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FastHolographiclikeStereogramsDisplayusing

ShellRenderingandaHolographicScreen

CandidoF.X.deMendonaa,AlexandreX.Falcoa
CesarA.Vanninib,JosJ.Lunazzic
aInstituteofComputing,StateUniversityofCampinas,Campinas,SP,Brazil
bMathandNaturalSciencesCenter,SacredHeartCollege,Bauru,SP,Brazil
cInstituteofOptics,StateUniversityofCampinas,Campinas,SP,Brazil

SendcorrespondencetoC.F.X.M.,Email:xavier@dcc.unicamp.br,
Telephone:+55(19)7885875,FAX+55(19)7885847

Background:
Displaysystemsbasedoncomputergraphicstechniquesusuallycreate2.5Dimagedisplayona2D
screen.Toobtain3Dimagedisplay,asystemhastoexploitsomedepthcues,suchashorizontaland
binocularparallaxes,thatcanonlyberepresentedina3Dspace.Thistypeofsystemisdividedintwo
majorparadigms:Stereography(thatmakesuseofstereoparallax)andHolography(thatmakesuseof
alldepthcues).Stereographyconsistsofgivingtoeacheyeadifferentviewofthescene.Adrawback
instereographyistheuseofauxiliarydevicesorviewingtricks(e.g,polarizedglasses,virtualreality
helmet,anddivergentviewing).Insomecases,suchasinVirtualReality,aconsiderableamountof
computationalresourcesisalsorequiredondetectingandredrawingscenesintheauxiliarydevicesfor
everynewlocationoftheobserver.Holographyconsistsofaprocesstoregisterthreedimensional
informationofoneobject.Traditionalholographymakesuseofhardcopyhologramstoregisterthe3D
informationofobjectsasstereograms.Thisinformationisretrievedfordisplaybyilluminatingthe
hologramwithareferencelightbeam.Recently,holographiclikestereogramscanbevirtuallycreated
andstoredbyacomputerandsubsequentlydisplayedonaholographicscreen(i.e.atransparentfilm
withgratingandfocusingopticalproperties,see[1]).Themainadvantageofthissystemoverthe
othersisthatitrequireslesscomputationalefforttogenerateanddisplay3Dimages.Thistechniqueis
calledholoprojection.

MotivationandResearchAims:

Ourmotivationforthisworkstemsatthenumerousapplicationsthatcanbedevelopedbyusing
holoprojectiontoprovidereal3Dvisualization.
Inholoprojection,ouraimsofresearchare:

3Dimagedisplayinanaturalway(i.e.withouttheuseofauxiliarydevicesorviewingtricks,such
aspolarizedglasses,virtualrealityhelmet,detectionofobserver'slocation,divergentviewing,etc)

3Dimagedisplaywithstereoandhorizontalparallaxessuchasseeninholograms.Horizontal
parallaxshouldbeobservedwithoutextracomputation
Fast3Dvisualizationinmedicalimagingapplications.

Whatisitallabout?
Wedescribetheincrementalimprovementoftheresearchoverholoprojectionthathasresultedintwo
previousversionsofHoloprojectorsandanewversionthatisintroducedinthiswork.Wepurpose:

A3Ddisplaysystemtovisualizeholographiclikestereogramsonaholographicscreen
Afastholoprojectiontechniquebasedonshellrenderingtodiscretizehorizontalparallaxby
codingseveralviewsofa3Dobjectformingaholographiclikestereogram.
Wealsodemonstratethenewsystemusingmedicalimagedata.

