Analysis of stereoscopic visualization in a consumer-oriented head mounted display

The upcoming availability of advanced Head Mounted Displays (HMDs) dedicated to the consumer market has lead to a great interest in the design and development of dedicated media, like e.g. immersive video games and movies. As a consequence, Virtual Reality is becoming more accessible to a wider audience, with a large number of potential applications and integrations with already existing smart technologies and devices. HMDs use stereoscopic visualization to enhance the sense of realism and immersivity in a virtual scene. However, a correct stereoscopic visualization requires an accurate consideration of different parameters related to the production and display stage. In this paper, we analyze the stereoscopic setup of a HMD, in order to highlight its main visualization characteristics in relation with the known issues and requirements of a correct stereoscopic visualization, and to establish some preliminary guidelines for an optimal creation of stereoscopic contents.