Switchable Virtual, Augmented, and Mixed Reality through Optical Cloaking

TL;DR

This paper introduces a digital optical cloaking system that enables switchable VR, AR, and MR experiences by making opaque devices transparent and accurately displaying real-world 3D perspectives without transparent optics.

Contribution

It proposes a novel optical cloaking approach that allows seamless switching between VR, AR, and MR, improving realism and device versatility without transparent components.

Findings

Optical cloaking enables opaque devices to display real-world 3D perspectives.

A simplified stereoscopic system approximates limited VR, AR, or MR.

The framework is scalable with increasing computing power and pixel densities.

Abstract

A switchable virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and mixed reality (MR) system is proposed using digital optical cloaking. Optical cloaking allows completely opaque VR devices to be "cloaked," switching to AR or MR while providing correct three-dimensional (3D) parallax and perspective of the real world, without the need for transparent optics. On the other hand, 3D capture and display devices with non-zero thicknesses, require optical cloaking to properly display captured reality. A simplified stereoscopic system with two cameras and existing VR systems can be an approximation for limited VR, AR, or MR. To provide true 3D visual effects, multiple input cameras, a 3D display, and a simple linear calculation amounting to cloaking can be used. Since the display size requirements for VR, AR, and MR are usually small, with increasing computing power and pixel densities, the framework presented here can provide a widely deployable VR, AR, MR design.