Graphics Scene Description and Application Interface for Heterogeneous 3D Display Environments

The ability to resolve depth within a scene whether natural or artificial improves our spatial understanding of the scene and as a result reduces the cognitive load accompanying the analysis and collaboration on complex tasks. A light-field display projects 3D aerial imagery that is visible to the unaided eye (without glasses or head tracking) and allows for perspective correct visualization within the displays projection volume. Light-field rendering is the process of rendering all the perspective views present in the light-field from a 3D model regardless of viewer position. Modern graphics language such as OpenGL and Direct-X assume a singular point of view and are structured to render into a single viewport within a framebuffer. As such, multi-view rendering becomes the responsibility of the host application which has to understand the exact nature (view point, view orientation, moment in time) of each view for a particular light-field display implementation. In addition, additional light-field display specific APIs are needed to control rendering which reduces application portability. The primary technical objective of this proposal is to develop a light-field display agnostic application interface/scene description that can be used in a heterogeneous 3D display environment and relieve the host the burden of multi-view rendering.