Perception of detail in 3D images

Abstract

A lot of current 3D displays suffer from the fact that their spatial resolution is lower compared to their 2D counterparts. One reason for this is that the multiple views needed to generate 3D are often spatially multiplexed. Besides this, imperfect separation of the left-and right-eye view leads to blurring or ghosting, and therefore to a decrease in perceived sharpness. However, people watching stereoscopic videos have reported that the 3D scene contained more details, compared to the 2D scene with identical spatial resolution. This is an interesting notion, that has never been tested in a systematic and quantitative way. To investigate this effect, we had people compare the amount of detail ("detailedness") in pairs of 2D and 3D images. A blur filter was applied to one of the two images, and the blur level was varied using an adaptive staircase procedure. In this way, the blur threshold for which the 2D and 3D image contained perceptually the same amount of detail could be found. Our results show that the 3D image needed to be blurred more than the 2D image. This confirms the earlier qualitative findings that 3D images contain perceptually more details than 2D images with the same spatial resolution.

Human Discrimination of Depth of Field in Stereoscopic and Nonstereoscopic Photographs

“…This conflict may cause fatigue (Hoffman et al, 2008;Lambooij, Marten, Heynderickx, & Ijsselsteijn, 2009), which in turn may decrease the ability to discriminate DOF. However, we did not find this effect, and neither did we find an increased sensitivity for stereoscopic conditions as predicted by the argument that more details can be seen in stereoscopic viewing than in nonstereoscopic viewing (Heynderickx & Kaptein, 2009), etc. Therefore, we conclude that all these factors are not relevant for discrimination of DOF and that thresholds are similar under stereoscopic and under nonstereoscopic viewing.…”

“…Further, stereoscopic images provide more depth cues than nonstereoscopic images, which could in principle be used to gain more complex information (Liu, Hua, & Cheng, 2010). It was found that more detail could be perceived in stereoscopic images than in nonstereoscopic images (Heynderickx & Kaptein, 2009). Therefore, there are more 'chances' to see differences in blur in these details.…”

Subjective experiences of watching stereoscopic <italic>Avatar</italic> and <italic>U2 3D</italic> in a cinema

“…[6][7][8][9] One component of naturalness is the greater level of detail available in stereoscopic film, which is commonly mentioned as a dimension of quality. 10,11 In addition to improvements in image quality, disparity may increase the sense of presence (a subjective experience of being in one place or environment when one is physically situated in another place). 5,12 IJsselsteijn et al 8 reported that the use of disparity information not only increases ratings of perceived depth but also affects the naturalness of depth.…”

Interaction with an autostereoscopic touch screen: effect of occlusion on subjective experiences when pointing to targets in planes of different depths

“…Emoto et al showed that to some extent, S3D images are sharper than 2D images, especially at horizontal edges according to some results. Moreover, according to Häkkinen et al , S3D videos contain more observable details in general, particularly when compared with 2D images with the same spatial resolution . Although the implications of 3D images on visual perception and viewing comfort have been studied, systematic studies on the interaction with the stereoscopic content are rare (e.g., Nakayama and Silverman, He and Nakayama, Treisman, Enns, Meesters, Seuntiëns et al , Ukai and Howarth, and Lambooij et al ).…”