With lenticular printing it becomes possible to present a 3D effect on a flat surface. The concept is based on the use of many lined lenses. These lenses diffract the light in different angles, for our left and right eyes. When one image is seen with the left eye and another image can be seen with the right eye a lenticular 3D effect is created. In this blogpost we will tell more about lenticular effects and how there are used in optics.
Lenticular lenses
In the world of optics lenticular lenses are used. Below are some examples of lenticular arrays, both have a different effect.
lenticular printing
This type of lenticular array diffuses the light in one direction and has a large angle (30° to 90°). As a result this type of lenticular array is used in rear-projection screens.
The lenticular array as shown below has spherical arrays, that diffuse light in both directions. Also, this array has a large angle (30° to 90°).
Simply put, a lenticular lens is made up of optical patterns that are repeated. A lenticular array can be used as a diffuser. When light strikes the array it is diffused only in the direction of the cylindrical lenses.
Viewing Angle
Lenticular images can be seen in a V-shaped area. Overall the viewing angle is a guideline to determine the lenticular effect. When using a small viewing angle the picture becomes sensitive to change. When a viewer changes his viewing angle slightly the image might change enormous. With wide angle lenses the viewer needs to change his viewing angle more to see a change in the picture. Therefore lenses with a narrow viewing angle tend to be good for 3D effect, while lenses with a wide viewing angle are good for animations .
Viewing distance
The distance between the print and the viewer is called the viewing distance. The more lenses per inch are used, the shorter the optimal viewing distance will be. So before making a lenticular array it is important to define the optimal viewing distance.
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