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Software to change perceived distance of digital images

Reduce computer vision syndrome with 3D software
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It is recommended that computer users look away and at a distance from the PC every 20 minutes or so to reduce or eliminate headaches, blurred vision, redness in the eyes, fatigue, eye strain, dry eyes, irritated eyes, double vision, vertigo/dizziness, polyopia, and difficulty refocusing the eyes.

Having worked in small cubes with tall walls, and in windowless IT equipment closets, I did not have the opportunity to look at distant objects except during breaks or lunch.

I have not tried computer glasses (there seems to be disagreement on whether or not they work) that may assist in diminishing these problems, but intend to.

If the eye is fooled by 3D displays and adjusts focus to see at different perceived distances, I would like to to see 3D software that will make visual images, especially text, appear at varying distances, at changing time intervals, forcing the eyes to adjust to the perceived changes as necessary.

Edit 2014-11-23: 3D can be displayed with or without glasses. See link below. I placed a long lasting search engine link in the URL field to avoid putting in a link that may disappear tomorrow. To make the text readable at a distance, the words could be displayed in large letters on a distant billboard, for example.

Sunstone, Nov 23 2014

3D viewing without the need for special glasses http://www.dogpile....=3D+without+glasses
Technology allows 3D viewing without special glasses. [Sunstone, Nov 23 2014]

Working close up and indoors may be making nearsightedness an epidemic http://www.wtop.com...worsening-worldwide
"There's a major lifestyle shift that's been brewing over the last 30 years," including kids and adults doing more close-up work and spending more time indoors.." [Sunstone, Dec 02 2014]

[link]






       OK, you've identified a need - but how would the eye be fooled, exactly? Would you need to wear special glasses to work with this software? (That wouldn't be a show-stopper - I'm just asking).
pertinax, Nov 23 2014
  

       Cool. This will be a thing. I'm thinking polarised lenses and a gradually changing depth of field. (/) + (\) = (+)   

       I've read that one of the simplest fixes for that list of problems is to make sure you blink your eyelids every few minutes.
Vernon, Nov 23 2014
  

       3D systems create the illusion of 3D by having a separate image for each eye, but I've never heard of any attempt to create a 3D system that varies the focal length. Even Oculus Rift just has a manual adjustment for that to get a clear picture in each eye.   

       I think that one of the primary reasons that you need to look away from your monitor is to vary the focal length. It would probably be possible to create a monitor with lenses that change the focal length without even providing a 3D effect, or you could just have a pair of glasses with multiple lenses that adjust occasionally to exercise your eyes while looking at a fixed distance.   

       If you want a _true_ 3D perception, even adjusting the focal length of left and right images dynamically is not enough because you always have the foreground and background objects at the same focal length. It isn't possible for the human eye to focus on a physically close and a far object at the same time. The only only way I can think of to accomplish that would be to have 2D microparallax ( I just made that term up). The point is that normally a 3D system can take a shortcut and provide just two images for left and right eye. In a system using lenticular lenses, for good quality there need to be many more images because the position of the left and right eyes are not known, so at any location in the viewing area, the left and right eye need to get different images. To make a relatively smooth transition if the head moves left or right, there probably need to be several images (say 4) for the distance between eyeballs (say 2"). If you want the viewing area to be a 16" wide, that means you need 8*4 = 32 images. In order to require eyes to refocus, the left and right side of the pupil need to receive a slightly different image as well as every point in between. In order to get a fairly clear picture, it will need many images. I'm not sure if we can get away with it, but let's assume we need 16. And assume the pupil is 1/8". That means we need 2/(1/8)*16/4 = 64 times as many images as was required for a lenticular lens system. (64*32 = 2048) But wait, there's more. To get the 3D perception, we only needed to worry about left/right. But actual focus requires thinking about the vertical size of the pupil as well, so we'll need many images in that direction as well. Assuming we can tolerate a much narrower viewing angle, lets say 4 inches, then we need 16*4*8 = 512, giving is a grand total of 2048*512 = 1 million images.   

       Essentially what I'm talking about is a digital lens. I bet my assumption of 16 images across the pupil is actually not nearly enough to avoid significant blurring, but in any case I think such a technique will need to wait until technology has improved dramatically and/or will need to find some less brute-force method.
scad mientist, Nov 24 2014
  

       Also, I'd say your link to a search engine is pretty much useless. You might as well just say "Google '3D without glasses'. the point of a link is that we can discuss something specific. For example, when I ran that search, the first hit was dromax- 3d. They use lenticular lenses which creates a 3D effect, but doesn't change the focal length. However, if I refer to that link, I'd bet that in less than a year the #1 hit will change. If you link directly to dromax-3d, in half a year, they may no longer be the #1 hit in the search, but their web site might still be active. In 10 years that web site may be gone entirely, but such is life...   

       If you really want to make sure a link is accessible in the future, you can tell archive.org to save a copy and include a link to that as well.
scad mientist, Nov 24 2014
  

       I think it might be simpler to do in the hardware, a screen on wheels with motors, it would do a drunkard's walk avery once in a while.
not_morrison_rm, Dec 03 2014
  
      
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