Chapter 8
A Shot at the Assessment of 3D Technologies
As an assessment of 3D technologies is unavoidably associated with the future and as nothing is known to be more risky to predict than the future, attempts at this could be called audacious. However, contrary to predictions in the area of humanities, technological predictions can be based on already established laws and measurements from which – and that is the still risky portion – trends that appear promising can not only be detected, but also evoke enlightening discussions in a most beneficial way.
It may be best to approach this assessment very cautiously by first staying with 2D images and investigate physiological means of deriving 3D sensations in the form of illusions from planar 2D images. This enhancement of 3D perception will have to be realized electronically by additions to the addressing circuits.
We investigate this approach first for still 2D images.
A first set of depth cues in 2D paintings has been used by artists since the medieval period. Among them are the following.
Painting a road leading into the distance with a vanishing point and with objects decreasing in size along the way into deeper depths, as shown in the Figures 4.25 and 4.26, with bright and warm colors like white, yellow, and red in the foreground and more subdued and colder colors such as blue in the background. Occlusions and shadows cast away from the viewer also support the sensation of depth, as demonstrated in Figure 6.8a,b.
As elaborated ...
