Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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VIEWING SYSTEM FOR ELECTRONIC 3-D ANIMATION
AND 3-D VIEWING MIRROR
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a viewing system for
electronic 3-D animation. In particular, the present
invention relates to a viewing system for electronic 3-D
animation that allows three-dimensional viewing of
animation that is simple and inexpensive.
Electronic animation games that use electronic
displays such as video games and personal computer games
have become popular. Animation of this type uses color in
its images to provide a three-dimensional effect, similar
to the effect of viewing television images. However no
processing is done to the images to provide a true three-
dimensional effect, where images of animals or objects
would appear to actually project out the screen.
Many types of games have been created, including ones
that allow the user to change the contents of the game
itself. This has created a demand for stereoscopic images.
For example, if a rocket is fired, the rocket should appear
to fly from the display screen toward the viewer.
Conventionally, there has been a system called stereoscopic
photography. Photographs are taken with two cameras
arranged side by side. The two images are superimposed
during viewing. When the resulting photographs are viewed
from two different angles, there is a sense of depth.
Using this principle, it would be possible to show
electronic animation by displaying an image to be viewed by
the left eye and an image to be viewed by the right eye
together on one screen. However, in electronic animation,
unlike static images, there are restrictions based on the
display screen and the fact that the images change over
time. One currently known method involves using a video
format where the screen is divided in half vertically and
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each of the two images is given one half of the screen
area. When the stereo image is displayed, the image for
the left eye and the image for the right eye are displayed
in sequence at fixed intervals. Goggles having liquid
crystal shutters are worn by the viewer. The shutters on
the left and right lenses of the goggles synchronized with
the switching of the images so that the left and right
images are kept distinct. The after-image on the retina of
the viewer provide a three-dimensional effect. The
shutters in this system tend to produce flickering of the
image, and thereby tends to produce eye fatigue. Also,
since only half the screen is available to each eye viewing
the same screen, the resolution is decreased.
OBJECT AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of the present invention is to overcome the
problems of the prior art described above.
Briefly state, the present invention provides a 3D
system in which left- and right-eye components of a 3D
image are width-compressed by a factor of two and recorded
or displayed side by side. A viewer includes left-eye and
right-eye enlargement lenses to width-expand the two side-
by-side images by a factor of two to permit their separate
and simultaneous viewing by left and right eyes of a
person. The data presented to each eye of the viewing
person has the same apparent width as an entire
uncompressed frame. Fusion of the two images takes place
in the brain of the person, the same as in normal viewing.
when the displayed image is a video display, flicker of
prior-art systems resulting from alternating shutter
openings and closing is eliminated. The viewer may be
incorporated into goggles worn by the person doing the
viewing.
According to an embodiment of the invention, there is
provided a 3-D viewing system comprising: means for
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producing a 3-D image frame including a left-eye image and
a right-eye image wherein the image frame occupies one
frame of a display, the means for producing including means
for width-compressing the left-eye image and the right-eye
image to produce a combined image so that, when displayed
contiguously side by side, the left-eye image and the
right-side image together have a width substantially equal
to a width of the frame of the display, a viewer for
viewing the frame of the display, the viewer including
means for enlarging widths of the left-eye image and the
right-eye image by a factor of two, and the viewer
including means for permitting simultaneous viewing of the
left-eye image by a left eye of a person and of the right-
eye image by a right eye of the person, whereby the left-
eye image and right-eye image merge to produce a 3D
display.
According to a feature of the invention, the present
invention provides a device for 3-D viewing comprising: a
frame, left and right front viewing holes in a front of the
frame, left and right rear viewing holes in a rear of the
frame, and a left optical two-times enlargement member in
the frame aligned between the left front viewing hole and
the left rear viewing hole, whereby a left-eye image
entering the left front viewing hole is enlarged
horizontally by a factor of two, a right optical two-times
enlargement member in the frame aligned between the right
front viewing hole and the right rear viewing hole, whereby
a right-eye image entering the right front viewing hole is
enlarged horizontally by a factor of two, and a field of
view of the front left-eye viewing hole being substantially
contiguous alongside a field of view of the front right-eye
viewing hole.
The invention as described above works as follows:
In order to view electronic animation three-
dimensionally, the image seen by the left eye must differ
from the image seen by the right eye, since the left and
right eyes have different viewing angles. For example,
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when a tree is viewed, the left and right eyes see
different images since the left eye sees more of the left
side of the tree while the right eye sees more of the right
side of the tree. The size of the animation data for the
image for the left eye and the image for the right eye are
both set to the size of one display frame. The two
different sets of animation data are then compressed so
that the resulting data has the same width as a single
display frame, since if the two different sets of animation
data were displayed side by side without compression, the
image would be twice as wide as a single/display frame.
