The Limitations of Stereoscopic 3D Display Technologies as a Path to Immersive Reality

Aris Silzars, PhD

Northlight Displays

• Is 3D Television the Next Step After HDTV?

• Can We Expect All Displays to Eventually Become 3D?

• When Perfected, Will Stereoscopic 3D Displays Give Us an Immersive Reality Experience?

Stereoscopic 3D Using Two Views of a Scene has been Around for Well Over a Century

Do You Remember the 1950’s?

• Viewmaster Reels

• Stereo 35 mm Cameras

• 3D Movies

The Real-World 3D Viewing Experience -- Probing the Environment

• Rapidly Changing Positional Attention to Points of Interest -- Scanning and Integrating the Overall Scene.

• Lack of Focus on Peripheral Objects.

• Head Movement Provides Important Depth Information from Parallax Shift.

• Congruence of Focus Point and Eye Convergence.

Stereo 3D v.s. the Real Environment

• A View for Each Eye.– But No Parallax Response to Head Movement.

– Focal Plane Does Not Change with Object Depth Position.

– We are not only missing important depth cues but there are conflicts with our normal perception of reality.

• Can We Perfect Stereo 3D Technology to Correct These Limitations?

The “Doll House” Effect

Conclusion #1: No Matter How Perfected, Stereo 3D Will Never Be Confused With a Real Environment.

• Inherent Conflicts Will Create Fatigue, Discomfort, or Simply Loss of Interest.

– For movies and television, the lack of parallax shift with head movement may prove to be the most important overall deficiency.

– The focal plane not shifting with the object depth position may be the most serious visual conflict for displays that are closer to the viewer such as computer monitors or hand-held games.

The Uncanny Valley -- The Boundary Between “Real” Reality and Something “Not Quite Right”.

• Observers Reactions– “disturbing”

– “creepy”

– “unsettling”

• Today’s 3D Movies– animation

– science fiction

– fantasy

Conclusion #2: Stereo 3D Will Not be Like the Transition from Analog TV to HDTV.

• Differences in resolution and picture quality are often difficult to notice in casual viewing.

• 4:3 and 16:9 formats are easy to interchange.

• Stereo 3D Cannot be Combined with Simultaneous 2D Viewing.

How Might We Accomplish Immersive 3D?

• For Single Viewers, We Can Detect Head Position and Eye Position.

• Multiple Views of a Scene Can be Captured and Blended Electronically.

• Projected Images Could be Used that Provide the Correct Focal Planes Consistent with Eye Convergence.

• It’s Complicated but Technically Possible.

Conclusion #3: For Multiple Viewers in a Theater Setting Immersive Reality Using 3D Images is

Somewhere in the Quite Distant Future.

• R. Patterson and A. Silzars, “Immersive stereo displays, intuitive reasoning, and cognitive engineering” Journal of the SID, Vol. 17/5, pp 443-448.