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Walk-Thru Virtual Environment

Posted by timothy on from the foggy-mcbottom dept.

diso writes "Walking through a wall is now really possible. WAVE, a Walk-thru Virtual Environment is a novel, low-cost, and simple method for forming a superior quality physically penetrable fog display. It is a break-through technology, literally! This work has international patents pending. An early prototype was constructed with honeycomb paper as a low-cost laminar airflow generator. When the screen is formed, images can be either rear- or front-projected onto it. Despite of being a very early prototype, the experimental fog screen already proves the operating principle with excellent results."

10 of 168 comments (clear)

  1. Ok, this is really really cool looking by strictnein · · Score: 4, Interesting

    That is one of the cooler things I've ever seen.

    Think of the applications of this:

    Finally, something that closely resembles 3d holograms

    "Help me obi-wan, you're my only hope" and all that type of stuff

    Also, it could be used really well in a haunted house

    --
    Casual Games/Downloads
    1. Re:Ok, this is really really cool looking by strictnein · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Actually, this has nothing to do with 3d. The only innovation here is that it is a penetrable 2d display.

      it would seem that this technology could easliy be used to create a 3d display as well

      simply have 3 or 4 projections

      --
      Casual Games/Downloads
  2. Not all new... by therealmoose · · Score: 4, Interesting

    This is cool, but not terribly new. At many light shows, sprayers/misters work churning out water vapor to provide something for the lasers to hit. I have witnessed several of these, and sometimes a screen is generated to facilitate the production of the light effects. This isn't really that much different, merely on a smaller scale.

    1. Re:Not all new... by Nyarly · · Score: 5, Interesting
      On the other manipulator, they do claim to have patented their novel fog screen dingus, so it would seem that the USPTO disagrees with you.

      Alternatively, a good demonstration of prior art would invalidate their patent.

      Honestly, the "new thing" seems to be the "non-turbulent laminar airflow" used to keep the fog confined and smooth enough to project convincing images on. Basically, it seems like the idea is to blow a smooth, flat stream of air, and then add fog or smoke to the stream. The smoother the stream, the better the image.

      Parting shot: is it a patent violation to disseminate kit ideas? I know that the patent itself needs to describe the invention pretty well, but would it be actionable to put DIY instructions on the web? Cause this is kinda neat, and it looks like it might be doable with honeycomb paper, a hair dryer and a block of dry ice.

      --
      IP is just rude.
      Is there any torture so subl
  3. Cars and Planes? by ksplatter · · Score: 4, Interesting

    This would be pretty cool if you could add it to a car. When there is a heavy fog to drive through you could project images of the road in front of the driver.

    Fog has also been know to shut down airports for quite some time. If they could project an image of the terrian pilot would be able to take off without a hitch.

    sounds pretty amazing

  4. neato, but necessary? by mugnyte · · Score: 5, Interesting

    First interpretations:

    This technology has a bit to go to achieve commodity-level feasibility. However, its very promising. I would expect to see this in clubs, concerts, and tradeshows.

    This isn't 3D. Its a flat image projected on a water-based screen.

    The drawback continues to be the placement of a projection device and its medium (if not a wall). Here, you have a fog wall and a projection TV device. Until those two converge, we'll all still hope for those "Help Me Obi-Wan" shots.

    Shouldn't there be a way to build a floating image from the interference of two separate light beams? Wherever the beams intersect would be brighter/changed. Hmm.. Maybe only good for vector displays.

  5. Indiana Jones at Disneyland by stefanlasiewski · · Score: 4, Interesting

    There is a ride called "Indiana Jones" at Disneyland. One of the special effects used in the ride is similar to the water screens and to this WAVE.

    In the effect, a machine sprays some fog, and a projector projects an image of "rats crawling up some vines" onto the fog, and your vehicle travels through the projection, which makes it seem like your traveling through a bunch of "rats crawling up some vines".

    It's pretty cool, but only when the air is still enough for you to see the rats. People with rat-phobia can really freak out.

    Other times, air turbulance moves the fog around too much, so all you see is a very distorted image of the rats (Imagine watching a movie on a shredded movie screen).

    This product claims to reduce the turbulance by containing the fog inside a "laminar flow", whatever that means.

    --
    "Can of worms? The can is open... the worms are everywhere."
    1. Re:Indiana Jones at Disneyland by pruneau · · Score: 2, Interesting

      By some definition of liquid mechanics, a laminar flow is the contrary of a turbulent flow.

      This means that the molecules are supposed to flow nicely, together, instead of acting like the ./ crowd are raging around.

      Now, if you look at their pictures, those flows does not look laminar, but rather turbulent.

      --
      [Pruneau /\o^O/\ warranty void if this .sig is removed]
  6. Turbulence? by Da+Fokka · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I wonder how they prevent turbulence problems. Someone moving 'through' this virtual environmen obviously wordt perturb the smoke and distort the image.

  7. Random thought to counter /. effect by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    I'd like to view the movie on that page. I can't. It's /.-ed.

    But I know quite a few people will have already downloaded and cached the file. Couldn't someone build a P2P system that automatically mirrored websites that /. linked to, and then other people can download it from peers? It could make use of Gnutella or some existing network.

    I can't see it causing any more copyright problems than the Google Cache, if it obeyed robots instructions and the like.

    Has anyone else thought or suggested anything like this before?