A framework for holographic scene representation and image synthesis

We present a framework for the holographic representation and display of graphics objects. As opposed to traditional graphics representations, our approach reconstructs the light wave reflected or emitted by the original object directly from the underlying digital hologram. Our novel holographic graphics pipeline consists of several stages including the digital recording of a full-parallax hologram, the reconstruction and propagation of its wavefront, and rendering of the final image onto conventional, framebuffer-based displays. The required view-dependent depth image is computed from the phase information inherently represented in the complex-valued wavefront. Our model also comprises a correct physical modeling of the camera taking into account optical elements, such as lens and aperture. It thus allows for a variety of effects including depth of field, diffraction, interference, and features built-in anti-aliasing. A central feature of our framework is its seamless integration into conventional rendering and display technology which enables us to elegantly combine traditional 3D object or scene representations with holograms. The presented work includes the theoretical foundations and allows for high quality rendering of objects consisting of large numbers of elementary waves while keeping the hologram at a reasonable size.