Brief 9-View Multiview Autosterescopic Video Frames Summary

How does it work? is a question I hear often. Here's a brief answer: Normal 2D video is usually 30 frames per second. That means for each second of video, you actually see 30 still pictures in a row, each displayed for 1/30th of a second.

For an autostereoscopic video, each frame consists of 9 different pictures, each picture from a slightly different viewing angle. So, for each second of an autostereoscopic video, you have 270 pictures.

For each frame, each of the 9 pictures is rasterized into a single image according to the rule of the 3D lenticular overlay. When that rasterized image is displayed by the LCD monitor, through the lenticular overlay, it then appears as an autostereoscopic 3D image.

Visualizing the Viewing Planes of a "Glasses-Free" Autostereoscopic 3D Monitor.

One of the questions I'm often asked is "why aren't these monitors in movie theaters yet?" The answer to this question is that, although crowds of people can simultaneously view the same monitor and see the 3D effect, there are some spots where the image becomes blurry.

Imagine that there are 9 lines coming out of the 3D display, all from a point in the center of the display, spreading out horizontally. These 9 lines are the viewing planes. When your head is within a range close to the viewing planes, you are in the "sweet spot" and can see the 3D effect perfectly in focus. However, if you move your head horizontally, when it is near the middle of two adjacent viewing planes, the 3D image becomes a little blurry, until you're head once again is close to a viewing plane.

In the image below, the viewing planes are the red lines. If your eyes are both within the range of the blue lines that surround the red lines (viewing planes) you can see the 3D effect. If your eyes are not both within the blue lines, the image becomes slightly blurry.