FirstHoloprojector:
Thefirstholoprojector[2]consistsofanoptomechanicalsystemwithawhitelightsource,three
mirrorsconnectedtostepmotors(Dx,DyandDz),areflectivediffractiongrating,aprojectivelensand
aholographicscreen(seeFigure1).ThemirrorsDxandDyplacethebeamoflightindifferentxandy
locationsontothediffractiongrating.Duetothephysicsofthediffractiongrating,thewhitebeamof
lightisdividedintotwobeamsoflight.Thefirstbeamoflight,whichcarriesonmostofthe
brightness,isdisregarded.Thesecondbeamoflightisaspectralrangeoflight.Thisrangeoflightis
widerasfartherthegratingisfromtheprojectivelens,sincetheoriginoftherangeoflightistheplace
wherethewhitebeamoflighthitsthediffractiongrating.Therangeoflightcrossestheprojective
lens,andduetotheconvergencepropertyofthelens,themirrorDzpositionsthecrossingpoint
towardstheholographicscreen.Thentheobserverlookingattheholographicscreencanperceivethe
depthofthevoxelformedbythecrossingpoint(seeFigure2,whereRE=righteyeandLE=left
eye).Thus,thesetofvoxelsformedbyallcombinationofmovementsofthemirrorsDxandDyforma
plane(oralmostaplane)ofvoxels.ThemirrorDzwillplacethisplaneofvoxelstowardsthe
holographicscreenindifferentpositionsformingadisplayingvolume.Theobserverseesamoving
pointoflightthatdrawsobjectsverypreciselyas,forexample,theedgesofacubeinreal3Dvolume.

FirstHoloprojector:Schema

FIGURE1

DepthEncodingProcess:

FIGURE2

SecondHoloprojector:

InthesecondHoloprojector[3],themirrorsDxandDyareeliminatedfromtheset,andaLCD
projector(seeFigure3)replacesthelightsource.Asthewholeplanecanbedisplayedatatime,the
scenemustbeslicedinanarrayofconsecutiveplanestransversallypositionedthroughtheholographic
screenbythemirrorDz.Thereflectivediffractiongratingisreplacedbyatransparentdiffraction
gratingandtherestofthesystemremainsthesame.Theimagesarethenprojectedratherthanbeing
mappedbythemovementofthemirrors.Thesceneshownbythissystemisgeneratedbyaraytracing
programmodifiedtoallowtheslicingprocess.Theslicingprocessdepictsavirtualversionofhowa
bakerslicesaloafofbread.Figure4displaysastereopairofcuttingplanesoftheslicingprocessofa
scene.Eachsliceisdisplayedasatwodimensionaltexturedobjectthesetoftwodimensionalslices
buildsavolumedisplay.

SecondHoloprojector:Schema

FIGURE3

SlicingProcess:

FIGURE4

ThirdHoloprojector:

InthethirdHoloprojector,weeliminatethediffractiongrating,theobjectivelensandtheoscillating
mirrorDz.ItconsistssimplyofaLCDprojectorandaholographicscreen(seeFigure5).Todisplaya
3Dobjectinthissystem,wefirstcreateanorderedsequenceofnviewsoftheobjectwithdiscrete
horizontalparallaxandselectanorderedsequenceofnhuesinthespectrumofvisiblepurecolors.To
eachviewweassignadifferenthuefollowingtheorderofthesequences.Thuswehavecodednviews
formingaframeofholographiclikestereogram.Ananimationcanbecreatedasasequenceofframes
likethis.Byprojectingtheholographiclikestereogramsontotheholographicscreen,weobtainn
viewsoftheobjectperframeandtheobservercansee3Dimagesoftheobjectperframewithdiscrete
horizontalparallax.AstheLCDprojectorisbasedonRGBcolors,wehaveusedjustthreepurecolors
Red,GreenandBlueatthemoment.

