Slashdot Mirror
Real 3D Display; 3 Years Out?
Bob the Super Hamste writes "Fortune magazine is reporting that the company Zebra Imaging is producing a 3D hologram table that will project a 360 degree 3D image that doesn't require glasses. Funding for this project is being provided by DARPA for battle planning. The company expects it will take at least another three years for the table to be ready for commercial applications."
You're telling us that it is at least 30 years old then?????????
.. Cant you allready do this with an xbox and kinect?
George Lucas used it on Star Wars...
Apparently the Royal Shakespeare Company has shown a lot of interest in this technology.
What the heck is a "hogel"?
Voxel is the correct term for the volume represented by a 3D pixel...
http://xkcd.com/678/
Once again we find that when there's a military application on the line, the money will be spent on R&D no matter how crazy it might sound at the outset. We need a civilian agency for this sort of thing.
Again - who gives a fuck? The "industry" has been trying to shove 3D down our throats for at least 2 generations - give it up already. Call me when you have a working holodeck.
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
...when i see it
But I want to play chess with it, like they did in Star Wars: ANH
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
Is this a real hologram ? I doubt it, from the looks of it. Does anyone know the technology actually employed ?
By the way, I believe that the 3-D term for a pixel is a Voxel. I have never heard of a hogel before.
Here is the race to watch:
Which is faster to prototype / easier to bugfix / fails more gracefully / more reliable / scales better :
1) A 3-d display for air traffic control or military battle equiv
2) A computer / AI controlled air traffic control system or military battle equiv
"Science flies us to the moon. Religion flies us into buildings." - Victor Stenger
Christmas list in 3 years: ......
1. 3D Hologram table
2. A date for the beta holodeck
3..
When talking about 'real 3D displays' I always think of simulating a window pane. Current displays represent each small area (pixel) by a constant color that emits photons in a basically directionless fashion. We would commonly refer to this as a raster display, but I'll call it a raster-scalar display to differentiate it from a raster-vector display (the difference being analogous to the difference between scalar and vector fields). A raster-vector display would then represent each small area by varying color intensities by emitting photons in quantized unidirectional directions so that receivers (eyes) at varying locations will pick up varied signals for the same (x,y) location on the display. (It is unfortunate the term 'vector display' is already used, hence the new terminology.) A raster-vector display would only provide depth beyond the pane of the 'window' but the type of display in the article is inverse of this, using holography to produce a kind of virtual 3d model above the plane of the display (or generally inside a cubical region of space). We can imagine that 6 raster-vector displays oriented in a cubical fashion (or less if we neglect the floor) could simulate the type of display in the article (think of a virtual 3d model enclosed in a cube of glass). I don't see an obvious way to simulate a virtual window pane with the holographic model display. In actuality, I'm not by any means sure that a raster-vector display can be built that reasonably approximates a real window-pane, while high dpi raster-scalar displays are certainly able to accurately approximate a sheet of paper.
"I suggest a new strategy...let the Wookie win."
Holograms have been used in shows for a while, the problem with them is tha they are too computationally intensive for realtime use. The article only talks about still images, so I guess this is not a 3D television, more like a virtual diorama.
I do not know how many of you will recall this, but back in the late 80's early 90's a 3D display had been created which may be similar to what they are doing.
It was for an a arcade game... Which I have managed to find the link to:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_Traveler_%28video_game%29
Is this the same concept, and if it is why has it taken over 20 years to adapt this?
Might as well pass on the upcoming 3D star wars and wait for the holographic version where Darth Vader will be replaced George Lucas' neck.
"4D" is 3D with certain immersive effects, such as moving seats, a spray of water to simulate being splashed, something in the chair that simulates something touching you from behind, etc. One that I've seen has a rubber hose that they shoot out between your feet to simulate a snake crawling under you.
The "article" sadly does not provide any meaningful information. Does anyone have any insight on how this thing works? Also, why do they name a 3D pixel a "hogel" (for holographic element) instead of the more usual (at least in other fields) "voxel"?
