A Generalized Pipeline For Preview And Rendering Of Synthetic Holograms

We describe a general pipeline for the computation and display of either fully-computed holograms or holographic stereograms using the same three-dimensional database. A rendering previewer on a Silicon Graphics Onyx allows a user to specify viewing geometry, database transformations, and scene lighting. The previewer then generates one of two descriptions of the object - a series of perspective views or a polygonal model - which is then used by a fringe rendering engine to compute fringes specific to hologram type. The images are viewed on the second generation MIT Holographic Video System. This allows a viewer to compare holographic stereograms with fully-computed holograms originating from the same database and comes closer to the goal of a single pipeline being able to display the same data in different formats.