Perceptual strengths and weaknesses of a 3D display
Christoph M. Hoffmann · SPIE Newsroom · 2006
Experiments suggest better comprehension of surface curves using a true 3D display as compared with traditional flat panels. Almost all displays today are 2D with pixels arranged in a grid. These displays render images and 3D scenes with high resolu-tion, brightness, and color variety, but lack satisfactory support for spatial perception, even when stereo enhancements are used. There are only a few true 3D displays on the market. We investi-gated the strengths and weaknesses of one of these for display-ing 3D images. The Perspecta by Actuality Systems1 creates a volumetric im-age with the pixels arranged using cylindrical coordinates, that is, the volume is sliced by a set of radial planes. A rotating, semi-transparent screen under a glass enclosure displays these radial slices according to the screen position, and the eye of the ob-server then synthesizes a true, volumetric image. The image can