Continuous parallax in discrete pixelated integral three-dimensional displays

An evaluation of the retention of continuous parallax in pixelated integral three-dimensional image displays is presented. The integral image capture process is first considered, to provide a starting point for the investigation. The complementary display system is then examined in detail. The viewing geometry of the display system is analyzed to provide a foundation for the work to follow, and an experimental investigation and simulations of the characteristics of emitted ray bundles are presented. Next, an analytical model of decoding lenslet array operation is derived, leading to an understanding of the process responsible for production of continuous parallax in replay. It is found that if the lateral resolution of the lenslet is matched to that of the display, continuous parallax is retained in the replayed image, where the finite aberration-limited resolution of the lenslet acts to produce a low-pass reconstruction filter. A condition is derived for optimal continuous parallax in replay,, based on a relationship between pixel width and lenslet rms spot size. (C) 2003 Optical Society of America.