Enhancing interactive nonplanar projections of 3D geovirtual environments with stereoscopic imaging

Abstract

Stereo rendering, as an additional visual cue for humans, is an important method to increase the immersion into 3D virtual environments. Stereo pairs synthesized for the left and right eye are displayed in a way that the human visual system interprets as 3D perception. Stereoscopy is an emerging field in cinematography and gaming. While generating stereo images is well known for standard projections, the implementation of stereoscopic viewing for interactive non-planar single-centre projections, such as cylindrical and spherical projections, is still a challenge. This paper presents the results of adapting an existing image-based approach for generating interactive stereoscopic non-planar projections for polygonal scenes on consumer graphics hardware. In particular, it introduces a rendering technique for generating image-based, non-planar stereo pairs within a single rendering pass. Further, this paper presents a comparison between the image-based and a geometry-based approach with respect to selected criteria.