Precise Control over the Individual DMD Micromirror for Volumetric Three-Dimensional Display Applications

Digital light processing (DLP) uses a digital micromirror device (DMD) to control light, effectively acting as an array of optical switching elements. DMDs have been widely used as high-speed spatial light modulators for projection applications. This paper proposes a software tool that converts sketches drawn on the screen of a personal computer (PC) into mirror-copy representations across the DMD micromirror array such that corresponding images of the sketches are projected onto a screen. The software tool continuously monitors the PC screen for any new rendering and updates the projected identical, mirror-copy over the DMD surface. Furthermore, the development enables a user to render a three-dimensional (3D) volumetric image by simply drawing slices of the 3D image over a previously specified number of application windows. Continuous projection of these slices formsa3D image under complete control over the projection speed-up tol3,300 frames/sec. The software tool also provides zooming and scrolling features that allow a user to access individual pixels, or micromirrors, on the DMD surface. The software tool described in this paper successfully demonstrates its applicability for the process of volumetric 3D display by way of data acquisition from a PC screen and the subsequent creation and display of 3D image slices, which can later be assembled into a volumetric image.