In this study, we suggest a customized model describing optical phenomena at the surface of a lenticular array for autostereoscopic displays in a mathematical form and analyzed the optical characteristics of lenticular array for the first time. We checked the validity of our mathematical model by examining and comparing our result with conventional lens theory. Monte Carlo simulations were performed to obtain the angular distribution of light from each sub-pixel corresponding to each views under actual design conditions. From the results, we think the optical model is very useful for designing optical parameters of autostereoscopic displays. (C) 2013 Elsevier B. V. All rights reserved.