> 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.
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.
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"
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.
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.
I hate to say it, but this is another, probably impractical attempt at the holy grail of 3D displays, the "3D projector" visualized in probably nine out of every ten big-budget science fiction films over the past thirty years. It's something we dream of making a reality, but the laws of physics just aren't on our side for volumetric displays.
This isn't a problem that's going to be solved until someone discovers some novel property of light that allows two invisible beams to converge into a visible point.
as in two-photon holography? Unfortunately, there aren't too many good fluorescent compounds in air (oxygen can emit weakly in the deep red, but I'm pretty sure the free radical compound that results is not something you want around).
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.
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
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!
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?
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.
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.
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.
http://www.extremetech.com/gaming/174772-voxiebox-a-real-lif...
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...
According to this video Ken Silverman (of BUILD engine fame) is on board, which is pretty huge.