This invention provides an information output apparatus which outputs
tactile information or the like corresponding to the surface state of an
object as three-dimensional information together with image information,
and allows the user to easily discriminate the surface material or the
like of an image object in the image information.A hybrid display unit of
the information display apparatus of this invention has a structure
formed by overlaying, e.g., a display panel used to display an image, and
an unevenness output element group used to output the unevenness level of
that image, and voltage values to be applied to respective unevenness
output elements of the unevenness output element group are determined on
the basis of, e.g., unevenness information stored in a memory. Therefore,
material differences (smooth or rough touch) of images displayed on the
display panel can be felt by touching unevenness output by the unevenness
output elements.