Stereoscopic 3DTV Research Articles

ASTEROID: A New Clinical Stereotest on an Autostereo 3D Tablet.

PurposeTo describe a new stereotest in the form of a game on an autostereoscopic tablet computer designed to be suitable for use in the eye clinic and present data on its reliability and the distribution of stereo thresholds in adults.MethodsTest stimuli were four dynamic random-dot stereograms, one of which contained a disparate target. Feedback was given after each trial presentation. A Bayesian adaptive staircase adjusted target disparity. Threshold was estimated from the mean of the posterior distribution after 20 responses. Viewing distance was monitored via a forehead sticker viewed by the tablet's front camera, and screen parallax was adjusted dynamically so as to achieve the desired retinal disparity.ResultsThe tablet must be viewed at a distance of greater than ∼35 cm to produce a good depth percept. Log thresholds were roughly normally distributed with a mean of 1.75 log10 arcsec = 56 arcsec and SD of 0.34 log10 arcsec = a factor of 2.2. The standard deviation agrees with previous studies, but ASTEROID thresholds are approximately 1.5 times higher than a similar stereotest on stereoscopic 3D TV or on Randot Preschool stereotests. Pearson correlation between successive tests in same observer was 0.80. Bland-Altman 95% limits of reliability were ±0.64 log10 arcsec = a factor of 4.3, corresponding to an SD of 0.32 log10 arcsec on individual threshold estimates. This is similar to other stereotests and close to the statistical limit for 20 responses.ConclusionsASTEROID is reliable, easy, and portable and thus well-suited for clinical stereoacuity measurements.Translational RelevanceNew 3D digital technology means that research-quality psychophysical measurement of stereoacuity is now feasible in the clinic.

Stereoscopic 3DTV Video Quality Metric: the Compressed Average Image Intensity

This paper presents a newly designed stereoscopic video quality metric. Overall insights towards the creation of mechanisms utilized within the genuine metric are presented herein. Delivery of the core information and motivation behind the features implemented, as well as functionality of the Compressed Average Image Intensity (CAII) quality metric are of utmost importance. The mechanisms created might be characterized as an objective, reliable and versatile quality evaluation tool for advanced analysis of the content delivery chain within stereoscopic video services.

Symptoms analysis of 3D TV viewing based on Simulator Sickness Questionnaires

Stereoscopic 3D TV viewing puts different visual demands on the viewer compared to 2D TV viewing. Previous research has reported on viewers’ fatigue and discomfort and other negative effects. This study is to investigate further how severe and what symptoms may arise from somewhat longish 3D TV viewing. The MPEG 3DV project is working on the next-generation video encoding standard and in this process, MPEG issued a call for proposal of encoding algorithms. To evaluate these algorithms a large scale subjective test was performed involving Laboratories all over the world [(MPEG 2011; Baroncini 2012)]. For the participating Labs, it was optional to administer a slightly modified Simulator Sickness Questionnaire (SSQ) before and after the test. One of the SSQ data sets described in this article is coming from this study. The SSQ data from the MPEG test is the largest data set in this study and also contains the longest viewing times. Along with the SSQ data from the MPEG test, we have also collected questionnaire data in three other 3D TV studies. We did two on the same 3D TV (passive film pattern retarder) as in the MPEG test, and one was using a projector system. As comparison SSQ data from a 2D video quality experiment is also presented. This investigation shows a statistically significant increase in symptoms after viewing 3D TV primarily related to the visual or Oculomotor system. Surprisingly, 3D video viewing using projectors did not show this effect.

Viewing 3D TV over two months produces no discernible effects on balance, coordination or eyesight

With the rise in stereoscopic 3D media, there has been concern that viewing stereoscopic 3D (S3D) content could have long-term adverse effects, but little data are available. In the first study to address this, 28 households who did not currently own a 3D TV were given a new TV set, either S3D or 2D. The 116 members of these households all underwent tests of balance, coordination and eyesight, both before they received their new TV set, and after they had owned it for 2 months. We did not detect any changes which appeared to be associated with viewing 3D TV. We conclude that viewing 3D TV does not produce detectable effects on balance, coordination or eyesight over the timescale studied.Practitioner Summary: Concern has been expressed over possible long-term effects of stereoscopic 3D (S3D). We looked for any changes in vision, balance and coordination associated with normal home S3D TV viewing in the 2 months after first acquiring a 3D TV. We find no evidence of any changes over this timescale.

Comparing the effectiveness of different displays in enhancing illusions of self-movement (vection).

