Watching 3D movies and TV shows is a fun and exciting experience, where images leap out of the screen. To get this effect, you usually have to wear a special pair of glasses. But that could soon be a thing of the past as scientists have developed a new display system that delivers a realistic 3D experience without the need for any eyewear.
The main reason why we've waited so long for a screen like this is a tough physics rule called the Space-Bandwidth Product (SBP). To get a perfect 3D image, you need a big screen (the "space") and a wide viewing area (the "bandwidth") so the picture looks good even when you turn your head. Unfortunately, according to the rule, you can't have both at the same time. If you make the screen big, the viewing angle shrinks. If you increase the viewing area, the TV must get smaller. All previous attempts to break this trade-off have failed. But not this time.
The system, called EyeReal, was developed by researchers from Shanghai University AI Laboratory and Fudan University, also located in Shanghai. Details of how it works are in a paper published in the journal Nature. It uses artificial intelligence to create glasses-free 3D visuals on desktop-sized screens. Instead of trying to increase the fixed physical limit, EyeReal uses the limited information more effectively.
"EyeReal maximizes the effective use of available optical information through continuous computational optimization, enabling a practical coexistence of large imaging size and wide viewing angles within existing physical limits," wrote Weijie Ma, the lead author of the paper.
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