Slashdot Mirror
3D "Crystal Ball" Monitors
glesga_kiss writes "Actuality Systems have issued a press release announcing sales of their 3D display technology, as reported by Yahoo Finance. The system works similar to an old spining disk optical illusion, except that the 21st century version produces an image that can change through the use of digital projection. In this case the screen is a rotating disk that is capable of producing light at any point that it passes through. The upshot is that you get a real 3D representation of your object, that can be viewed from 360 degrees around the display, without the need for any special goggles. Not quite ready for Hollywood, but the scientific and engineering communities have some obvious uses for it already..."
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Why no one linked to the photos is beyond me, but slashdot posts are well-known for poorly-placed/defined links. Anyway, here it is.
Image Size and Display Type - Approx. 10" diameter spherical image - Swept-screen multiplanar volumetric display - Autostereoscopic: no viewing goggles - Volume-filling imagery - Supports many simultaneous viewers - no head-tracking Resolution / Color / Performance / Memory - Volume comprised of 198 2-D slices (1.1 slices / degree) - Approximately 768 x 768 pixel slice resolution - 24 Hz volume refresh - Full color (21-bit hardware-based stippling) - 8 colors at highest resolution - Polygons / sec.: To be announced - Dual volume buffers - TI(TM) 1600 MIPS DSP high-performance embedded processor - 3 Gbit DDR SDRAM (100 Mvoxels x 3 colors x 2 buffers) Viewing Angle - 360 horizontal, 270 vertical Brightness (typical) - To be announced Contrast (typical) - To be announced User Controls (Hardware and Software) - Power on/off, lamp standby, screen on/off - SCSI ID selector and auto-termination override - Additional functionality and control available through API Connectors - 2 SCSI-2 Wide Power Supply Electrical Requirements - Line voltage: 120V AC - Frequency: 50 to 60 Hz, single phase - Power: 250W Agency Approvals - Pending System Requirements - Works with PC-compatible systems running Microsoft® Windows 2000® or Linux. - SCSI connector. Size and Weight - 24" (61 cm) diameter x 9" (23 cm) high base - 20" (51 cm) diameter dome - Top of dome 21" (53 cm) from base of display - Weight: Approx. 60 lbs (27 kg)
Hmm... This seems all too familiar.
wouldn't that mean you have no depth perception?
Not really. There are a number of ways to interpret three dimensions. One is to use two devices slightly distant from each other on which a single three dimension image is projected from two different angles (i.e. two human eyes.) The other is to move a single two dimension device over time (time is a dimension after all) to make 3 dimensions. So, unless the original poster stands completely still all of his life, he can still sense depth and the device in the article wouldn't be as unuseful as expected.
here have fun...
liqbase
That's a silly thing to say.
Who said you can't have different camera angles with a 3D display? What does one have to do with the other?
~Berj
I don't want to waste a lot of time pointing this out, but take a little Smell-O-Vision by Sega jaunt for yourself .
Sure sounds good though, doesn't he?
--
Actually, spinning-screen displays are capable of viewer position-dependent effects, such as occlusion. The spinning screen isn't the point - it's the screen. In order to make an arbitrary light field (through piecewise approximation), you need to be able to control both the amplitude AND the trajectory of each "ray bundle." If you use a screen that is not a diffuser, but something with beam-steering capabilities, you can do occlusion. For instance, see US Pat. 6,487,020.
patent link
-gregg
...And have a kid!
I drank what? -- Socrates
iirc, SGI's used to (still do?) have an optional file manager that was 3d based. looked kinda like that one in jurasic park (might have been that one for all i know).
Yes, they made it just for the movie. For a long time they proudly distributed the entire thing for free (though only for IRIX) on their website. I don't think it exists there any more, but those of you lucky enough to own an SGI box can get it here.
Pretty interesting. I found a good description (and how to do it yourself) here.
Uh---did you look at the sugar molecule? Or any of the other pics? This thing runs on voxels...it does do solids.
As for your explanation as to how this thing works...it's woefully lacking and even misleading. The thing displays a full slice every degree or so. It creates the illusion of solidness the exact same way moving pictures are faked: the slices change for every angle of rotation and with an rpm of 760, you get multiple slices per angle per minute.
A quick view of the sugar molecule movie shows how this does work for solids.
(btw, I saw the movies a couple of years back [2001 I beleive], so maybe they're not there anymore).
-- Waht? Tehr's a preveiw buottn?
Whether the image is solid, wireframe or just points, you will be able to see through it. The way you solve this in 3D projection to 2D surface is to use hidden surface removel methods to not draw the obscured surfaces, Z-buffer being the most common for 3D accelerated cards on PCs.
In true 3D like this, you do not necessarily know what direction the user is viewing from, so you do not know which surfaces should be obscured. When it draws the backside, you WILL be able to see it through the front side. There is nothing solid about the front side, it's just a light hanging in space.
If the viewing direction IS known in advance (as in a prepared movie) then you could use hidden surface removel methods to alter the displayed image and remove the backside, but just from that one angle. But in general, the spherical nature of this display makes no rules about the viewing angle.
There is nothing so silly as other peoples traditions, and nothing so sacred as our own.