Illusions of self-movement (vection) can be used in virtual reality (VR) and other applications to give users the embodied sensation that they are moving when physical movement is unfeasible or too costly. Whereas a large body of vection literature studied how various parameters of the presented visual stimulus affect vection, little is known how different display types might affect vection. As a step toward addressing this gap, we conducted three experiments to compare vection and usability parameters between commonly used VR displays, ranging from stereoscopic projection and 3D TV to high-end head-mounted display (HMD, NVIS SX111) and recent low-cost HMD (Oculus Rift). The last experiment also compared these two HMDs in their native full field of view (FOV) and a reduced, matched FOV of 72° × 45°. Participants moved along linear and curvilinear paths in the virtual environment, reported vection onset time, and rated vection intensity at the end of each trial. In addition, user ratings on immersion, motion sickness, vection, and overall preference were recorded retrospectively and compared between displays. Unexpectedly, there were no significant effects of display on vection measures. Reducing the FOV for the HMDs (from full to 72° × 45°) decreased vection onset latencies, but did not affect vection intensity. As predicted, curvilinear paths yielded earlier and more intense vection. Although vection has often been proposed to predict or even cause motion sickness, we observed no correlation for any of the displays studied. In conclusion, perceived self-motion and other user experience measures proved surprisingly tolerant toward changes in display type as long as the FOV was roughly matched. This suggests that display choice for vection research and VR applications can be largely based on other considerations as long as the provided FOV is sufficiently large.

Quality Enhancement for Hybrid 3DTV with Mixed Resolution Using Conditional Replenishment Algorithm

This paper proposes a conditional replenishment algorithm (CRA) to improve the visual quality (where spatial resolutions of the left and right views are mismatched) of a hybrid stereoscopic 3DTV that is based on the ATSC-M/H standard. So as to generate an enhanced view, the CRA is to choose the better substitute among a disparity-compensated view with high quality and a simply interpolated view. The CRA generates a disparity map that includes modes and disparity vectors as additional information. It also employs a quad-tree structure with variable block size by considering the spatial correlation of disparity vectors. In addition, it takes advantage of the disparity map used in a previous frame to keep the amount of additional information as small as possible. The simulation results show that the proposed CRA can successfully improve the peak signal-to-noise ratio of a poor-quality view and consequently have a positive effect on the subjective quality of the resulting 3D view.

A Hybrid Stereoscopic Video Coding Scheme Based on MPEG-2 and HEVC for 3DTV Services

Recently, 3DTV has drawn much attention as a new broadcasting service. In spite of technical advances in 3DTV broadcasting services, there are two barriers that hinder the new services from being launched for terrestrial broadcasting: the lack of available bandwidth for transmission of additional-view video via terrestrial channel and backward compatibility with the legacy 2-D HDTV services. As an alternative, a hybrid stereoscopic video coding scheme is proposed for a stereoscopic 3DTV service, where one-view video is transmitted through the legacy broadcasting systems and the other one is delivered via broadband networks to which TV terminals are connected. In this paper, the proposed hybrid stereoscopic video coding scheme incorporates an MPEG-2 codec for backward compatibility with a legacy 2-D HDTV service and an HEVC codec with inter-view prediction coding as an extension to encode additional-view video sequences with high coding efficiency. The proposed inter-view prediction coding scheme in the extended HEVC incorporates an advanced motion and disparity vector prediction (AMDVP) method for enhanced motion- and disparity-compensated coding. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed hybrid stereoscopic video coding scheme achieves an average coding efficiency of 38.22% (32.86%) in BD-rate or 1.394 dB (1.235 dB) in BD-PSNR for the out-band (in-band) scenario.

Real-time generation of multi-view video plus depth content using mixed narrow and wide baseline

Content production for stereoscopic 3D-TV displays has become mature in the past years while huge progress has also been achieved in the improvement of the image quality of glasses-free auto-stereoscopic displays and light-field displays. Concerning the latter two display families, the content production workflow is less elaborated and more complex, as the number of required views not only differs considerably but is also likely to increase in the near future. As a co-existence of all 3D display families can be expected for the next years, one aims to establish an efficient content production workflow which yields to high quality content for all 3D-TV displays.Against this background we present a real-time capable multi-view video plus depth (MVD) content production workflow based on a four-camera rig with mixed narrow and wide baseline. Results show the suitability of the approach to simultaneously produce high quality MVD4 and native stereoscopic 3D content.

