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Displays Hardware Technology

3D Display, No Glasses Required 285

Posted by timothy from the lucas-had-this-in-1977 dept.
Shibatch writes "Hitachi, Ltd has developed a 3D display called Transpost which can be viewed from any direction without wearing special glasses. 3D movies can be seen as floating in the display. Also, 3D movies captured at other places can be shown on the display in realtime. The principle of the device is that 2D images of an object taken from 24 different directions are projected to a special rotating screen. They also developed a camera which can capture images from 24 directions simultaneously." The pictures are interesting, but ... translations, anyone?
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3D Display, No Glasses Required More

3D Display, No Glasses Required

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  • that's easy... (Score:5, Funny)

    by glowfish ( 310099 ) <`ten.llebcap' `ta' `tsibuc'> on Wednesday February 25, 2004 @06:27AM (#8384277)
    Help me Obi Wan Kenobi, you're my only hope.

    • Only difference is, in their holographic message the princess would look like she's about 12. Possibly with fur and a tail.
    • Crap! And here I am just getting to Slashdot today when there are already 50 some +3 and up posts on this. That's ok I thought, I'll just say something clever and funny. Then I looked at the pics. I noticed the princess leia thing, and I thought hmmm.....it would be so witty of me to say "Help me Obi Wan Kenobi, you're my only hope."

      Then I get to the posts, and the first post I see on my screen is YOURS you goddamned insensitive clod.

      Ah well,

      "Perhaps I can find new ways of motivating them"(/vader)

  • It's rotating? (Score:4, Funny)

    by AllenChristopher ( 679129 ) on Wednesday February 25, 2004 @06:28AM (#8384281)
    Perhaps a system like this explains how the Old Republic, despite being a spacefaring civilisation, could have such flickering fuzzy 3-D communicators.

    It's just strobe interference with the cameras!

  • How many companies are making these now? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by ikewillis ( 586793 ) on Wednesday February 25, 2004 @06:29AM (#8384283) Homepage
    I remember this earlier Slashdot article [slashdot.org] discussing a similar technology. How long before these things are commodity hardware?

  • Translation (Score:5, Funny)

    by scribblej ( 195445 ) on Wednesday February 25, 2004 @06:30AM (#8384286)
    I can't read japanese as well as I once could but I think it says, "Here is our video-capture of the opening scenes from Star Wars Episode IV"

    The caption on the second link says, "Help us, Obi-Wan."

    That's about all I can make out.

    • Re:Translation (Score:5, Informative)

      by Spyffe ( 32976 ) on Wednesday February 25, 2004 @02:16PM (#8388731) Homepage
      Human-generated translation (mine)

      360-degree viewable volumetric display developed
      Enabling appreciation of real subjects in real time

      The Japanese Product Development Team (Pro tempore executive ATSUYAMA Etsuhiko, below "Hitachi") has recently developed a new volumetric display technology that allows viewing of images from 360 degrees. Using this technology, without using specialized lenses or holograms, a viewer can enjoy images as if floating in space. Furthermore, combined with specialized visualization systems, these images may be viewed in real-time. If the images are transmitted across a network, this allows a completely new style of presentation, with volumetric objects displayed at a remote location. This technology, as a new projection-based information transmission system, is poised for use in a broad range of applications.

      Among past techniques for projecting a volumetric object in space, holography is widely known. However, in holography, a specialized process is required to record the image, making realtime display impossible.

      If it were to become possible to display actual objects in real time, then the transmission of messages delivered by physical images of people and objects would become possible, as in the world of SF movies. Furthermore, it would become possible to change the face of business, enabling Japanese-developed mockups to be viewed synchronously overseas for review or presentation to clients.

      Now, Hitachi's Foundational Technologies Research Group's Hitachi Human Interaction Laboratory has developed a volumetric display technology allowing viewers to see realtime volumetric objects from all 360 degrees. Also, as a testbed, a cylindrical volumetric display unit called "Transpost" has been developed. In this case, the developed display technology has the following salient features.

      (1) Volumetric Image Display Using Simple Mechanisms

      The fundamental principle is that of displaying multiple shots of the object on a rotating screen, and thus displaying a volumetric object. In the testbed display "Transpost," images shot from twenty-four angles are projected onto the ceiling mirror using an LCD projector. The images reflected off of the mirror are projected onto twenty-four mirrors surrounding the rotating screen, and from there are projected onto the screen itself.

