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3D Flat Panel With No Glasses
m4c north writes "From Japan Today: 'Toshiba Corp said Friday it has developed a brand-new flat-display that allows viewers to see three-dimensional images without using special glasses. The display is expected to be applied to arcade games, virtual menus at restaurants and simulations of buildings and landscapes. The company said it aims to commercialize the display within two years.' JCN Network offers a few more details than Japan Today's rather short summary. And Toshiba's [toshiba.co.jp] press release has some simple figures. Maybe pinball will make a comeback!"
Isn't Sharp already selling 3D LCD screens?
Real_men_don't_need_spacebars.
Sharp has had 3D Displays that don't require glasses for some time now.
More to the point, are there any applications that make sensible use of this ?
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If you RTFA, it becomes evident that this display technology isn't the same as Sharp's 3D LCD. Sharp's display requires you to be in center of the display, and at a certain distance, and the 3D effect works by projecting steroscopic images at each eye. They direct two different screen images essentially, but it's still the same old trick, just without glasses, instead, a diffusion filter angles the output to each eye.
From this article, it seems as if each pixel is a microlens that redirects the display to your two eyes on a per-lightwave basis. This obviously allows a much wider viewing angle, and for multiple viewers, while still creating the illusion of depth.
However, mainstream 3-D technology is limited in terms of the viewing angle at which it can display 3-D images, and the images are also tiring to view.
Toshiba's new displays employ an integral imaging system that reproduces light beams similar of those produced by a real object, not its visual representation.
But that's all they say. How does this work? Are they somehow able to emit light waves going out at every point from a flat surface, so that you see a 3D object with correct perspective no matter which direction you look at it from? I guess that isn't that unrealistic; I mean, mirrors do exactly that. But how does it work?
Is this for real or are they just being overenthusiastic in their own press releases?
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Yes, there is. But the article is describing a 24" flatbed display system that would sit on your desk or lap and is viewable from all directions within +/-30 degrees from perpendicular and distances over 30 cm. Apparently, the rendering software generates 12 to 16 different stereoscopic images which are combined to generate the different views for each eye. However, the resolution is rather low at 480x300 pixels.
Each pixel has a microlense that only allows light from that pixel to be viewed from a particular direction - it's the natural extension of the laptop screen system.
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I think you meant to say: "For those of us who cannot see 3D in real life, will this product magically allow us to see 3D on a computer screen?"
The answer is no. Nothing to see here. Move along.
not these, but i've seen a model from these guys on a fair in helsinki in late 1999. i always thought it would be nice to have a 3d display that worked without glasses, and all of a sudden i found myself standing right in front of one. it was quite impressive, good image quality and yes, a convincing effect. only when i moved my head it took a very short moment to retrack my eyes and readjust the prisms (there are prisms in front of each vertical pixel row. they direct the light so that one eye sees the even and the other the odd numbered pixel columns). the guy peresenting it told me they had played quake III on it :)
i came across their displays again on cebit a few years later, there also were some by the fraunhofer institute (the ones i've seen are probably not on the page, they had one or two that tracked your eyes and adjusted to your position, and one that only worked at a specific position, iirc).
anyway, while searching for the seereal link above, i came across this list of 3d displays, there even are price quotes for a few.
You can get them for the PC. I've got a pair of EDimensional ones.. They work wonders on GTA:VC
Curiosity was framed. Ignorance killed the cat.
The name of the original system was "Virtuality", at the time the company was named "W Industries, Ltd" and based in the UK. The original system used an Amiga 3000 with custom video graphics cards (one for each eye) and IIRC, a SCSI CD-ROM drive. The HMD used small (1 inch or so diagonal) color CRTs, which were optically folded into the eyes (periscope style). The tracking was done via a Polhemus mag tracking system.
These early machines were the Virtuality 1000 (sit down and stand up models available, depending on application). W Industries went through some reorganization, and became Virtuality, Inc or something like that - and released the sleeker Virtuality 2000 series system - which used custom video and sound systems being driven by a 486-based motherboard. The resolution was greater (640x480x256 colors - up from the 1000's 320x240 or so), the speed was better, and the equipment (the HMD mainly) was lighter. No more wrenching your neck as bad if you looked around quickly. The HMD used high-resolution LCDs and was lighter and smaller (compared the 1000's HMD). The tracking system stayed mostly the same - a Polhemus IsoTrak (or SpaceTrak?) system.
Virtuality, Inc then went through some more organization - eventually being sold to (IIRC) a Danish company (the software or something), and the hardware patents and manufacturing to a Missouri (USA) based outfit called Arcadian Virtual Reality. They then struck a deal or something with the Danish arm, and supposedly are working hand-in-hand, continuing the development of the system. There is now a 3000 series system - but it seems to be a souped up 2000 series system (resolution didn't increade on the HMD - though there are plenty of higher-resolution small LCD displays out there). Not sure where this whole thing is going to lead.
The owner of Arcadian VR is a pretty nice guy - it sounds like a pretty small outfit - he was kind enough to give me the pinout for the HMD connector after I bought a used Virtuality 2000 HMD off of an individual on Ebay - the connector is a strange connector (looks almost like a funky molex connector in a custom housing). He offered to send me more of the manual from the 2000, but I never heard back from him again - still, his offer and help was much more than I ever expected, and he let me in on a bit of the history of the whole system and company.
Hope this answers your question. You are right, though - not much has changed or advanced at all in the whole 3D and Virtual Reality realm - I even got a laugh out of that recent Raytheon hand tracking system - they are showing off what is more or less a standard inbound-looking camera 6DOF position tracking system (pretty standard for body position tracking and digitization for the game industry) and calling it "new" - I am sure there are improvements, but I would hardly call the idea "new" - but to a lot of people, I bet it would look like new, unless you followed this stuff for as long as what you and I seem to have done...
Reason is the Path to God - Anon