Up and Coming
May 31, 2014
Fiber optic lens
- 7 replies
- 2828 views
So I have been thinking of how to correct the pincushion/barrel distortion optically without adding too many lenses. Directly on top of the OLED panel a plastic with an optic channel over each pixel (either hollow or filled in with a plastic of a different refractive index) channels the light from each pixel to the correct position on the other side. This not only corrects the lenses pincushion but solves the problem of the edge of the image being farther away from the lens, this solution can bring all the pixels into the curved focal plane of a single lens. Hopefully despite its crudeness this concept image I made in paintshop can help you understand what I am talking about.
fiber optic len.png
Now the question is how to manufacture this. I don't expect we can create an injection mold with 2 million different needles that need to be pulled out at different angles, and we don't have the time to drill all the holes individually but perhaps a photo lithographic process with a photo active acid can get create channels along light beams focused on the correct convergence.
GPU based barrel distortion has worked quite well so far but there are distinct advantages to an optical solution. My understanding of time warp is that it is just shuffling the pixels in the desired direction before applying the barrel shader so if you can skip the barrel shader it reduces the latency on time warp, the could even be done in the displays own electronics. And to work well with the barrel shader it is recommended you super sample the image, working with the displays native resolution would obviously save GPU use, although you would still need a slightly wider virtual FOV for time warp.
fiber optic len.png
Now the question is how to manufacture this. I don't expect we can create an injection mold with 2 million different needles that need to be pulled out at different angles, and we don't have the time to drill all the holes individually but perhaps a photo lithographic process with a photo active acid can get create channels along light beams focused on the correct convergence.
GPU based barrel distortion has worked quite well so far but there are distinct advantages to an optical solution. My understanding of time warp is that it is just shuffling the pixels in the desired direction before applying the barrel shader so if you can skip the barrel shader it reduces the latency on time warp, the could even be done in the displays own electronics. And to work well with the barrel shader it is recommended you super sample the image, working with the displays native resolution would obviously save GPU use, although you would still need a slightly wider virtual FOV for time warp.