A 3-D Display System With Stereoscopic, Movement Parallax And Real-Time Rotation Capabilities

A 3-D display system which is based on the principle of active stereoparallax, has been developed. It consists of an IRIS-2400 graphics workstation, a Stereographics stereoscopic imaging system employing electro-optical shutters in glasses, and two Polhemus 3-D cursors, one in style form and one in block form. The usefulness of this system in general, and for medical imaging in particular, is discussed. The principle of active stereoparallax implies both stereoscopy and movement parallax. It gives the observer a reliable perception of space and allows him to make systematic distance estimates. Movement parallax is caused by coupling the observer's movement to the resulting shifts of the objects in the image. In our system, this is realized by recording the observer's head movement with the 3-D cursor in block form. It is shown that the interaction between the observer and the environment is important for space perception. The system has been developed in close cooperation with the Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering of the Delft University of Technology.