BrickDisplay: Large, Protruding 3D Image Presentation From Multiple Non-Aligned Monitors With Perceptual Transparency
- Our research has developed "BrickDisplay," a technology that produces large-scale, floating 3D images from a scattered collection of different types of monitors.
- This technology hinges on two key visual phenomena. The first is "modal completion," where the human brain perceptually fills in the gaps between disconnected visual elements. The second is the "illusion of transparency," a principle where carefully controlling image luminance can make viewers perceive a depth order that is the reverse of what pictorial cues would suggest. This transparency illusion is known to be significantly strengthened by stereoscopic (3D) vision.
- BrickDisplay uses automatic position and orientation calibration for the monitors, combined with a sophisticated luminance design for the visuals. When viewed through simple anaglyph (red-blue) 3D glasses, a massive aerial image appears to float in mid-air. It is a breakthrough technology that enables the creation of large 3D displays from a "bring-your-own-device" approach, using an assorted collection of monitors. We envision its use in applications like athletic coaching and interactive experiences with virtual characters.
- *This project is supported by the JST ACT-X program of the area of "Hardware in Future for Resilience of Real Space (Hardware for Resilience)" (Oct. 2021 – Oct. 2025).
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| Figure 1 (a) Top: A diagram of a traditional Tiled Display, which requires a grid of identical monitors. Due to the bezels obstructing the view, these displays were limited to showing 3D content that appeared behind the screen. Bottom: In contrast, our BrickDisplay uses a sparse, irregular arrangement of mixed monitors to create a 3D aerial image that pops out in front of the screens. (b) The physical BrickDisplay setup. (c) The resulting 3D image as perceived through anaglyph glasses. |
References
- "Huge 3D display by collection of monitors you have - Easy huge 3D display using distributed general monitors - " The Open House 2024 of the NTT Communication Science Laboratories, 24-26th June, 2024 [url]
- World's first: A display system to present a large-scale 3D aerial image beyond the frame of multiple monitors using illusion. 3D image presentation on irregular arrangements of general-purpose display devices by using transparency perception to complete missing visual information, News Release of Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation, June 17, 2024 [url]
- Yuri Mikawa, Taiki Fukiage: BrickDisplay: Large 3D Image Presentation Perceptually Protruding from Multiple Non-aligned Heterogeneous Monitors, The 32th International Display Workshops (IDW '25) (Hiroshima, Japan, 2025.12.05) / 3D8 [accepted]
- Yuri Mikawa and Taiki Fukiage: BrickDisplay: Large, Protruding 3D Image Presentation From Multiple Non-Aligned Monitors With Perceptual Transparency, SIGGRAPH Asia 2025 Emerging Technologies , Hong Kong, Dec. 15-18th, 2025 [accepted]