OmniStereo for Panoramic Virtual Environment Display Systems

ABSTRACT

This paper discusses the use of omnidirectional stereofor panoramic virtual environments. It presents twomethods for real-time rendering of omnistereo images.Conventional perspective stereo is correct everywherein the visual field, but only in one view direction.Omnistereo is correct in every view direction, but onlyin the center of the visual field, degrading in theperiphery. Omnistereo images make it possible to usewide field of view virtual environment display systems-like the CAVE -without head tracking, and still showcorrect stereoscopic depth over the full 360° viewingcircle. This allows the use of these systems as true multi-userdisplays, where viewers can look around andbrowse a panoramic scene independently. Because thereis no need to rerender the image according to viewdirection, we can also use this technique to presentstatic omnistereo images, generated by offline renderingor real image capture, in panoramic displays.We have implemented omnistereo in a four-sidedCAVE and in a 240° i-Cone curved screen projectionsystem. Informal user evaluation confirms that omnistereoimages present a seamless image with correctstereoscopic depth in every view direction without head tracking.

Index Terms

• Computing methodologies

  • Computer graphics

    • Graphics systems and interfaces

      • Virtual reality

    • Image manipulation

    • Rendering

• Human-centered computing

  • Human computer interaction (HCI)

    • Interaction paradigms

      • Graphical user interfaces

      • Mixed / augmented reality

      • Virtual reality