Acer’s new portable monitors can make 2D look like 3D

Enlarge / Acer's SpatialLabs View portable monitor. (credit: Acer)

Good portable monitors improve your computing experience by providing more screen real estate. But two 4K portable monitors announced today, Acer's SpatialLabs View and SpatialLabs View Pro, have a trick up their sleeves: making content look like it's coming out of the screen. Using Acer's proprietary hardware-software solution, SpatialLabs, the monitors can convert 2D content, like supported games, photos, and CAD designs, into stereoscopic 3D.

Certified by Adobe and Autodesk, SpatialLabs uses a specialized optical lens, two eye-tracking cameras, and AI to make 2D work look 3D without pesky glasses or other clunky headgear. SpatialLabs works by creating a set of images for each eye and projecting them through the optical lens to where you're looking.

Acer's idea is that creators, like CAD designers, 3D animators, and developers, quickly see how their work looks in 3D. The stereoscopic 3D environment doesn't require time-consuming rendering, so it can provide a helpful and more immersive way to preview work.