A head-mounted three dimensional display

TLDR

Three‑dimensional displays aim to create a realistic 3D illusion by presenting perspective images that shift with head motion, exploiting the kinetic depth effect rather than relying solely on stereo cues. The display must alter its image exactly as a real object would when the user moves their head.

Abstract

The fundamental idea behind the three-dimensional display is to present the user with a perspective image which changes as he moves. The retinal image of the real objects which we see is, after all, only two-dimensional. Thus if we can place suitable two-dimensional images on the observer's retinas, we can create the illusion that he is seeing a three-dimensional object. Although stereo presentation is important to the three-dimensional illusion, it is less important than the change that takes place in the image when the observer moves his head. The image presented by the three-dimensional display must change in exactly the way that the image of a real object would change for similar motions of the user's head. Psychologists have long known that moving perspective images appear strikingly three-dimensional even without stereo presentation; the three-dimensional display described in this paper depends heavily on this "kinetic depth effect."