When the formatted animation data is then displayed in a
display frame, the image for the left eye and the image for
the right eye is displayed side by side in one display
frame so that they are both half their normal width. For
example, images of King Kong would be displayed side by
side on the same screen. In each image, the height of King
Kong would be correct, but he would be half his normal
width. The images are then made twice as wide with the
goggles. The image for the left eye is viewed by the left
eye and simultaneously the image for the right eye is
viewed by the right eye. This produces the same effect as
having the left eye and the right eye look simultaneously
at the left-eye image and the right-eye image at original
size (i.e. each image filling up one display frame). The
left-eye image viewed by the left eye and the right-eye
image viewed by the right eye are superimposed. Since
there is depth toward the left and the right, the visual
perception is that the center portion of the image appears
three-dimensional and projected toward the viewer.
The above, and other objects, features and advantages
of the present invention will become apparent from the
following description read in conjunction with the
accompanying drawings, in which like reference numerals
designate the same elements.
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BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Fig. 1 is a front-view drawing of an image for the
left eye.
Fig. 2 is a front-view drawing of an image of the same
object for the right eye.
Fig. 3 is a front-view drawing of the side-by-side
image.
Fig. 4 is an optical schematic drawing of a side-by-
side image on the display viewed with a 3-D viewing mirror.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
Referring to Fig. 1, an image 1 is shown for viewing
by the left eye of the viewer in one frame of a display of
electronic animation. Fig. 1 contains a clear view of the
left side of a shaft Bl projecting from a sphere Al.
Referring now also to Fig. 2, there is shown a right-
eye image 2 for viewing by the right eye of the viewer in
one frame on the display. Fig. 2 contains a clear view of
the right side of a shaft B2 projecting from a sphere A2.
Referring to Fig. 3, a side-by-side image 3 includes
a horizontally compressed image 1 and a horizontally
compressed image 2 arranged side by side. Images 1 and 2
are horizontally compressed so that both images fit the
width of one display frame. Thus, left-eye image 1 (Fig.
1) and right-eye image 2 (Fig. 2), occupy one display
screen, compressed horizontally at a 2-to-1 ratio to form
a compressed left-eye image 31 and a compressed right-eye
image 32 displayed together side by side. Viewed normally,
the viewer would see image 3, with compressed left-eye
image 31 and compressed right-eye image 32 arranged side by
side as shown in the figure.
Referring to Fig. 4, there is shown an optical
schematic drawing of side-by-side image 3 on a display 4
viewed through a 3-D viewer 5 for electronic animation. A
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frame 6 includes a from surface 6A having left and right
front viewing holes 7A, 7B. A rear surface 6B of frame 6
includes left and right rear viewing holes 8A, 8B. Optical
width enlarging members 9A, 9B are disposed between front
viewing holes 7A, 7B and rear viewing holes 8A, 8B.
Optical width enlarging members 9A and 9B are preferably
semicylindrical lenses having axes or their cylindrical
portions generally parallel to each other and vertically
oriented.
Side-by-side horizontally compressed images 31 and 32
from display 4 pass through front viewing holes 7A, 7B,
respectively. Compressed images 31 and 32 pass through
optical width enlarging members 9A, 9B, respectively, which
increase the widths of the images by a factor of two. The
width-expanded images 31 and 32 are then transferred to
rear viewing holes 8A, 8B, respectively.
Optical width enlarging member 9A on the left of the
display 4 expands the compressed left-eye image 31 on the
left half of the side-by-side image 3 of display 4 by a
factor of two. The center line of the enlarged image
matches the center line of 3-D viewer 5.
Optical width enlarging member 9B on the right expands
compressed right-eye image 32 on the right half of side-by-
side image 3 of the display 4 by a factor of two to enlarge
the width of compressed right-eye image 32 only. The
center line of the enlarged image matches the center line
of 3-D viewer 5. Thus, the images that pass through
optical width enlarging members 9A, 9B focused onto the
viewer's retinas to form superimposed image 12.
