Chapter 3

Autostereoscopic Displays

Autostereoscopic displays do not require special glasses for viewing the two images needed for 3D perception and allow the viewer to freely rotate the head and even move around, but with limitations on the latter. This implementation will turn out to be more costly. In the simplest version of an autostereoscopic display the viewer can only perceive an undisturbed 3D image at some specific locations referred to as single view or multiview zones. This fortunately can be expanded to larger areas again, of course, at additional cost.

A further attractive feature of autostereoscopic displays is their capability to offer different 3D images depending on the viewing direction. This is a first step toward true 3D perception. Contrary to this, stereoscopic displays offer for each viewing direction always only the same 3D image.