Smoothing region boundaries in variable depth mapping for real-time stereoscopic images

We believe the need for stereoscopic image generation methods that allow simple, high quality content creation continues to be a key problem limiting the widespread up-take of 3D displays. We present new algorithms for creating real time stereoscopic images that provide increased control to content creators over the mapping of depth from scene to displayed image. Previously we described a Three Region, variable depth mapping, algorithm for stereoscopic image generation. This allows different regions within a scene to be represented by different ranges of perceived depth in the final image. An unresolved issue was that this approach can create a visible discontinuity for smooth objects crossing region boundaries. In this paper we describe two new Multi-Region algorithms to address this problem: boundary smoothing using additional sub-regions and scaling scene geometry to smoothly vary depth mapping. We present real time implementations of the Three-Region and the new Multi-Region algorithms for OpenGL to demonstrate the visual appearance of the results. We discuss the applicability and performance of each approach for rendering real time stereoscopic images and propose a simple modification to the standard graphics pipeline to better support these algorithms.