立体画像の見やすい視距離と画面サイズに関する一検討

We have many chances to watch stereoscopic images, i.e., 3D movies and 3D TV programs. However, there has been little focus on the relationship between screen size and viewing distance with regards to stereoscopic images. We explain a subjective evaluation of the preferable viewing distance (PVD) and minimum viewing distance (MVD) for both still and moving images of different sizes, including monoscopic and stereoscopic images with different displarity maps. The results indicate that (1) for both the PVD and the MVD, the people stood closer to the images relatively as the image sizes became larger in terms of absloute display height, (2) for smaller image sizes, people stood farer to the stereoscopic images than monoscopic images, either the PVD and the MVD, and (3) differences in the disparity map in stereoscopic images do not affect the viewing distance in either still or moving images. These results may provide a guide to visual environmental design of larger stereoscopic display systems.

3D TV 입체 애니메이션 제작에 대한 연구: >뽀롱 뽀롱 뽀로로< 4 시즌 테스트 제작사례분석을 중심으로

Success of brought a large revolution in the world of cinema and the media market. They have predicted new industrial possibility for 3D Stereoscopic image and trends started to support for producing in the field of various media platform. We can see our domestic technology creates higher added value in the sphere of hard-wear for the market of worldwide home TV electronics. But in reality we are short of effective and organized pipeline of producing and we should analyse cases more for Stereoscopic 3D animations. Therefore in this paper, we present case study on animation made into Stereoscopic 3D animation to build up suitable Stereoscopic 3D TV animations pipeline. We differentiate from any other Stereoscopic content by applying artistic elements and technological elements, especially human factor and 3D Sweetening to elevate the level of 3D Stereoscopic effect for main audience, children. We propose how to strengthen the competitiveness of Korean animation for world animation market.

Mode selective interpolation for stereoscopic 3D video in frame-compatible top-bottom packing

As a transition stage from a conventional 2D TV to a full stereoscopic 3D TV system, a frame-compatible format of fitting stereoscopic left and right images to a single frame of the existing 2D TV is required to utilize existing codec and transmission infrastructure. To meet this requirement, a frame-compatible top-bottom packing with a horizontal line offset is proposed, where the vertical resolutions of the stereoscopic left and right images are reduced by half. Then, the optimal interpolation mode for each line segment of the sub-sampled horizontal line is determined by exploiting parallax-compensated data as well as undeleted neighboring upper and lower horizontal lines. At the receiver, the discarded horizontal lines for the left and right images are reconstructed by the interpolation modes provided by the sender. Experimental results show that the proposed algorithm improves the PSNR as much as 1.5---3dB comparing to conventional interpolation filters.

Visibility of Digital Video Artifacts in Stereoscopic 3DTV

Georgia Tech has developed a testbed to explore new encoding techniques and other enhancements to stereoscopic 3DTV. A methodical subjective testing program is important in evaluating new approaches, so the testbed has been designed to explore issues such as (1) whether typical compression and network artifacts are more or less visible in stereoscopic 3DTV than in 2DTV, (2) what new artifacts specific to stereoscopic 3DTV exist and what might be an actionable taxonomy of these artifacts, and (3) how the visibility of stereoscopic 3DTV artifacts depends on the content, the codec and codec bit rate, and the transport method (e.g., frame-compatible transport). This paper describes the research testbed and initial content database, provides initial results of subjective testing using stereoscopic 3DTV video containing artifacts with both active shutter and passive polarization displays, and discusses the next steps in the research program. Initial subjective results from the work thus far show that (1) compared with passive polarization, the active shutter display gave a better experience in full 3D as well as greater visibility of artifacts, and better viewing of two independent channels by multiple viewers; (2) subjects were evenly split in terms of noticing a significant difference in frame-compatible format versus full 3D format; (3) subjects were evenly split on whether compression and network artifacts were more or less visible in 3D versus 2D format; and (4) the isolation between left and right eye in both active shutter and passive polarization glasses is currently insufficient to support high-quality independent channel viewing using 3D technology.

