Forum Discussion
Scottish Study: "Seeing in 3D possible with one eye"'
Hello from Germany: I found this BBC news today. Sounds interesting:
Original Text: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-24525501
The effect of "vivid 3D vision" can be experienced with just one eye, a study has suggested.
Researchers at St Andrews University said a method using a small circular hole could have wide implications for 3D technology.
The study, published in Psychological Science, also has implications for people who have just one eye or difficulties with double-eye vision.
The method was said to create 3D similar to effects used in film-making.
Researchers said that current thinking was based on the need for two visual images - one from each eye - to be combined in the visual cortex, creating a sense of depth.
But Dr Dhanraj Vishwanath, a psychologist at the university, believes both eyes are not necessary for this "3D experience".
Dr Vishwanath said: "We have demonstrated experimentally, for the first time, that the same 'special way' in which depth is experienced in 3D movies can also be experienced by looking at a normal picture with one eye viewing through a small aperture (circular hole).
"While this effect has been known for a long time, it is usually dismissed.
"Now we have shown that it is in fact real, and the perceptual results are exactly like stereoscopic 3D, the kind seen in 3D movies.
"Based on this finding, we have provided a new hypothesis of what the actual cause of the 3D experience might be."
The university said the 1838 invention of the stereoscope - the technology behind 3D film-making - brought with it the assumption two eyes were necessary for 3D vision.
Dr Vishwanath said: "This work has significant implications for people who don't have normal binocular vision.
"First it could help them experience what it means to see in 3D. Second, it could encourage them to seek therapy to try to regain two-eye 3D vision (which produces the strongest 3D effect in everyday life) once they can see first-hand what 'seeing in 3D' is really like."
Dr Vishwanath and his colleagues are now testing the method with a large group of strabismics, people with misaligned eyes.
He said that nearly 15% of the population, including Hollywood actor Johnny Depp, may have some form of misalignment.
The psychologist also believes his theory suggests a 3D experience could be induced simply by increasing resolution, using ultra-high definition (4K) televisions.
Seeing in 3D with just one eye: Stereopsis without binocular vision is published by Psychological Science. Further research is due to be published later this year.
Original Text: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-24525501
8 Replies
- There are more depth clues that the brain understands than just binocular vision, news at 11. :-D
- Sorry, I didn't get it. How does it work again? :roll:
- This is quite interesting, but I think there should be a distinction between perceiving depth and experiencing stereoscopic vision. Stereoscopic 3D, by it's very name means seeing with 2 eyes. However there are other visual ques that lead to depth perception aside from stereo.
"cybereality" wrote:
Stereoscopic 3D, by it's very name means seeing with 2 eyes.
Correct. Looking through a small hole leading to a crisper image because of bad parts of your crystalline lens being covered and parallax based stereoscopic vision are not the same thing. I have the impression they are trying to fool people for the sake of attention.
But why do you think this is interesting?- I saw an art installation once which uses the principle the report is about I think. There was a gallery with a false wall, and in this wall there were small holes you could peer through and see different scenes. Each scene was in a little box, about the size of a shoe box, directly behind each hole. There were photographs, of underground railway stations, pasted to the back of each box, such that you felt you were on one platform looking across to the one opposite. Little LED lights were hanging from the top of each box, illuminating the scene, like lights might be in a station. When you first looked, through one eye, of course, it was not clear how far away it was that you were looking. But suddenly, with each scene, there came a moment when the scene looked incredibly 3d, just like the sensation of solid depth you get with traditional stereoscopic devices. And the station you were looking at seemed much further away than at first. I was intrigued by this, and looked closer and saw that there was a small positive diopter lens behind each hole in the wall, which was giving infinity focus to the photo at the back of the box. I think it was this focus naturalism, plus the naturalism of the hanging led lights that made them such solid depth illusions.
- Ok, now I got it. Yes, the opposite of this are those photos made with tilt-lenses (or a gradient-blur effect in post-processing). With this fake shallow depth of field real landscapes suddenly look like small toy landscapes.
- when you look at objects at close your eyes converge alot..maybe 4mm away from your normal infinite view..this can be cancelled out by using lences to fool the eyes to look at infinity.
- Hi
I think connecting this effect with real stereoscopic 3D would make things super real.
This would affect 3D realism very much, like now we have 3D in movies or 3D glasses which doesnt regonize where people are actually looking. This gives problem where objects nearer or further from actual point are drawn sharply while in real life they are blurred.
If some editions of Oculus VR glasses are made to support eye tracking, like using infrared light to point eyes and sensors to track reflected light, it would give huge advantage against movie teathres or other developers 3D glasses. And with tracked information graphics could then be drawn and blurred realistic.
Sharp objects out of my actual eye pointing (further/nearer) is bothering really much and thats excat reason why 3D doesnt feel real.