Holoprojector3.0:Schema

FIGURE5

3DVisualization:MedicalImagingApplications

ThemainpointinthisworkistodemonstratethatthethirdversionoftheHoloprojector(Figure5)can
beusedinmedicalimagingapplicationstoprovidefast3Dimagedisplayofhumaninternalstructures.
Inthiscase,therequirementforafastrenderingtechniqueiscrucial,sinceeachholographicframe
correspondstothree(inthecaseofthreepurecolors)renderedviewsofthestructurewithdiscrete
horizontalparallax.Shellrendering,proposedbyUdupaandOdhner[4],canbeplacedasoneofthe
fastestrenderingtechniquesdevelopedsofar.Inthiswork,weadoptedaparticularimplementationof
theshelldatastructureforsurfacerendering.
Inmedicalimaging,a3Dobjectmayberepresentedbyasetofvoxelsinthevicinityofitsboundary.
Ashellconsistsofthissetofvoxelstogetherwithanumberofattributesassociatedwiththevoxelsin
thisset.Theshellisstoredinaspecialdatastructurethatallowsrandomaccesstothevoxelsandtheir
attributes.Shellrenderingisaveryfastvoxelsprojectiontechniquethatcreates2.5Dviewsofthe
objectfromtheshelldatastructure.Thus,foranygivenlocationoftheobserver,wecodethreeviews
oftheobject(i.e.Red,GreenandBlue)withdiscretehorizontalparallaxandusethethird
Holoprojectortodisplaythis3Dimageonourholographicscreen.

ExperimentsandResults:
Ourprototypedisplaysystem(thirdHoloprojector)consistsofaNTSCLCD60Hzprojectoranda
holographicscreen.Thisholographicscreencanshowanynumberofviewswithinabout6degreesof
horizontalparallax.WehavechosenanentireCTskull,wheretheboundaryisrepresentedby
1,500,000voxels,andaSUNSparc464MBRAMforourexperiments.Sincetypicalprojectors
supportthreecolors,wehavecodedthreeviews(withresolution320x320pixels)oftheskullwith
horizontalparallaxtoformaholographiclikestereogram(seeFigure6).Thistasktakesabout1
secondusingshellrendering.Theholographiclikestereogramissubsequentlydisplayedfreeof
flickingontotheholographicscreenbytheNTSCprojector.Therefore,thewholesystemallowsreal
3Dinteractivevisualizationwithoutauxiliarydevicesorviewingtricks.

ViewingEncodingProcess:

FIGURE6

ConcludingRemarks:

Wehavepresentedanewtechniquebasedonshellrendering,whichcangenerateholographiclike
stereogramsfromtypicalmedicalimagedatainrealtime.Wehavealsopresentedanew3Ddisplay
systemtovisualizeholographiclikestereogramsonaholographicscreen,withoutviewingtricksor
auxiliarydevices.Today,oursystemhassomelimitations:6degreesofhorizontalparallax,the
distanceoftheprojection,therangedistanceoftheobserverand3codedviews.Thefirstthree
limitationscanberelaxedonthebuildingprocessofthescreenandthenumberofcodedviews
(discretehorizontalparallax)canbeincreasedto64byusingagrayLCD2KHzprojector,available
today,anda60Hzarrangementof64huefiltersasshowninFigure7.Withthisarrangement,wecan
displayonourholographicscreen64viewsoftheobjectperframewithnoflicking.

Holoprojector4.0:Schema

FIGURE7

References:

[1].J.J.Lunazzi.Newpossibilitiesintheutilizationofholographicscreen.Proc.oftheSPIEmeeting
ElectronicImaging,conferencePracticalHolographyVI,SanJoseCAUSA,914:289293,February
1992.
[2].J.J.LunazziandM.Diamand.3Ddisplaysystembasedonholographicscreenand
microcomputerdrivengalvanometers.AppliedOptics,34(22):46974699,1995,
http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Lab/6146/apopt95.pdf.
[3].E.G.daFonsecaandP.L.deGeusandC.F.X.deMendonaN.andJ.J.LunazziandE.Bertini.
AHolographicVisualizationSystem:ASequel.inProc.ofTheXIInternationalSymposiumon
ComputerGraphics,ImageProcessingandVision,SIBGRAPI'98,pages135141,October1998.
[4].J.K.UdupaandD.Odhner.ShellRendering.IEEEComputerGraphicsandApplications,
13(6):5867,1993.

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