LookingGlass Editor

Technical Specifications and Development Report: Creating a standalone PC shell for the Looking Glass 3D display. Rendering 3D images from a sequence of stereo views.

Client Project eng
 
Project Background
Looking Glass (www.lookingglassfactory.com) is a 3D content output device. The technology is based on a 2560×1600 resolution display with a lenticular lens array bonded to the surface.
 
The Challenge

Our goal was to determine how to take a set of pre-rendered stereo views (generated in software like 3ds Max, for example), output a volumetric image to the Looking Glass monitor, and develop a standalone PC application for this process.

Technical Discovery
From the documentation, we established that rendering a 3D image requires creating an m x n "Quilt" sheet from a set of views. This Quilt is then imported into a Unity project as a 2D texture and assigned to the Override Quilt property of the HoloPlay object.
 
Initial Testing and Troubleshooting
For our initial test, we used a sequence of 45 frames (labeled 1–45) for a 3D "Crocodile" asset. Using the ImageMagick utility, we stitched a 5 x 9 Quilt and imported it into Unity. The resulting 3D image revealed two primary defects:
 
  • Inverted Depth: The image appeared orthoscopic (inverted). We solved this easily by reversing the frame sequence from 1–45 to 45–1.
  • Jitter and Stuttering: Moving across the viewing field caused sharp jumps, particularly visible in the background. Official Quilt samples from the manufacturer did not exhibit this. Further research into the Quilt specifications revealed that frames must be arranged according to a specific tiling algorithm rather than a simple sequential order, with frames jumping between rows in a particular pattern.
The Solution: Looking Glass Editor

As a result, we developed the Looking Glass Editor. This tool automatically generates a Quilt sheet from a sequence of loaded frames in strict accordance with Looking Glass requirements.

Key Features:
  • Manual Control: Users can manually select the total number of views and define the start/end frames of a block.
  • Correction Tools: Includes a sequence inversion toggle to fix orthoscopy and an option to skip frames (e.g., using every second frame).
  • Legacy Support: Ability to load and preview previously generated Quilt sequences.
 
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Final Product

The utility is a standalone PC editor that allows users to take a set of views (from 3D renders or live-action footage) and generate a volumetric image with adjustable field of view and parallax depth.

Platform: PC
Year of release: 2020
Client: "Continuum", Novosibirsk
Developed by: E140Games