Bruce Culbertson

Analysis and management of geometric distortions on multi-view displays with only horizontal parallax

Light field (multi-view) displays are often designed to support horizontal parallax only (HPO) since this significantly reduces complexity compared to full parallax, and is commonly assumed to only cause small losses in 3D perceptual quality. In reality all HPO displays can produce severe geometric distortions because they use different projections in the horizontal and vertical directions. These distortions depend on the observers position, and can only be eliminated in pre-defined viewing distances. In this paper we extend previous work on the theoretical analysis of the problem to create tools to manage the problem, enabling creators of multi-view 3D content to keep the distortion within acceptable ranges for all objects in a 3D scene, and all expected viewing positions. We present examples of simulated views of HPO displays, which demonstrate how the distortions can affect visual appearance, and how they are managed.