
The world's first holographic gaming system [video] - kurren
http://openvolumetric.org/
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evan_
> The device contains a projector that beams an image up onto a screen, which
> in turn vibrates up and down at a rapid speed. The rapid vibration allows
> the image to appear as though it’s a 3D asset.

[http://www.extremetech.com/gaming/174772-voxiebox-a-real-
lif...](http://www.extremetech.com/gaming/174772-voxiebox-a-real-life-star-
wars-3d-holographic-display-that-plays-video-games)

I don't see how this technology can really scale very well. The plane that you
project on has to move through the entire depth, so if you wanted something
that was deeper than the 4-5 cm in the demo video you'd have to really
increase the speed, or you would start to lose the persistence-of-vision
effect that makes it work.

Edit: I found this video of a TEDx talk the team did, it's pretty interesting.
Their original prototype projected onto a sweet potato.
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Tdta2...](http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Tdta2YhEwZA)

According to this video Ken Silverman (of BUILD engine fame) is on board,
which is pretty huge.

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moocowduckquack
Ahh, so volumetric rather than holographic then.

I always get a bit suspicious of claims of commercial holographic displays due
to the data requirements, if nothing else. Here's an analysis from the MIT
Spatial Imaging Group, for instance.

 _" a hologram of dimensions 100 mm by 100 mm and a viewing angle of 30
degrees contains approximately 25 Gigabytes of information, or the equivalent
of 25 billion samples of information - all for a single frame. In order to
update such an image with 8-bit resolution at a rate of 60 frames/second, a
data-rate of 12 Terabits/sec would be required for transmission of the
hologram"_

[http://www.loreti.it/Download/PDF/Olografia/holovideo/MIT/sp...](http://www.loreti.it/Download/PDF/Olografia/holovideo/MIT/spie90.pdf)

~~~
jnhnum1
I don't think the data requirements are that realistic. While the actual
interference patterns on a hologram would be ridiculously large to send as a
bitmap, it's easy to compute the interference patterns for the superposition
of points of lights, which is what this volumetric display is showing anyways.
So a computer would only need to send a list of points and colors to the
display.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer-
generated_holography#P...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer-
generated_holography#Point_Source_Holograms)

~~~
moocowduckquack
You still have to drive the display. If you are just sending minimal
information, you then need something to process that data and output the 12
terabits/sec.

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bliss
The world's first holographic gaming system
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_Traveler_(video_game)](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_Traveler_\(video_game\))

~~~
joezydeco
Time Traveller was not holographic. It used a video screen reflected in a
large concave mirror to make a pseudo-3D effect. There's a medical company
called RealView Imaging claiming a "holographic" visualization system for
surgeons that's pretty much the same thing.

~~~
bliss
couldn't resist though, it certainly made me "WOW!" when it appeared in the
local arcade, might not have had R2D2 projecting it, but it looked like a
hologram to me. Reading more, seems a better effect than the POV thing in the
video

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archivator
I believe that the best of the AR systems coming up (because, let's be honest,
this is a kind of AR), is CastAR. It gives the wearer the ability to see any
CG object above/inside a given physical surface. It works using projectors
mounted on glasses and a retro reflective surface (I.e., always reflects light
the direction it came) to produce an image that only the wearer sees, at a
distance, without straining eye focus. The possibilities, apart from the
marketed board games scenario, are endless and I can't wait to get my hands on
one!

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wlievens
The video does an excellent job of making it look like crap :-(

~~~
tonylampada
Agreed. It's hard to understand why would they choose to go with shaky/blurry
low-quality video to demo this kind of product.

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Ellipsis753
Looks interesting but there's little said about it and the video doesn't make
a lot of sense (or make the product look good).

~~~
NovaS1X
I agree. It could use better presentation. However it is a pretty interesting
product. I can already see applications for it with RTS games and GPS being
the most obvious. Anyone care for virtual Warhammer 40k with animation?

~~~
prawn
I think for table top RPGs, you could use VR goggles that were reading off a
surface marked with QR-code style registers/calibration points. Then use
finger-tip gloves with vibration for feedback when picking up or moving a
virtual piece. Bit of an investment but might one day be quite convincing.

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toast76
I found a more recent video here.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5cHbhOWavE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5cHbhOWavE)

Interesting to see this is a product of two independent startups (one in
Australia, one in the US) trying to solve the same problem the same way that
ended up collaborating.

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wicket
World's first? I'm pretty sure that this doesn't pre-date Sega's Hologram from
1991.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_Traveler_%28video_game%29](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_Traveler_%28video_game%29)

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dhughes
I remember reading about a holographic jeans advertisement that was supposedly
projected out towards a sidewalk, I think in NY city. This would have been
about ten years ago.

Maybe I'm mistaking real life with a movie.

Does it ring a bell with anyone?

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nebulous1
Looks cool but really doesn't appear to be there yet. Perhaps in a few years.

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advisedwang
Anyone know what kind of technology this system is using?

