Real Imagery as a Three Dimensional Display

This research effort implemented two 3-D display designs to assess their performance and effect on an observer's depth perception. Both 3-D displays produced real images for the observer to view. The first display setup combined a lens relay with a two concave mirror projector. The second display setup combined the two concave mirror projector with a diffuser. The lens relay/two concave mirror projector combination was successful in imaging a source from the CRT to a point in space above the two mirror system. The problem was that the observer could not assess the image location by just looking at it because it lacked concrete horizontal and vertical references for the observer to assess along with the image. The three-dimensional effect produced by the image could not be assessed easily because of the limited size of the image. The diffuser/two concave mirror combination was more successful as a display because it was comfortable to view. The design took advantage of the three-dimensional imaging that the two mirror system was already capable of generating. This design produced an image that the observer easily perceived as floating above the two mirror system. In essence, the image of the diffuser appearing at the top of the two mirror system acted as the horizontal and vertical reference that was lacking in the previous experiment. The use of depth cues in the image gave the observer the ability to interpret depth