Stereoscopic vision and the design of stereoscopic displays

Since the discovery of stereopsis in the 19 century the display of stereoscopic information has taken on a variety of forms. From the original Wheatstone stereoscope to the current technology of head-mounted displays and parallax barrier displays, the advantages of binocular vision have been exploited to produce a different kind of display experience. Designing optical systems that take advantage of stereopsis creates a different set of constraints and image artifacts. This paper reviews some of the methods of creating a stereo image and highlights some of the unique system design considerations.