Click image for super-large view

I thought I’d put my shiny new 3DS and its’ fascinating auto-stereoscopic screen under the microscope. The results are very interesting.

The left image is with the 3D effect turned off. It looks like a typical LCD screen at this point, but with slightly more horizontal spacing between the columns of pixels. In front of this layer of pixels (and out of focus in this picture) there is a parallax barrier that runs between each column of pixels.

The image on the right is the same screen but with the 3D effect turned on. One alternating column of pixels seems to drop down/move back into the screen a little. That may be an illusion, I’m actually not absolutely sure what is happening there, but I believe that physically doing this and angling the columns would in-fact do the trick.

It’s important to note that I have the screen slightly askew in this picture. The parallax barrier starts obscuring one of the columns of pixels as you move left in the image (if I didn’t do this, you would be able to see both rows still due to how close the microscope lens is). This is how light from each column is delivered to only one eye if your head is at the proper distance.

From there the depth of the image is managed artificially through the software (via the 3D Depth Slider on the right of the Nintendo 3DS). Essentially simulating depth by making each eye see a progressively different image as the depth is turned up in software.

If anyone has some special knowledge of precisely how this screen functions at this level I’d love to hear about it. What I’ve stated above is just my initial impression of what’s going on. SCIENCE.