지상파 스테레오스코픽 3DTV 방송을 위한 이종 부호화기 기반 합동 비트율 제어 연구

최근 3차원 영상 콘텐츠와 디스플레이의 증가에 따라 지상파 방송사들은 스테레오스코픽 3차원 텔레비전(3DTV) 방송을 위한 준비를 시작하고 있다. 하지만 현재 지상파 방송사들이 비디오 전송을 위하여 사용하고 있는 ATSC 방송규격의 약 18Mbps 대역폭 제한 내에서 는 고화질의 스테레오스코픽 영상을 전송하는 데 한계가 있다. 따라서 보다 고화질의 3D 영상 방송 서비스를 제공하는 동시에, 기존 2DTV 시청자를 위한 호환성을 유지하기 위하여 좌영상은 현재 지상파 방송에서 채택하고 있는 MPEG-2 기반, 그리고 우영상은 보다 압축 효율이 높은 H.264/AVC 기반의 비디오 압축 및 전송 시스템이 고려되고 있다. 본 연구에서는 이러한 지상파 3DTV 방송 조건 하에서 이종 부호화기로부터 산출되는 비트스트림의 양을 대역폭 제한에 맞게 조절하는 합동 비트율 제어 방법을 제안한다. 제안하는 합동 비트율 제어 방법은 H.264/AVC의 비트율 제어 방법인 이차 율-양자화 모델(quadratic rate-quantization model)을 MPEG-2 부호화 과정 내에 구현하여 압축된 두 비디오 비트스트림의 합이 대역폭 조건을 충족시키면서 화질왜곡을 최소화하는 양자화계수를 계산하도록 설계되었다. 또한 시청자의 시각적 피로도가 양안 영상의 화질 차이와 관계가 있다는 가정 하에 좌영상과 우영상의 화질의 차이를 일정하게 유지되도록 하는 제약식을 최적화 문제에 추가하여 양자화계수를 계산하였다. 실험결과 제안한 지상파 스테레오스코픽 3DTV를 위한 합동 비트율 제어 알고리듬은 목표 비트율을 맞추는 동시에, MPEG-2 및 H.264/AVC의 기존 비트율 제어 알고리듬 방법에 비하여 좌/우 영상의 평균 화질 합을 약 2.02% 향상시켰고, 화질 절대차의 평균은 약 77.6%, 화질차의 분산은 약 74.38% 감소시키는 성능을 보였다. Following the proliferation of three-dimensional video contents and displays, many terrestrial broadcasting companies have been preparing for stereoscopic 3DTV service. In terrestrial stereoscopic broadcast, it is a difficult task to code and transmit two video sequences while sustaining as high quality as 2DTV broadcast due to the limited bandwidth defined by the existing digital TV standards such as ATSC. Thus, a terrestrial 3DTV broadcasting with a heterogeneous video codec system, where the left image and right images are based on MPEG-2 and H.264/AVC, respectively, is considered in order to achieve both high quality broadcasting service and compatibility for the existing 2DTV viewers. Without significant change in the current terrestrial broadcasting systems, we propose a joint rate control scheme for stereoscopic 3DTV service based on the heterogeneous dual codec systems. The proposed joint rate control scheme applies to the MPEG-2 encoder a quadratic rate-quantization model which is adopted in the H.264/AVC. Then the controller is designed for the sum of the left and right bitstreams to meet the bandwidth requirement of broadcasting standards while the sum of image distortions is minimized by adjusting quantization parameter obtained from the proposed optimization scheme. Besides, we consider a condition on maintaining quality difference between the left and right images around a desired level in the optimization in order to mitigate negative effects on human visual system. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed bit rate control scheme outperforms the rate control method where each video coding standard uses its own bit rate control algorithm independently in terms of the increase in PSNR by 2.02%, the decrease in the average absolute quality difference by 77.6% and the reduction in the variance of the quality difference by 74.38%.

CUDA를 기반한 볼륨데이터의 집적영상 생성을 위한 고속화 기법

최근 들어, 안경식 3D TV 등장으로 3D 입체 콘텐츠의 활성화가 기대된다. 안경식의 불편함을 해소하기 위해 무안경식 3차원 입체 영상 디스플레이에 대한 연구가 활발히 진행되고 있다. 이 연구에서 렌즈 어레이(lens array)로부터 만들어지는 기초영상(elemental images)을 생성하는 것이 필수적이다. 그러나 렌즈 어레이를 구성하는 렌즈의 개수가 증가함에 따라 기초영상을 생성하는데 많은 시간이 소요되고 있으며, 고용량의 볼륨데이터에 대해서는 더 많은 시간이 소요되고 있다. 본 논문에서는 이러한 문제를 좀 더 효율적으로 개선하기 위해 CUDA 기반의 OpenCL를 사용하여 집적영상을 생성하는 기법을 제시한다. 제안된 방법을 세 종류인 Tesla C1060, Geforce 9800GT와 Quadro FX 3800 그래픽 카드를 갖는 PC 환경에서 실험하였으며, 실험 결과 최근 연구 결과[11] 보다 약 20배 정도 성능 개선이 있었다. Recently, with the advent of stereoscopic 3D TV, the activation of 3D stereoscopic content is expected. Research on 3D auto stereoscopic display has been carried out to relieve discomfort of 3D stereoscopic display. In this research, it is necessary to generate the elemental image from a lens array. As the number of lens in a lens array is increased, it takes a lot of time to generate the elemental image, and it will take more time for a large volume data. In order to improve the problem, in this paper, we propose a method to generate the elemental image by using OpenCL based on CUDA. We perform our proposed method on PC environment with one of Tesla C1060, Geforce 9800GT and Quadro FX 3800 graphics cards. Experimental results show that the proposed method can obtain almost 20 times better performance than recent research result[11].

