Natural perception in dynamic stereoscopic augmented reality environments

Notwithstanding the recent diffusion of the stereoscopic 3D technologies for the development of powerful human computer interaction systems based on augmented reality environment, with the conventional approaches an observer freely moving in front of a 3D display could experience a misperception of the depth and of the shape of virtual objects. Such distortions can cause eye fatigue and stress for entertainment applications, and they can have serious consequences in scientific and medical fields, where a veridical perception of the scene layout is required. We propose a novel technique to obtain augmented reality systems capable to correctly render 3D virtual objects to an observer that changes his/her position in the real world and acts in the virtual scenario. By tracking the positions of the observer’s eyes, the proposed technique generates the correct virtual view points through asymmetric frustums, thus obtaining the correct left and right projections on the screen. The natural perception of the scene layout is assessed through three experimental sessions with several observers.

► A novel technique to obtain the ecological validity of augmented reality systems. ► Veridical 3D position and shape perception in stereoscopic augmented reality systems. ► The off-axis technique is modified by using generalized asymmetric frustums. ► A stereo image pair is generated for each different position of the observer eyes. ► The natural perception of the 3D scene layout is assessed through experimental sessions.