> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.dwe.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# explore3D Overview

## Overview

The [explore3D](https://dwe.ai/products/explore3d-stereo-vision-camera-system-1000m-12000m) is a factory-aligned stereo camera pair on a 100mm baseline, using global shutter sensors that are frame-synchronized to each other.

The camera captures the imagery, but it does not compute depth on its own. Depth maps and point clouds are produced by the **SVC Pro**, and viewed on your desktop in **DeepWater Desktop**. Setting up an explore3D therefore means setting up all three, in order.

## The explore3D System

Select the kit you received below. Both share the same setup path — the Complete Kit simply adds strobe lighting.

<Tabs>
  <Tab title="Smart Kit">
    ```mermaid theme={null}
    flowchart LR
        A["explore3D<br/>Stereo Camera Pair"] -->|"2x USB (Cobalt / SubConn)"| B["SVC Pro<br/>Onboard Compute"]
        B -->|"Ethernet"| C["DeepWater Desktop<br/>Visualization"]
    ```
  </Tab>

  <Tab title="Complete Kit">
    ```mermaid theme={null}
    flowchart LR
        A["explore3D<br/>Stereo Camera Pair"] -->|"2x USB (Cobalt / SubConn)"| B["SVC Pro<br/>Onboard Compute"]
        L2["aquaLUX MAX<br/>Light 2"] -->|"Daisy chain"| L1["aquaLUX MAX<br/>Light 1"]
        L1 -->|"1x Light Cable"| B
        B -->|"Ethernet"| C["DeepWater Desktop<br/>Visualization"]
    ```

    The two aquaLUX MAX lights daisy chain to each other, so only a single cable runs from the light pair back to the SVC Pro.

    <Note>
      The SVC Pro manages strobe timing and power for the lights, synchronizing each pulse to the camera's exposure window. For brightness and exposure tuning, see the [aquaLUX MAX Operations Guide](/lighting/guides/aquaLUX-max-operations).
    </Note>
  </Tab>
</Tabs>

<Columns cols={3}>
  <Card title="explore3D" icon="camera" href="/explore3D/specs/explore3D">
    Captures synchronized stereo imagery.
  </Card>

  <Card title="SVC Pro" icon="server" href="/svc-pro/specs/svc-pro">
    Runs the stereo algorithm and generates depth.
  </Card>

  <Card title="DeepWater Desktop" icon="desktop" href="/dw-desktop/quickstart">
    Displays rectified images, disparity maps, and point clouds.
  </Card>
</Columns>

<Frame caption="SVC Pro running real-time VSLAM with the explore3D visualized on DeepWater Desktop">
  <video playsinline="true" muted="muted" autoplay="autoplay" loop="loop" preload="metadata" type="video/mp4" src="https://storage.googleapis.com/docs-product-files/dwd/slam-overview.mp4" />
</Frame>

<Card title="SVC Pro Setup Guide" icon="book-open" href="/svc-pro/guides/quickstart" horizontal>
  Click here to get started with your SVC Pro.
</Card>

## Using the explore3D Without an SVC Pro

The explore3D's stereo pair is just two factory-calibrated stellarHD cameras, so you can run it without an SVC Pro.

This gets you two synchronized video streams with no depth maps, point clouds, or VSLAM coverage mapping. Since each stellarHD is UVC-compliant, you can capture them with dweOS, or with any other UVC-compatible software or pipeline like OpenCV or GStreamer.

<Columns cols={2}>
  <Card title="stellarHD Series Guide" icon="camera" href="/stellarHD/overview">
    Camera setup, controls, and general configuration.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Synchronized Streaming" icon="signal-stream" href="/dwe-os/pages/synchronized-streaming">
    Pair the two explore3D cameras into a single, frame-synchronized stream.
  </Card>
</Columns>

### Running on Your Own Hardware

If you would like to run the software on your own hardware, instead of the SVC Pro, [contact us](https://dwe.ai/pages/contact) for integration details.

<Note>
  **Coming soon**: We're building a standalone explore3D SDK so you can integrate explore3D depth processing directly into your own software.
</Note>