Optical magic lenses and polarization-based interaction techniques

Abstract

In this paper we present a novel approach of the magic lens user interface metaphor for large-scale projectorbased displays. We altered a standard polarization-based passive stereo projection setup and employed a standard LCD panel as a purely optical, tangible magic lens device. Due to the properties of polarized light, the modified passive stereo setup can be used to separate two views — a primary and a secondary layer — of the projected data. A non-powered LCD panel serves as magic lens filter, as it rotates the direction of polarized light 90 degrees, providing the user a different view on the projected data. The system is arbitrarly scalable for multiple users and can be applied to numerous applications. Based on the two projection layers resulting from the proposed setup we explored interaction techniques and present some examples of the system.