Multifocal display

A multifocal display is a type of 3D display that provides natural visuals to the viewer, meaning that in an A/B test, a person can generally not tell the difference by sight alone. The way it works is by showing images at multiple focuses (focii) at the same time.

It is largely the same as a light field display.

The goal of a multifocal display is to get all the directions of rays of light at the surface of a user’s eyeball.

A multifocal display can be head-mounted, or instead, part of a device that is separate from the head like on a computer screen or laptop computer.

Head-mounted multifocal displays are generally made using a sequential focal stack, where very quickly multiple images are shown and the focus of the optical system changes at the same time. It happens so quickly it all looks like one image.

Companies include Lightspace Technologies and CREAL, in varying methods.

Multifocal displays can solve VAC.

The image that is projected and the focus of the image do not have to align perfectly. There can be a little bit of a difference, as long as the difference is not too great.