Pixel -- Picture Element
Voxel -- Volumetric Pixel
Hoxel -- Holographic Voxel?
If we must have a third term, I vote for Hoxel...or rasberry (someone backronym that).
"Hogel", you're vetoed.
Watch it buddy, you almost raised the zombi of Theodor[1] Geisel! Talk about gibbering madness!
[1] I just realized his name is "The odor", hah.
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Comment removed based on user account deletion
The first person who utters the words "Minority Report" will be summarily stabbed in the face with a Buick. Please, people, get over yourselves.
Tired of FB/Google censorship? Visit UNCENSORED!
Cool stuff. Reminds me of the Time Traveler video game back from the early 90s. It was fascinating if crude technology back then and I have always been wondering why, with better technology, similar concepts weren't being used today. Well, I guess someone finally stepped up to the plate. Hopefully this will encourage some innovation and creativity in the field of holograms. (o:
Love sees no species.
So we are 3 years from a holographic unit and 3 years + 2 months from the first holographic porno.
I'll believe it when I see it since I've been seeing "breakthroughs" about volumetric display technology for awhile now.
I have RTFA but nowhere does it explain how it works - just some vague notes on how data is crunched.
Does the display look like the picture in the Fortune Tech page, with actual 3D images that appear before other things around it?
If this is the case, then this is a major innovation. Why isn't it being reported anywhere else?
myke
Mimetics Inc. Twitter
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Comment removed based on user account deletion
I will wait until they have some sort of standard or at least a winner.
Light doesn't interact.
So unless you can create thousands of ultra thin layers of gas stacked in mid air to project onto this wont happen..ever.
I have got one word for this. FuckingHoax!
Give this to the porn industry and they'll have it ready for commercial "applications" in 6 months.... ...
--- If the bible proves the existence of God, then Superman comics prove the existence of Superman.
.. you insensitive clod ;-)
Horses? Who gives a fuck. The "industry" has been try to shove "transportation" down our throats for thousands of generations.
Call me when I can buy the Enterprise. And not that shitty one Kirk had, but the TNG one.
Very unfortunate that it is funded by military, for the bad.
While some countries like the USA spend BILLIONS to attack other countries, many children starve to death around this same world.
This is a shame for all of us humans, that we can't get rid of our own greed.
Shame on us.
There is no "the" 4th dimension. A dimension is a degree of freedom. Time can be described as "a" dimension.
Yes there is - it is 'time' as defined by the local observer. Time has unique properties not shared by the 3 spacial dimensions which means that it is uniquely defined for each frame of reference unlike the x, y, z axes which can be arbitrarily rotated. Hence we can call time THE 4th dimension because each of us can locally, uniquely define its direction even though globally there is no unique direction.
I googled some phrases from the article and it seems this is not a freestanding hologram but a table-shpaed block of material that can display volumetric images inside itself. Imagine layering a number of transparent LCD screens on top of each other and displaying cross sections of something to get the entire obejct - this is how this probably works. The resulting images are transparent and not photorealistic: this will be useful for presenting data - medical or geographical - but not for gaming, movies or (damn!) porn.
The display technology employs thousands of highly trained termites and large blocks of wood. We're still working on upping the refresh rate
And 3 years from now Apple will make one that's shinier than the competition and be dubbed the inventor of the hologram... I can see it already.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Comment removed based on user account deletion
A 3D display in three years
........
A 4D display in four years
That would be awesome for the future of table top RPG's. No need for miniatures and fancy sets. Project it all in 3D.
Glasses-free 3D technology in the living room is 3-5 years out if you listen to the same researchers who claimed active shutter 3D technology would hit the living room in 2009. These Zebra folks seem to be taking notice and merely arming a few choice torpedoes for a submarine attack on the legitimate researchers who have been pouring their hearts and souls into this technology from its inception. Anyway, f*ckwads aside, the stereoscopic 3D content available on blu-ray today should be compatible with glasses-free, eye tracking displays that hit the market sooner than mass produced electric vehicles designed in Detroit. Enjoy your popcorn and drive safely.