Chapter 2 Principles of Stereoscopic Depth Perception and ...

2. Principles of Stereoscopic Depth Perception and Reproduction
Figure 2.1: The Wheatstone stereoscope. It included mirrors (A’
and A) placed at an angle to reflect the left and right eye drawings
(E’ and E) towards the viewer’s eyes.
’parlor stereoscope’. Viewing stereoscopic still images became a popular
pastime in both Europe and the US, and from 1860 to the 1930s stereography
flourished. Brewster’s lenticular stereoscope became a commercial
success, selling 250.000 in a short time (Zone 1996).
Although considerable progress has been made since the early 1900’s in
developing stereoscopic methods and technologies, the underlying principle
of presenting two different images, corresponding to the different perspectives
of the right and left eye, has essentially remained unchanged.
Today, stereoscopic displays are being utilised in many application areas
including simulation systems (e.g., flight simulators), medical systems
(e.g., endoscopy), telerobotics (e.g., remote inspection of hazardous environments),
computer-aided design (e.g., car interior design), data visualisation
(e.g., molecular or chemical modelling, oil and gas exploration,
weather forecasting), telecommunication (e.g., videoconferencing) and entertainment
(e.g., virtual reality games). Stereoscopic systems reinforce
the perception of physical space in both camera-recorded and computergenerated
environments. The capacity to provide an accurate representation
of structured layout, distance and shape can be utilised for precise
perception and manipulation of objects, and has added value for communication
and entertainment purposes. As was stated in Chapter 1, the main
application area of this thesis is that of stereoscopic broadcast entertainment,
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