LOSTCIRCUITS

Dimension Technology: A New Approach

If both eyes were to receive different images, there would be the possibility to use a precision shadow mask in front of the display and column interleaving. As a result, the images are split in two and the odd columns show the left eye scenario whereas the even columns display the image destined for the right eye. This way, a stereopair of images is created on alternating columns. That is, on a 1024 x 768 pixel screen, each stereopair consists of two images of 512 x 768 pixel resolution. The drawback of this design is that a fixed occluder would need to be of very high precision, otherwise the image would look like every pixel were outlined by a black frame, resulting in a somewhat grainy display. Additionally, there is no way of turning off the "stereo" mode, even if a standard image is displayed instead of a stereopair.

Summary diagram of the parallax illumination as centerpiece of the technology behind the DIT3D Virtual Window

For standard 2D viewing, the Parallax Illumination can be changed to diffuse illumination and the 2015XLS turns into a high quality LCD display. Pictures courtesy of Dimension Technologies Inc.

Inherent limitiations

Where stereo glasses have the disadvantage of either altering the color or, in the case of shutter glasses, to cause extremely low refresh rates, they do have the advantage of being in a fixed position of the viewer (because they are directly worn by him or her). The DTI flat panel does not have such an advantage, that is, the user has to be within a relatively limited area of viewing to see the stereo effect. If the position is wrong, some strange interference patterns, mostly in the form of sinusoidal gratings will occur. So much for the preamble, the real questions are: Does it really work? How difficult is it to set it up and what are the limitations in gaming environments?

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