We successfully developed a 3D liquid crystal display (LCD) modeling program and applied the program to modeling the single-domain vertical alignment (VA) and intrinsic fringe field controlled multi-domain vertical alignment (IFF MVA) LCDs. Our study showed that proper and stable IFF MVA operation was obtained in the microdisplay geometry but not in the direct-view geometry, whereas regular VA operation was obtained in the direct-view geometry but not in the microdisplay geometry.