

Scientists Have Created Artificial Sunlight: Real Enough to Trick Your Brain - arpitverma007
http://fossbytes.com/scientists-created-artificial-sunlight-real/

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rmxt
This looks quite nice, but the cost seems to be prohibitive for all but the
highest end customers. Let's face it, if you can afford a $65k+ light fixture,
then you probably won't be settling for an apartment that is in some dingy
back alley, which would necessitate this fixture in the first place. The video
mentioned uses of gyms and hospitals won't see this for years. Private art
galleries perhaps sooner, but I wonder if paintings exposed to this light face
the same issues as paintings exposed to real sunlight, degradation-wise.

That said, anybody have any suggestions for natural sunlight-like lights that
aren't in this same $10k+ price range? Placebo or not, having nice light
available makes for a better working environment.

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Excluse
> _This looks quite nice, but the cost seems to be prohibitive for all but the
> highest end customers._

As with all new technology, the price will eventually come down.

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anandaverma
Correct, but I am not finding it cool it really reminds me that someday we
won't have sun or open air :(

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davidrusu
Why so pessimistic, Think about all the great use cases of this tech eg. When
Elon Musk gets his Mars project going these will be invaluable to have on the
spaceship. Or imagine a nyc with all buildings below ground, above ground, the
entire city could be a park.

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anandaverma
Hmm. Agree on that Elon is like the creator in Matrix Movie :)

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xerula
Better information on the actual site:
[http://www.coelux.com/](http://www.coelux.com/)

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stevenh
How do they make it appear as if the actual sun is off in the distance in 3D?

Did they invent the world's first 3D display that works at all angles without
special glasses?

Are they lighting up a standard hologram in a novel way?

Are they using a special lens to magnify an incredibly tiny and incredibly
bright light source?

Are they using a microarray lens sheet, similar to how lenticular products
such as the Nintendo 3DS achieve 3D, except that it would work perfectly from
all viewing angles?

Whatever the case, I don't care about the price; I don't care about the
marketing fluff; I just want to know how it actually works. It's frustrating
that we aren't allowed to know.

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upofadown
Your visual system has to adapt all the way from the bluish light of midday to
the reddish light at the end of the day. You can adapt to whatever light is
available to you and after an initial adaptation period you can't tell the
difference. There is no need for trickery as the system tricks itself.

To replace sunlight you can use any bright light with enough blue light in it
to stimulate the circadian system. You can even use straight blue light if you
want.

Most ridiculous phrase:

> ... it also produces the texture and feel of sunlight.

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Broken_Hippo
Sir, would you rather sit by this nice, blue light or here in this stuff that
feels warm like sunlight?

Sure, you can do that with the blue light, but if that were truly an answer,
the blue lights would be standard in fixtures instead of a bit of equpiment
for greenhouses, fishkeepers, and those with seasonal affective disorder.

Sunlight simply feels different, in the same ways that a fake fire can feel
different from a real one. It is warm and inviting for most people, it heats
the skin in ways normal light doesn't.

And as far as texture, I'm not sure if I can explain this properly, though I
can see it and draw it in: Sunlight makes the skin's transluscence light up a
bit differently: Sometimes it wavers and moves depending on what is in the air
and whether or not there is a temperature difference between the inside and
outside. Sometimes dust sparkles slightly as it drifts in the air. It creates
a different glow than artificial light and the shadows are different - the
light is steady and more diffuse because the light comes from a general
direction instead of a point.

I do understand that some of this stuff are things that people just don't
think they see but they are the things that help make a painting spectacular
instead of just good.

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WayneS
To be convincing they need a fake room where the camera can pull backwards and
you can see there is no way the sun is real.

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justinsb
More technical information available here (looks like an EU grant report):
[http://cordis.europa.eu/result/rcn/58337_en.html](http://cordis.europa.eu/result/rcn/58337_en.html)

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xwintermutex
Are those images CGI or real?

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bradleyy
They claim to be unedited, real photos.

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krazydad
I'd have a much easier time believing that if they didn't work so hard to make
them look fake.

