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Next Generation of Holographic Images

suman28 writes "Imagine being able to view an image from all sides and have it interact with you. Scenes or images pop-out at you and change on the fly and are viewable in full color. Best of all, you don't need head-gear or any wearable device to make this possible. They are generated by a computer with two cameras that track your eye movement and there is a transparent LCD screen between you and the display that makes the pictures come alive. Though it may be a while before this becomes part of our daily lives, it is interesting to see what the kind of research being done on this. "

10 of 183 comments (clear)

  1. Another impractical "3D device of the future". by raehl · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "Alright guys, we have 3D that anyone wearing inexpensive, lightwieght glasses can see. I think if we put a special screen between the image and the viewer and add two expensive cameras that must be able to see and track the viewer's eye movements, we will have brought 3D imaging into the future!"

    Poppycock.

    New ways to do 3D rendering are cool, but they're never going to escape the lab unless they do something not otherwise available in a more economical package.

  2. Driving technology by Charlton+Heston · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Still the diffraction pattern from just one high-resolution hologram can easily use up more than a terabyte of data--enough to fill 1,600 compact discs

    This is the kind of technology that pushes the speed of technology forward. Not only will gigantahumongous hard drives be required to hold this data, but extremely large memories, fast processors, and fast video systems will be needed. For a few years now computers have been quite fast enough. The web only needed a certain amount of horsepower, and as much as Microsoft has tried, there really a limit to how bloated and slow IE can be made. The newer chips eat IE for lunch. That's bad news for chipmakers, because it's hard to sell faster computers to customers who are satisfied.

    This technology is not just going to help whoever develops and sells it, it's going to indirectly help everyone. Get ready for the next tech bubble in the next few years - except this time, when Greenspan says the magic words "irrational exhuberance" sell that shit.

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  3. I think, in respect to games, this is progress. by buswolley · · Score: 3, Insightful
    That new visual, physical interfaces need to be devloped inorder for Games to really become interesting.

    For years now we have been playing games in 2D,(ok sometimes shitty 3D) and a controller with several buttons.

    All that has improved, in all these years is graphics quality, and bigger, more-in-depth games. But we continue to use the same interface to the game, therefore all games can be summed into, push this button to do x, push this button to do Y, or combinations etc.. Games have become boring to me.

    But to get real innovation in games, we need interfaces such as this hologram tech, or forced feedback suits etc.

    When I can manipualte a 3D object(like an apple)with my hands and fingers, and I can feel it, spin it etc. That is when games can become really interesting as escapes from reality.

    I know there are people working on these things, and I know that there are quite a few difficulties but, I think only then will Gaming come into its own, ESPECIALly INTERACTIVE GAMING.

    --

    A Good Troll is better than a Bad Human.

  4. A Cure for Cancer! by scottennis · · Score: 2, Insightful
    I love "technical" articles that start out by announcing a new technology's potential in finding a cure for cancer. This is a sure sign that the article was written (or underwritten) by someone who is trying to sell more than advertising space (pop-up or otherwise).

    If you think this article is sincere, here are some more of today's headlines for you:
    • Microsoft Profit, Sales Up, Shares Rise on News of Windows-based Cancer Cure
    • Indonesia Appears to Signal Anti-Terror Resolve as Indonesian Doctors Close in on Cancer Cure
    • 'Rosie' Magazine Shuttered, 120 Jobs Slashed, Cancer Research Reporters Kept On
    • Jazz Forward Malone Mulls Retirement, Plans to Become National Spokesperson for American Cancer Society
  5. More than one viewer? by sssmashy · · Score: 5, Insightful
    The cameras can easily isolate the viewer's bright pupils, enabling them to track the eyes and adjust the location of the shifting stripes so that they always block the image in a way that sustains the stereoscopic effect.

    Sounds wonderful, but one limitation that jumps immediately to mind is that the 3d effect is limited to a single viewer. I was reminded of the scene in "Minority Report" which shows Tom Cruise watching 3d video of his deceased wife, and then the eerie image distorion of the wife as the camera shifts from Cruise's POV to circle behind the projection.

  6. Research application: proteins and molecules by f97tosc · · Score: 5, Insightful

    A lot of research goes into undertanding how proteins and other bio molecules fold and fit together.

    This can be difficult to understand for a researcher that is looking at a flat screen. Also hard disk needs for doing this 3D would not that ridiculous, as the view from different angles can be calculated from scratch based on the chemical composition (rather than stored than having the computer storing the information of each possible angle).

    Tor

  7. Or not by Morgahastu · · Score: 2, Insightful

    "Though it may be a while before this becomes part of our daily lives"

    If ever, probably never.

    Holographic projection systems will never become part of our daily lives until its actually a 3d image being projected into the air that EVERYONE can see, not just one person with two camera looking at him.

  8. Re:Research, right... by Trogre · · Score: 5, Insightful

    A fact little-known on slashdot, but:
    Not everyone is obsessed with pornography.

    --
    "Nine times out of ten, starting a fire is not the best way to solve the problem." - my wife
  9. Re:More than one viewer? by f97tosc · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Sounds wonderful, but one limitation that jumps immediately to mind is that the 3d effect is limited to a single viewer.

    Yes, but is this really that much of a limitation? Obviously for most computer work (or play) there is only one user so then it does not matter. In fact, it could even be an advantage, since the guy next to you on the airplane would not realize that you are watching pr0...er, see your sensitive business documents. For other uses, say family video night, you would have to replace one screen with several of these devices. That would not have to be very expensive, especially not compared to getting one of those enormous TVs that everybody has these days.

    Tor

  10. Aside from 3d in games... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    ... The best potential I see (being a Med student), is in virtual surgery. Imagine the potential. We can now cut open virtual cadiver instead of a real one! We can do things which we are not ethically allowed right now! And from all that... um.. we can learn a bit more about the human anatomy. Good!