      (2) Realtime Display of the Volumetric Image

      A camera system was developed which automatically generates the twenty-four views of the object. If we transmit the views produced by this system, it is possible to change the viewed object in real time. Furthermore, connecting the system to the "Transpost" using a network, it is possible to send the images over long distances.

      The volumetric display developed in this instance is capable of reproducing everything from computer graphics to recorded images, from still images to movies in full color. In an unprecedented era of ubiquitous computing, we anticipate its use in a wide range of fields, including information distribution, business and entertainment.

  • Translation (Score:4, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 25, 2004 @06:30AM (#8384287)
    http://www.worldlingo.com/products_services/worldl ingo_translator.html

    Of course not perfect translation, but should able to give some draft idea what it is talking about.

    • Re:Translation (Score:4, Insightful)

      by benjymous ( 69893 ) on Wednesday February 25, 2004 @06:34AM (#8384307) Homepage
      Just about readable, but a few untranslated gaps:

      --

      Developing the stereoscopic vision display technology which can see from with 360 degree anywhere
      - Photograph taken on the spot image in real time appreciation possibly -
      Hitachi, Ltd. (President execution part: Manor mountain Etuhiko, below: Hitachi), this each time, turning from with 360 degree anywhere, it developed the new model stereoscopic vision display technology which can look at image. With this technology, as for the viewer like wearing and hologram image of the special glasses, it is possible to enjoy the kind of stereoscopic vision which just floats in the sky without processing specially. In addition, jointly using the private photographing system, stereoscopic vision of photograph taken on the spot discrimination/reference also it is possible in real time to praise. Through network, if photograph taken on the spot image is sent, the presentation of the completely new shape that is actualized stereoscopic vision is appreciated simultaneously at the place where it is far. Application in wide field is expected as the new information offer system where this technology used image.

      [untranslated] *1)Is known widely. But, with holography, because the process which draws up the interference fringes (hologram) in order to play back stereoscopic vision is necessary, it is not possible to indicate photograph taken on the spot image in real time.
      It becomes possible to actualize the scene that, in the actual world if in real time, as stereoscopic vision it becomes possible to indicate for example, in order to appear in the world of the SF movie, stereoscopic vision of the person and the object is projected photograph taken on the spot image in the sky. In addition, it just drew up in Japan even in the foreign country simultaneously appreciating mock-up (prototype), such that the presentation is done it can actualize the form of new business to argument and the customer of the commodity design.

      [untranslated]

      (1) indication of the stereoscopic vision with simple mechanism
      As for basic principle, projecting the image of the subject which is projected from plural directions, simultaneously to the rotary screen which administers uniqueness processing, it is something which indicates three-dimensional image. With trial manufacture display "Transpost", it projects to the mirror of the top board with the liquid crystal projector which first installs image of the subject which is projected from 24 directions, in the pedestal. It is the mechanism that the image which is reflected with the mirror of the top board is projected by 24 mirrors which are arranged around the rotary screen, furthermore, reflects with this mirror and is projected to the rotary screen.
      (2) indicating stereoscopic vision of photograph taken on the spot in real time
      [untranslated]

      As for the stereoscopic vision display technology which this time was developed, both the still picture and animated picture indication of full color is possible from [untranslated] to photograph taken on the spot image. Until recently it is expected to the field of business and entertainment, as a stereoscopic vision expression of the [untranslated] times which are not and a display of information transmission, that it is utilized widely.

  • More pictures (Score:5, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 25, 2004 @06:31AM (#8384290)
    http://hhil.hitachi.co.jp/products/transpost.htm [hitachi.co.jp]

  • 360degree shots (Score:2, Funny)

    by 6pak ( 687010 )
    now thats great: i am finally going to be in EVERY single picture i take with that camera. hooo, my folks are gonna like those slideshows big time!

  • Think of the possibilities... (Score:4, Funny)

    by qkw ( 755948 ) <qkwozz AT bjcomics DOT com> on Wednesday February 25, 2004 @06:31AM (#8384295) Homepage
    just imagine, tele-surgery becoming standard, video calls to loved ones being more and more special, blind people missing out on something else and won't sombody think of the pr0no industry???

    • Re:Think of the possibilities... (Score:4, Funny)

      by Alapan ( 600026 ) on Wednesday February 25, 2004 @06:35AM (#8384314)
      It won't be commercially successful unless the Porn industry uses it.

