In general, embodiments of the present invention provide a 3-dimensional (3-D) display and method of manufacture. Specifically, under the embodiments of the present invention, a plurality of active lighting panels is stacked in successive fashion within a display. The plurality of active light panels typically comprises pixel-based active lighting panels, Liquid Crystal Display (LCD)-based active lighting panels, Light Emitting Diode (LED)-based active lighting panels, Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED)-based active lighting panels, or a combination thereof. Using the stack of active lighting panels, a 3-D view is generated. This 3-D view is viewable to the naked eye of a viewer (e.g., without the use of 3-D glasses or any other type of assistive optics). Typically, the view is generated and controlled using active light device control circuitry, which is configured to control the output of the active lighting panels both individually and with respect to one another.