Book reviews - Imaging in 3-Dimensions: Three dimensional imaging techniques

Since the invention of sculpture eons ago, mankind has been fascinated with the problem of portraying his environment in 3-D. But only the invention of the stereoscope by Wheatstone in 1838 and the perfection of photographic techniques during the same period made 3-D imaging possible. The viewing of stereophotographs quickly became a popular pastime in Victorian parlors. At the beginning of our century, F. E. Ives invented the parallax panoramagram, and M. G. Lippmann integral photography; both techniques portrayed a gamut of stereograms and permitted free viewing (without special spectacles], but required the viewing screen to be covered by complex fine slit plates or by lenticular [fly’s eye) lens screens. In the thirties, H. E. Ives perfected his father’s invention, and his technique is exploited in lenticularized pictures, such as the postcards and advertisements usually available in rather poor resolution. Finally, the invention of holography by D. Gabor and its practical realization after the invention of the laser brought us new possibilities for imaging objects in solidity. Furthermore, the problem of how the brain is able to construct from 2-D retinal projection a 3-D percept led to many penetrating insights in recent years as a result of novel psychological and neurophysiological techniques. In spite of all these technological advances, together with a better understanding of visual perception, surprisingly no commercially successful 3-D imaging technique has yet been .perfected. . ... . Okoshi, in his book, gives a good review of some of the 3-D imaging techniques, particularly of lenticular systems and of holography, up to 1972 (when the Japanese edition f the book was published.) It is regrettable that the book is merely a translation of the Japanese version, and is not updated since 1971. The brief chapter on the physiology and psychology of depth perception is obsolete even at the 1960 1evel.While he reviews the earliest psychological findings with random-dot stereograms, he does not refer to the next decade of findings (although he gives my book, published in 1971, in the references). He also ignores the important neurophysiological discoveries of binocular disparity detectors in the cat and the monkey. One would not necessarily object to such an omission by an engineer in a book written for engineers, but then it is curious why he devotes a section to the lateral geniculate body (LGB) and some subtle problems of its anatomy. This chapter on psychology and neurophysiology