View-Dependent Stereoscopic Projection

obiquity writes "The Augmented Reality lab is at it again with an extension of their 'smart projector' methods. In 'Enabling View-Dependent Stereoscopic Projection in Real Environments' they demonstrate a method for point-of-view dependent 3-D image projection onto almost any surface using multiple projectors for VR/AR applications. There are still several problems that need to be solved, but how far off is this technology from a holodeck type implementation?"

Comments

Actual View-Dependent Holographic Design

[justanyone]

A couple of years ago I came up with a design for a Viewpoint independent Holographic Viewer design. I thought it would work nicely and is actually feasible given current technology:

Picture this:
* a glass sphere, approximately 1 meter in diameter, half-silvered on the inside, set on a base with about 1/3 of the sphere inside the base.
* the sphere is filled with a mostly-transparent phosphorescent gas in a condition where if it is struck by enough laser light, it glows for as much as 100 milliseconds (1/10th of a second);
* The base has at least 1 laser in it (3 lasers, in red/blue/green for color).
* For purposes here, a 3-d volume of space, roughly cubical, within the sphere shall be called a 'voxel' (for 'volumetric pixel')
* The laser is divided into 2 or more beams, each of which is directed at a spinning mirror assembly;
* That assembly spreads and directs the laser light through a voxel within the sphere;
* Any one laser shining through a voxel will be insufficient to cause the volume to glow. However, when multiple beams intersect, the energy intensity there is sufficient to cause the gas there to flouresce.
* The gas need not be flourescent if the number of beams increases; 100 beams would make 100 gradiations of brightness at that point.
* Computational requirements to figure out where the laser paths should go so as to ensure the laser beams do not intersect at any other random points might be significant;

This would create a 3-d viewer which is orientation independent, reasonably safe presuming the lasers were low power or a non-visible wavelength.

I would have patented this but I thought it was an obvious design given the SeaQuest DSV show where they had a fog they played an image onto to create a 3-d effect. Plus, I'm sure someone has already worked out the details better than me. Or, maybe not. I'd like to see one in action!