Surface textures improve the robustness of stereoscopic depth cues

This research develops design recommendations for surface textures (patterns of color on object surfaces) rendered with stereoscopic displays. In 3 method-of-adjustment procedure experiments, 8 participants matched the disparity of a circular probe and a planar stimulus rendered using a single visible edge. The experiments varied stimulus orientation and surface texture. Participants more accurately matched the depth of vertical stimuli than that of horizontal stimuli, consistent with previous studies and existing theory. Participants matched the depth of surfaces with large pixel-to-pixel luminance variations more accurately than they did surfaces with a small pixel-to-pixel luminance variation. Finally, they matched the depth of surfaces with vertical line patterns more accurately than they did surfaces with horizontal-striped texture patterns. These results suggest that designers can enhance depth perception in stereoscopic displays, and also reduce undesirable sensitivity to orientation, by rendering objects with surface textures using large pixel-to-pixel luminance variations.