Dark Stereo: Improving Depth Perception
Under Low Luminance
1 MPI Informatik 2University of Cambridge
Abstract
It is often desirable or unavoidable to display Virtual Reality (VR) or stereoscopic content at low brightness. For example, a dimmer display reduces the flicker artefacts that are introduced by low-persistence VR headsets. It also saves power, prolongs battery life, and reduces the cost of a display or projection system. Additionally, stereo movies are usually displayed at relatively low luminance due to polarization filters or other optical elements necessary to separate two views. However, the binocular depth cues become less reliable at low luminance.
In this paper, we propose a model of stereo constancy that predicts the precision of binocular depth cues for a given contrast and luminance. We use the model to design a novel contrast enhancement algorithm that compensates for the deteriorated depth perception to deliver good-quality stereoscopic images even for displays of very low brightness.
Materials
- Paper high / low res (PDF, 25 MB / 3MB)
- Unity Implementation (git repository)
- Subjective Data (git repository)
Acknowledgements
This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme, under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 765911 (RealVision).
