Business:
MacNaughton, Inc. specializes in stereoscopic 3-D imaging, through promotion of the NuVision and Perceiva lines of products.

Description:
Hardware & software products which enhance visualization of complex scientific and technical data. 

Activities:
Marketing, research & development, and manufacturing.

Markets:
MacNaughton's NuVision and Perceiva product lines supports stereo-ready software used in industrial and consumer markets, such as:  GIS, computational chemistry, mechanical/architectural CAD, robotics, resource management, oil and gas exploration, scientific visualization, site-based entertainment, and 3D animation.

Products:
MacNaughton's NuVision and Perceiva products are based on the patented pi-cell technology and include high performance stereoscopic monitors, detachable shutter kits and wireless glasses.

Employees:  9

Incorporation:
In Oregon, USA.  Business activities commenced in November, 1999.

Ownership: 
Private

Officers:
Boyd MacNaughton, President and CEO 

A look at MacNaughton, Inc:
MacNaughton specializes in stereoscopic 3-D imaging products which enhance visualization of complex scientific and technical data. 

Human beings naturally see the world with three dimensional (stereoscopic) vision.  The separation between our eyes causes each eye to see a scene from a slightly different view, and our brain blends these two views into a single depth-rich image.  This ability to see depth is extremely important when viewing scenes that contain complex information.  By displaying images with realistic depth, the user can gain insights and valuable information available only through true stereoscopic vision.

MacNaughton's patented pi-cell technology  brings three dimensional visualization to the desktop, creating a powerful tool in the computer-aided workplace.  The user can truly visualize a third dimension and various parameters can be designed, calculated and measured in 3-D.

Field-sequential optical techniques are the most popular class of techniques for creating stereo imaging.  These techniques use time to separate the two eye views.  Glasses are used which block the left eye from seeing the screen while the right eye view is displayed, then they switch. The NuVision product line uses a specialized fast-switching liquid crystal cell, called the pi-cell, as a shutter to alternately block each eye. 

Pi-cell liquid crystal technology provides superior performance through fast switching, high extinction ratios, and a wide viewing field.  As a result, the image quality is a flicker-free, high contrast display.  The pi-cell technology is used in both active and passive stereoscopic display systems.  MacNaughton, Inc. is using this technology to design, manufacture and market stereoscopic visualization products for both commercial and consumer marketplaces. 

The pi-cell technology used in NuVision products was developed by  the Display Research Labs of Tektronix, Incorporated.  A separate group within Tektronix, Display Products Operations, was established to commercialize and further develop the technology.  The resulting stereoscopic products have been actively sold to a wide variety of markets since 1986. 

In 1994 Tektronix licensed the pi-cell technology to Vikay International Ltd.  A new entity, NuVision Technologies, was incorporated as a wholly owned subsidiary of Vikay.  This new corporation was staffed with highly experienced technology and marketing professionals from the original Tektronix Display Products Operation division, ensuring that the expertise in stereo and the underlying technology developed at Tektronix would result in successful new products for NuVision Technologies, Inc.

In 1999, during the Asian banking crisis, Vikay declared bankruptcy and NuVision Technologies elected to shut down.  In an employee buy-out, the assets of NuVision Technologies, as well as much of the highly-experienced staff,  were transferred to MacNaughton, Inc., which continues to develop and market stereoscopic viewing solutions through the NuVision product line.