Resolution limit of the eye: how many pixels can we see?

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Ashraf, Maliha, Chapiro, Alexandre, Mantiuk, Rafał K.
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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author Ashraf, Maliha
Chapiro, Alexandre
Mantiuk, Rafał K.
author_facet Ashraf, Maliha
Chapiro, Alexandre
Mantiuk, Rafał K.
contents As large engineering efforts go towards improving the resolution of mobile, AR and VR displays, it is important to know the maximum resolution at which further improvements bring no noticeable benefit. This limit is often referred to as the "retinal resolution", although the limiting factor may not necessarily be attributed to the retina. To determine the ultimate resolution at which an image appears sharp to our eyes with no perceivable blur, we created an experimental setup with a sliding display, which allows for continuous control of the resolution. The lack of such control was the main limitation of the previous studies. We measure achromatic (black-white) and chromatic (red-green and yellow-violet) resolution limits for foveal vision, and at two eccentricities (10 and 20 deg). Our results demonstrate that the resolution limit is higher than what was previously believed, reaching 94 pixels-per-degree (ppd) for foveal achromatic vision, 89 ppd for red-green patterns, and 53 ppd for yellow-violet patterns. We also observe a much larger drop in the resolution limit for chromatic patterns (red-green and yellow-violet) than for achromatic. Our results set the north star for display development, with implications for future imaging, rendering and video coding technologies.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2410_06068
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Resolution limit of the eye: how many pixels can we see?
Ashraf, Maliha
Chapiro, Alexandre
Mantiuk, Rafał K.
Human-Computer Interaction
Graphics
Multimedia
Image and Video Processing
As large engineering efforts go towards improving the resolution of mobile, AR and VR displays, it is important to know the maximum resolution at which further improvements bring no noticeable benefit. This limit is often referred to as the "retinal resolution", although the limiting factor may not necessarily be attributed to the retina. To determine the ultimate resolution at which an image appears sharp to our eyes with no perceivable blur, we created an experimental setup with a sliding display, which allows for continuous control of the resolution. The lack of such control was the main limitation of the previous studies. We measure achromatic (black-white) and chromatic (red-green and yellow-violet) resolution limits for foveal vision, and at two eccentricities (10 and 20 deg). Our results demonstrate that the resolution limit is higher than what was previously believed, reaching 94 pixels-per-degree (ppd) for foveal achromatic vision, 89 ppd for red-green patterns, and 53 ppd for yellow-violet patterns. We also observe a much larger drop in the resolution limit for chromatic patterns (red-green and yellow-violet) than for achromatic. Our results set the north star for display development, with implications for future imaging, rendering and video coding technologies.
title Resolution limit of the eye: how many pixels can we see?
topic Human-Computer Interaction
Graphics
Multimedia
Image and Video Processing
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2410.06068