Stereoscopic 3D Sports Content without Stereo Rigs

This contribution describes an alternative approach to generating stereoscopic content of sports scenes from regular broadcast cameras without the need for special stereo rigs. This is achieved by using 3D reconstruction previously developed for applications in postmatch analysis. The reconstruction method requires at least four or five cameras and computes the 3D information automatically. Two different target formats for the delivery of stereoscopic 3D TV are discussed: the display-independent layered depth video format and conventional binocular stereo. The results viewed on two different displays demonstrate the potential of the method as an alternative production method for stereoscopic 3D content.

GPU와 옥트리를 이용한 바이오 메디컬 데이터의 집적 영상 픽업 기법

최근 들어, 3D 입체 영화와 TV 등 3차원 입체 영상 디스플레이에 대한 관심이 매우 높다. 안경을 끼는 불편함을 해결하기 만들어진 무안경식 3차원 입체 영상 디스플레이를 위해서는 렌즈 어레이 카메라로부터 만들어지는 기초영상(elemental images)을 생성해야 한다. 렌즈 어레이에 여러 카메라가 배치되므로 주어진 3차원 가상공간에 대해 기초영상을 생성하는데 많은 시간이 소요되며, 특히 고용량의 바이오메디컬 자료에 대해서는 더 많은 시간이 소요된다. 본 논문에서는 이러한 문제를 좀더 효율적으로 개선하기 위해 주어진 자료의 효율적 렌더링을 위해 옥트리(Octree)를 구성한 후, GPU(graphics processor units)를 이용하여 렌더링하는 기법을 제시한다. 실험 결과, 제시된 기법이 기존 방법과 비교하여 많은 개선이 있었지만 아직도 더 효율적인 기법의 개발이 요구된다. Recently, 3D stereoscopic display such as 3D stereoscopic cinemas and 3D stereoscopic TV is getting a lot of interest. In general, a stereo image can be used in 3D stereoscopic display. In other hands, for 3D auto stereoscopic display, the elemental images should be generated through visualization from every camera in a lens array. Since a lens array consists of several cameras, it takes a lot of time to generate the elemental images with respect to 3D virtual space, specially, if a large bio-medical volume data is in the 3D virtual space, it will take more time. In order to improve the problem, in this paper, we construct an octree for a given bio-medical volume data and then propose a method to generate the elemental images through efficient rendering of the Octree data using GPU. Experimental results show that the proposed method can obtain more improvement comparable than conventional one, but the development of more efficient method is required.

A stereoscopic television system (3D-TV) and compatible transmission on a MAC channel (3D-MAC)

A new television service, in this case stereoscopic television or 3D-TV, cannot be credible unless there has been research into the analysis, transmission and restitution of 3D-TV signals. Specific studies of the quality of 3D images must give some idea of system efficiency, or even control and direct each of the above three stages. Analysis requires the use of pickup equipment capable of filming at least 2 views of the same scene. The quality of the pictures acquired in this way depends on the mechanical, optical, geometric and electronic parameters of the system. Disparity evaluation algorithms used for transmission purposes require prior knowledge of certain internal and external parameters. In this article, we propose transmission systems on a MAC type channel, which is divided into an analog and a digital section. The analog section transmits a video signal (625/50/2:1) that can be watched by any viewer with a conventional MAC receiver; this defines the notion of compatibility. The digital section is used to transmit, at a limited rate (of the order of 1 Megabit/sec), digital assistance data (‘DA’) which, in conjunction with the compatible picture, rebuilds the 3D image for a 3D receiver. Band reduction algorithms are based on frame sub-sampling and multiplexing techniques, motion and disparity compendation techniques. Their layout depends on the importance ascribed to the quality of compatible and 3D pictures, respectively, and on the output system. Display is a key element and is vital for the acceptance of 3D-TV by the general public. The present solution is the wearing of special glasses in order to synchronise the right (respectively left) eye and right (respectively left) view. However, there is no doubt that the future lies with systems that do not require special glasses, e.g. lenticular networks.