The present invention pertains to image processing devices and techniques. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method and apparatus for generating a three-dimensional image on a display device.
Advancements in computer technology, particularly in processing speed and memory capacity, have sparked considerable interest in three-dimensional (xe2x80x9c3Dxe2x80x9d) display technology. 3D display technology is desirable in many applications, such as computer games and simulations.
Humans and animals perceive real world objects in 3D, because their eyes detect images in stereo. A stereo effect is caused by the difference between what the left eye sees and what the right eye sees, due to the separation between the two eyes. In a typical adult human, the separation between the left eye and the right eye is approximately 60 to 65 mm. Consequently, the perception of 3D can be provided artificially in a computer system by generating two spatially-offset, 2D left eye and right eye images of the same subject and providing these images separately (i.e., with mutual exclusion) to the left eye and right eye of the viewer. Hence, the difference between the left and right image of a stereoscopic image pair is simply a slight horizontal shift in position. The magnitude of this shift depends, in part, upon the apparent distance of the subject from the viewer (the depth). In computer graphics, depth information is typically stored in a special memory, known as a xe2x80x9cz bufferxe2x80x9d.
Thus, computer-based 3D display techniques generally employ some mechanism to ensure that each eye sees only the appropriate one of the two corresponding views (left or right). With conventional computer 3D techniques, however, the viewer is required to use some form of supplemental viewing apparatus, such as anaglyphs (color-filtered eyeglasses), liquid crystal shutter glasses, or complex, expensive head-mounted devices that have a dedicated display for each eye. Such an apparatus tends to be cumbersome and annoying for the viewer and can be costly. In addition, the necessity of having to use additional viewing equipment normally limits viewing of the 3D image to one viewer at a time. Accordingly, conventional approaches to 3D visualization have yet to gain widespread acceptance.
What is needed, therefore, is a solution which overcomes these and other shortcomings of the prior art.
The present invention includes a method and apparatus for generating a three-dimensional image. A left eye image and a corresponding right eye image are parsed into multiple left eye strips and multiple right eye strips, respectively. The left eye strips and the right eye strips are interleaved to form a display image. The display image is then provided to a display device. A layer of the display device steers light from each of the left eye strips and right eye strips to no more than one corresponding eye of a left eye and a right eye of a viewer, such that the viewer perceives the display image as being three-dimensional.