Light field display and 3D image reconstruction

Abstract

Light field optics and its applications become rather popular in these days. With light field optics or light field thesis, real 3D space can be described in 2D plane as 4D data, which we call as light field data. This process can be divided in two procedures. First, real3D scene is optically reduced with imaging lens. Second, this optically reduced 3D image is encoded into light field data. In later procedure we can say that 3D information is encoded onto a plane as 2D data by lens array plate. This transformation is reversible and acquired light field data can be decoded again into 3D image with the arrayed lens plate. "Refocusing" (focusing image on your favorite point after taking a picture), light-field camera's most popular function, is some kind of sectioning process from encoded 3D data (light field data) to 2D image. In this paper at first I show our actual light field camera and our 3D display using acquired and computer-simulated light field data, on which real 3D image is reconstructed. In second I explain our data processing method whose arithmetic operation is performed not in Fourier domain but in real domain. Then our 3D display system is characterized by a few features; reconstructed image is of finer resolutions than density of arrayed lenses and it is not necessary to adjust lens array plate to flat display on which light field data is displayed.