General stereoscopic distortion rectification due to arbitrary viewer motion in binocular stereoscopic display

Abstract

Background: In binocular stereoscopic display, stereoscopic distortions due to viewer motion, such as depth distortion, shear distortion, and rotation distortion, result in misperception of the stereo content and reduce visual comfort dramat­ ically. In the past, perceived depth distortion has been thoroughly addressed, and shear distortion has been investigated within the context of multi-view display to accommodate motion parallax. However, the impact of rotation distortion has barely been studied. Therefore, no technique is available to address stereoscopic distortions due to general viewer motion. Objective: To preserve an undistorted 3D perception from a fixed viewpoint irrespective of viewing position. Method: We propose a unified system and method that rectifies stereoscopic distortion due to general affine viewer motion and delivers a fixed perspective of the 3D scene without distortion irrespective of viewer motion. The system assumes eye tracking of the viewer and pixel-wisely adjusts the display location of the stereo pair based on tracked viewer eye location. Results: For demonstration purpose, we implement our method on controlling perceived depth in binocular stereoscopic display of red and cyan anaglyph 3D. The user first perceives the designed perspective of the 3D scene at the reference position. The user then moves to 6 different positions with various distances and angles relative to the screen. At all positions, the users report to perceive a much more consistent stereo content with the adjusted displays and at the same time, experience improved visual comfort. Novelty: We address stereoscopic distortions with a goal to maintain a fixed perspective of the stereo scene, and propose a unified solution that simultaneously rectifies the stereoscopic distortions resulted from arbitrary viewer motion.