Hardware How the 3D effect works on the 3DS.

[juggernaut911]

This isn't new tech. Fairly certain this is the method. Heard of this a long time ago.

Displays with filter arrays

The LCD is covered with an array of prisms that divert the light from in their notebook and desktop computers. These displays usually cost upwards of 1000 dollars and are mainly targeted at science or medical professionals.
Another technique, for example used by the X3D company, is simply to cover the LCD with two layers, the first being closer to the LCD than the second, by some millimeters. The two layers are transparent with black strips, each strip about one millimeter wide. One layer has its strips about ten degrees to the left, the other to the right. This allows seeing different pixels depending on the viewer's position

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stereoscopy#O...display_methods


What this means: A filter is over the screen (adjusted by the slider on the right?) which limits the pixels that can be viewed by each eye. That is why you can't be too far to one side or the other. When the image is processed in your head, magic happens (3D effect).

Not sure if this is the exact method I was thinking of but the closest I could find from a Google search.

 

[tk_saturn]

It's been known for a long time that it uses a parallax barrier to display 3D.

 

[MelodieOctavia]

Nope, it sure isn't new tech. In fact there was a model they showed on TechTV (before it became G4) On The Screen Savers, and it was marketed as a gaming laptop, and they played Battlefield 1942, and had to stop after 10 minutes or so because the effect was headache inducing.

 

[ChuckBartowski]

yeah currently paralax barriers would be the only plausible way to do 3D without glasses.

 

[juggernaut911]

yeah currently paralax barriers would be the only plausible way to do 3D without glasses.

That's what I'm trying to explain.

 

[tk_saturn]

This is a much better description of how the 3D effect in 3DS is created http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/08/12/3d_illusion/

It's nothing new, Sharp has been selling PC monitors with the same technology for yes. That article is from 2004.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/08/11/sharp_lcd/

 

[juggernaut911]

This is a much better description of how the 3D effect in 3DS is created http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/08/12/3d_illusion/

That's the original article I've been looking for. The one in which I first heard about it. Thanks!

 

[spinal_cord]

What this means: A filter is over the screen (adjusted by the slider on the right?) which limits the pixels that can be viewed by each eye. That is why you can't be too far to one side or the other. When the image is processed in your head, magic happens (3D effect).

Not sure if this is the exact method I was thinking of but the closest I could find from a Google search.

The method might be correct, but the filter never gets adjusted, the software renders the image twice, once from the left and once from the right. The slider changes how far left or right the two images are rendered from. If you changed the filter in any way it would completely f*ck up the effect, the filters have to remain exact.