Facet braiding: a fundamental problem in integral imaging

A rigorous explanation of a phenomenon that produces significant distortions in the three-dimensional images produced by integral imaging systems is provided. The phenomenon, which we refer to as the facet-braiding effect, has been recognized in some previous publications, but to our knowledge its nature has never been analyzed. We propose a technique for attenuating the facet-braiding effect. We have conducted experiments to illustrate the consequences of the facet-braiding effect on three-dimensional integral images, and we show the usefulness of the proposed technique in eliminating this effect.