Three-dimensional display by smart pseudoscopic-to-orthoscopic conversion with tunable focus

Real-time computer-generated integral imaging light field displays: revisiting the point retracing rendering method from a signal processing perspective

Integral imaging light field displays (InIm-LFDs) can provide realistic 3D images by showing an elemental image array (EIA) under a lens array. However, it is always challenging to computationally generate an EIA in real-time with entry-level computing hardware because the current practice that projects many viewpoints to the EIA induces heavy computations. This study discards the viewpoint-based strategy, revisits the early point retracing rendering method, and proposes that InIm-LFDs and regular 2D displays share two similar signal processing phases: sampling and reconstructing. An InIm-LFD is demonstrated to create a finite number of static voxels for signal sampling. Each voxel is invariantly formed by homogeneous pixels for signal reconstructing. We obtain the static voxel-pixel mapping through arbitrarily accurate raytracing in advance and store it as a lookup table (LUT). Our EIA rendering method first resamples input 3D data with the pre-defined voxels and then assigns every voxel's value to its homogeneous pixels through the LUT. As a result, the proposed method reduces the computational complexity by several orders of magnitude. The experimental rendering speed is as fast as 7 to 10 ms for a full-HD EIA frame on an entry-level laptop. Finally, considering a voxel may not be perfectly integrated by its homogeneous pixels, called the sampling error, the proposed and conventional viewpoint-based methods are analyzed in the Fourier domain. We prove that even with severe sampling errors, the two methods negligibly differ in the output signal's frequency spectrum. We expect the proposed method to break the long-standing tradeoff between rendering speed, accuracy, and system complexity for computer-generated integral imaging.

Wide-Viewing-Angle Integral Imaging System with Full-Effective-Pixels Elemental Image Array

There exists a defect of the narrow viewing angle in the conventional integral imaging system. One reason for this is that only partial pixels of each elemental image contribute to the viewing angle and the others cause image flips. In this paper, a wide-viewing-angle integral imaging system with a full-effective-pixels elemental image array (FEP-EIA) was proposed. The correspondence between viewpoints and pixel coordinates within the elemental image array was built up, and effective pixel blocks and pixels leading to flipping images were deduced. Then, a pixel replacement method was proposed to generate the FEP-EIAs, which adapt to different viewing distances. As a result, the viewing angle of the proposed integral imaging system was effectively extended through the replacement of the pixels, which caused the image flips. Experiment results demonstrated that wide viewing angles are available for the proposed integral imaging system regardless of the viewing distances.

Elemental image array generation algorithm with accurate depth information for integral imaging

In integral imaging, reproducing the depth information of three-dimensional (3D) objects accurately is one of the goals of scientific researchers. Based on the existing research, this paper proposes a new, to the best of our knowledge, elemental image array (EIA) generation algorithm, which does not need to know the depth information of the spatial scene. By dividing the distance between the display lens array (LA) and the synthetic LA equally, and comparing the variance of the pixels corresponding to the partial of the display LA at different positions, it can obtain the depth information of the 3D objects accurately, and then the value of the synthetic pixel can be calculated. Thus, a new EIA with accurate depth information is generated. Finally, the proposed algorithm has been verified in experiments of both virtual objects and real objects.

New Method of Microimages Generation for 3D Display

In this paper, we propose a new method for the generation of microimages, which processes real 3D scenes captured with any method that permits the extraction of its depth information. The depth map of the scene, together with its color information, is used to create a point cloud. A set of elemental images of this point cloud is captured synthetically and from it the microimages are computed. The main feature of this method is that the reference plane of displayed images can be set at will, while the empty pixels are avoided. Another advantage of the method is that the center point of displayed images and also their scale and field of view can be set. To show the final results, a 3D InI display prototype is implemented through a tablet and a microlens array. We demonstrate that this new technique overcomes the drawbacks of previous similar ones and provides more flexibility setting the characteristics of the final image.

Resolution enhancement in integral microscopy by physical interpolation

Integral-imaging technology has demonstrated its capability for computing depth images from the microimages recorded after a single shot. This capability has been shown in macroscopic imaging and also in microscopy. Despite the possibility of refocusing different planes from one snap-shot is crucial for the study of some biological processes, the main drawback in integral imaging is the substantial reduction of the spatial resolution. In this contribution we report a technique, which permits to increase the two-dimensional spatial resolution of the computed depth images in integral microscopy by a factor of √2. This is made by a double-shot approach, carried out by means of a rotating glass plate, which shifts the microimages in the sensor plane. We experimentally validate the resolution enhancement as well as we show the benefit of applying the technique to biological specimens.

Feasibility study for pseudoscopic problem in integral imaging using negative refractive index materials

To solve the pseudoscopic problem, we propose a one-step integral imaging system with negative refractive index materials, which can avoid the deterioration in resolution inherent to the optical or digital two-step processes. Specifically, the proposed method is based on the novel feature of negative refractive index materials, bending light to a negative angle relative to the surface normal. The pseudoscopic imaging property of the negative refractive index material slab is theoretically investigated. For formation of orthoscopic reconstructed images, the matching condition of the negative index lens array and the positive index lens array is deduced. Two types of conceptual prototypes of integral imaging system with negative refractive index materials are designed. Experimental results show the validity of the proposed method. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time to explore the application of negative index materials in eliminating the pseudoscopic effect in integral imaging.