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Mixed-Reality 3D Volumetric Projector
First time accepted submitter Gortu writes "We are describing and demonstrating a 3D Volumetric Projector (YouTube video); in short words: a device that enables mixed reality. The 3D projector has very poor quality, we just have 10 rotational voxels (as we are using only 10 regular LCD projectors), but is proof of concept for developing a commercial solution."
10 projectors and smoke... quick someone give them a patent.. lol
Similar things have been done with lasers for years. It's not really a new idea.. This guy just uses LCDs instead, which don't even seem to work as well. Watch the opening ceremonies of the Olympics in Athens from a few years ago for some pretty decent 3D projections in space.
And don't do drugs.
Oh. Damn. I mean, I was gonna, but you talked me out of it.
My best idea is to use a hundred pulsed water guns and a laser that can be precisely aimed on the fly. You emit downward-dropped, fast-moving squirts of water algorithmically timed so that when the drop reaches the "pixel" the laser also illuminates that spot, making a pixel appear in midair. If the guns are in a row, that's a 2D plane. You could do this with a 100x100 water guns to make a 3d system, where 2d is the box of water guns on the ceiling, and 3D is when the drop is illuminated.
Make sense? I so want to do this!
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Every CS major knows the time/space tradeoff. Those majors never get taught the third tradeoff of the set: comprehension
CS majors know the time/space tradeoff, but they never get taught the 3rd, crucial, tradeoff of the set: comprehension!
This approach by Sony shows much more promise in the short and medium term:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=inlyXhKDQwg
No walking through the image, though.
Singularity: a belief in the "God" idea with the "demiurge" relation inverted.
While this HAS been done before for decades w/ "lasers" & the narrarator wasted too much time w/ obvious philosophies, the off-the-shelf projector use IS intriguing & it's nice to see someone finally implement it freely. Still, brightness/contrast is shit, light-bleeding is a BIG problem & the whole setup is useless w/o a fog machine. I'd still love to see a high-resolution color setup though...
Impressive, using a rotating mirror: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKCUGQ-uo8c
Needs ... some way to maintain uniform fog distribution in a room.
Or a way to measure the fog distribution in real time and adjust accordingly.
Or a way to redundantly re-state the quoted post.
What the hell is this?
it's a pitch to try and score some funding.
We need funding and are looking for people interested in participating in this. If you know someone, shoot!
'The tyrant will always find pretext for his tyranny.' - Aesop's Fables
"and some way to maintain uniform fog distribution in a room."
I know some college buddies who have actually figured out how to do this- completely inadvertantly mind you. The fog itself in their case also has the added effect of neuromodulation-making a room full of people actually impressed (if not downright giddy) about 10 projectors sitting on the floor showing a cruddy light show.
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Nope. Kermit the fog.
Well, not so hidden - it was spoken at the end of the video:
"A philosophical note: Never forget, you have power, and the enemy of this power of yours is fear. That's why we are constantly bombarded with bad news. That's why accepting things you don't like is giving away your power...."
I think this is a great philosophy. How often do you watch the news and everything is gloom, doom, collapse, corruption.... Rarely do we hear about the good things people do.
"Lame" - Galaxar
Finally, we'd like to discuss as to why we are opening this up. The answer is actually very simple--because we have the power to do so. The world is not in a good shape and we believe there is a problem of power. There is imbalance with giving and receiving. We would like to add our two cents by showing things can be done different--that there is a way of giving things that benefits both the giver and receiver. That's why we're offering our consulting services to anybody who is interested in pursuing this endeavor. We also opened a blog at volumetricprojection.blogspot.com where we will be posting news related to this project.
Finally, a philosophical note. Never forget: you have power. And the enemy of this power of yours is fear. That's why we are constantly bombarded with bad news. That's why accepting things you don't like is giving away your power. We believe it is a good time to change things in the world, and we know you can be part of that. Also, do not use your power in an evil way. You can be assured evil things will come out. Use your power with goodness, and we'll live in a world where our grandchildren will be happy to live in.
So, we hope that this project will crystalize soon, and that all the changes that are happening in the world will not lead to an evil outcome. You can be part of a good change. Don't forget.
Personally, while I wish them luck in their endeavor, I also find their proof of concept very lame, and these philosophical musings ramble around some potentially decent points, but are out of place. They can sort of project very basic geometric shapes, if you're willing to put up with lots of smoke and very poor resolution, with poor color. It's not ready even for a YouTube preview, let alone a /. story.
I think that's a great idea.
Some problems:
* Since water is transparent, voxels closer to you won't block ones farther from you. Everything will be translucent.
* Reflections and refractions will cause unintended lighting.
* Drop size and timing precision will limit resolution.
A few thoughts to make it work well:
* The drops will take a while to fall. For playback this is fine, but for realtime use you'd need to release drops in case they might be needed. Thus you need a generic drop pattern to project onto.
* A good pattern might be to drop the drops in regular waves / sheets sweeping away from the light source (assuming it's above the display; sweep toward it if it's lower) - IE, you're creating curved surfaces that are approximately facing the projector. The faster you can sweep the faster your refresh rate; it's limited by making sure the sheets don't start blocking each other.
* Release the drops well above the top of the display. That way they'll be moving faster (less interference; better refresh rate) and a more consistent speed (instead of near-stopped at the top of the display; less curvature in the sheets).
* Use colored drops! If you drop Bayer-pattern RGB sheets and use narrow-band color filters on the light source you might decrease the problems of reflections and refractions considerably - each voxel won't significantly illuminate its neighbors, and will only illuminate some of the drops on the next sheet.
* If you use colored drops, arrange the nozzles in RGBG rows and use dedicated rows of drain-troughs to catch each color so they can be reused.
* Use opaque pigments. It will reduce the refraction problems, but it will probably make the viewing angle narrower.
* With multiple projectors and a really complicated drop pattern you could probably make an amazing display, but the math to find interfering drops gets hard.
Good luck!