Superimposed image 12 is equivalent to having image 1 from
Fig. 1 and image 2 from Fig. 2 superimposed on each other,
but in separate eyes, whereby a 3D effect is produced.. Of
course, side-by-side image 3, which has been compressed by
one half on display 4, is enlarged by a factor of two so
that the resulting image has normal dimensions. The left
eye perceives a viewing angle of the object as seen from
the left, and the right eye perceives a viewing angle as
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seen from the right, so that depth is perceived on the left
and the right, and the central portion appears to extend
forward, thus giving a three-dimensional effect. Since the
image on display 4 is enlarged by a factor of two, the
resolution for each eye is half the original. However, an
additive effect of the resolutions from the left and right
eyes makes the resolution perceived by the viewer the same
as a normal image displayed on display 4.
Left and right optical width enlarging members 9A, 9B
are preferably semicylindrical. By orienting the long axis
vertically, only the width dimension is enlarged the width
dimension only. In some applications, a slight departure
from cylindrical shape may be desirable. For example, a
slightly ovoid cross section may compensate for the fact
that the image being viewed through each enlarging member
9A, 9B may not be disposed directly in front of its related
front viewing hole 7A, 7B.
Alternatively, a W-shaped mirror may be placed between
viewer 5 goggle and display 4. Suitable semicylindrical
shapes of the mirror surfaces performs the same width-
enlarging function as the semicylindrical lenses of left
and right optical width enlarging members 9A, 9B. Since
one skilled in the art would be fully enabled to make and
use a mirror-type version of the present invention, given
the present disclosure, further detail on such an
embodiment is considered unnecessary.
As described above, in the present invention, two
animation images, each of which would normally fit in
display 4, are compressed 2 to 1. The two images
representing left-eye and right-eye views are displayed
together side by side in one frame of display 4. Thus,
there is no difficulty in formatting the image. All that
is needed is to be able to view the left-eye image of side-
by-side image 3 through the left eye and the right-eye
image through the right eye while enlarging the width of
both images. Thus, the present invention provide three-
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dimensional viewing at low cost without requiringcomplicated devices or tools.
Viewer 5 may take any convenient form. In the
preferred embodiment, viewer 5 is incorporated into goggles
worn by a person doing the viewing. In another embodiment,
viewer 5 is fixed with respect to display 4. The person
doing the viewing then moves into place to look through
viewing holes 8A, 8B. Another possibility includes a hand-
held viewer.
As shown in Fig. 4, viewer 5 preferably includes a
lens in each of rear viewing holes 8A, 8B.
Referring now to Fig. 5, there is shown, generally at
36, a photographic recording device for recording width-
reduced images of a three-dimensional scene 38 side by side
on a film. Left and right apertures 40A, 40B are spaced
apart in a housing 42 are positioned before corresponding
left and right width-reducing lenses 44A, 44B produce, with
optional additional lens elements (not shown) left and
right width-reduced side-by-side virtual images 46A, 46B,
respectively. A camera 48 photographs virtual images 46A,
46B on a single frame of film or on an image plane of a
video camera.
Left and right width-reducing lenses 44A and 44B may
be cylindrically concave, as shown, or may be cylindrically
convex reflective elements, without departing from the
spirit and scope of the invention.
The present invention configured as described above
has the following advantages.
A. Three-dimensional viewer using a single display
unit is simple and easy to manufacture.
B. Production costs are significantly reduced since
formatting the image data is easy, and there is no need for
extra image processing data.
C. There is no need for elaborate devices or
complicated tools. Three-dimensional viewing can be
performed using an inexpensive and simple optical three-
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dimensional viewer 5. Thus, the user can take advantage ofthis device without inconvenience.
D. The image to be viewed is compressed by one half,
and is directly displayed. The user views the image
through a viewer that enlarges the width by a factor of
two. The overlap of the two images in the brain of the
person doing the viewing restores the resolution to about
the same as before width compression, whereby the image is
very clear, and there is no flickering since no shutters
are needed. This reduces eye strain.
E. The device can be used as a method for recording
3-D television simply by rearranging the display elements.
In 3-D television, the left and right images are displayed
by interleaving display elements one at a time. A
stereoscopic effect is produced by using a parallax
barrier, which is a washboard-shaped plate that acts as a
light shield, or a lenticular plate, which uses
semicircular lenses.
F. With the conventional method, two cameras are
needed for photographing three-dimensional natural images.
However, with the method of the present invention,
photographs can be taken simply by using an adapter which
produces width-reduced images side by side on the
photographic film.
Having described preferred embodiments of the
invention with reference to the accompanying drawings, it
is to be understood that the invention is not limited to
those precise embodiments, and that various changes and
modifications may be effected therein by one skilled in the
art without departing from the scope or spirit of the
invention as defined in the appended claims.