      • s/unless/until (Score:5, Interesting)

        by King_of_Prussia ( 741355 ) on Wednesday February 25, 2004 @07:14AM (#8384450)
        The porn industry seems to jump on new technology a lot faster than "mainstream" industries, proving the effectiveness of new tech so the big boys don't have to take any inwanted risks. Look at multi-angle DVD's, they are only just starting to show up in genres outside of porn, and how long has the technology been around?

      • Re:Think of the possibilities... (Score:4, Informative)

        by mark-t ( 151149 ) <markt.nerdflat@com> on Wednesday February 25, 2004 @11:23AM (#8386106) Journal
        This is modded as Funny, but I think it's actually very insightful.

        It is an irrefutable fact that pornography sells -- more to the point, there will always be people who are willing to pay for it.

        What happens then with new technology is that those who pay for porn end up subsidizing the rest of us -- as they pay top dollar for the latest tech, leading to further advances in those technologies which ultimately cause a reduction in price enough that these latest and greatest technologies start getting widely used in the mainstream.

        The technology is always actually available to the general public, but is usually priced out of that market (at least in terms of what it would take to be considered a mainstream technology) -- and the only ones that will pay for it initially are the ones that use it for pornography.

        I've had occasion to observe this specific phenomenon in the past, and although it's always impossible to predict which technologies become successful, it pretty much always follows that unless some government has allocated virtually unlimited funds in that direction (which doesn't happen too often), new technologies don't in general become successful without being subsidized first by people who are willing to pay for porn. Weird, huh?

    • I'm sure cam-whores would love it. They could be the first group to use it commercially as well.

      FIV

  • New ? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 25, 2004 @06:32AM (#8384300)

    the artist Dali played with lasers and 3d holograms in the eighties, of note was a woman in a rocking chair that just floated in thin air (about 6in tall) (red)
    • Actually, the most famous ones are holograms of Alice Cooper sitting Indian-style and one where his head turns into a skull. They aren't free-standing, they're engraved (or etched, or something, not sure of the proper terminology) on a tube of foil. When I've seen them on display, they're mounted on a motorized base which slowly rotates them, and of course, they're protected by a circular glass case.

      They're sort of cool, but not at all the same thing.

    • That reminds me of a little trick I learned in high school physics in the unit on holograms. Im not sure that it would be called a hologram, but you can produce a 3d image of something by placing it a t the center of the bottom of a fully mirrored bowl with a small aperture at the top (in our case a small toy pig). Does anyone know how this works?

  • Old News (Score:5, Interesting)

    by jakoz ( 696484 ) on Wednesday February 25, 2004 @06:34AM (#8384308)
    Old news, but the best article I've read on this yet is the New Scientist [newscientist.com]article from a couple of years ago in which they first (for me) described realtime rendering using existing games. Interesting stuff.

  • Seems like technology similar... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 25, 2004 @06:35AM (#8384312)
    to the one developed by Actuality [actuality-systems.com]. It was reported here on Slashdot like a year ago (I'm too lazy to find a link). Actuality's technology is described on their homepage, and since the visual appearance is similar I guess the technology is too. Plus I can't really imagine another way of making this work.

    Basically its just layers of projected images, spinning around to give the impression of volume. Still really neat though.

    • Re:Seems like technology similar... (Score:4, Informative)

      by baxissimo ( 135512 ) on Wednesday February 25, 2004 @11:11AM (#8385968)
      It does look similar to Actuality's system. But it seems to have much lower resolution. Take a look at the video someone posted in this message [slashdot.org].
      It's really really smeary, almost to the point that the subject is unrecognizable.

      From the spec sheet [actuality-systems.com] you can see Actuality's display does 198 slices of the volume compared to Hitachi's 24, and each slice is 768x768 resolution, compared to whatever Hitachi does. Just guessing, but assuming they Hitachi splits one projector frame up into 24 subframes (which it looks like they do because the schematics seem to indicate fixed optics), and generously assuming no wasted pixels, that comes to something like 213x256 resoultion per view, assuming they start with a 1280x1024 projector. So the frame resoulution is also a good bit lower than Actuality's.

      Also looking at the vid of the Hitachi, and how smeary the images are, it almost makes me think they are projecting ALL 24 images ALL the time rather than blanking all but the two projecting most perpendicular to the screen. Or maybe it's smeary because they're using the same image for 15 degree chunks (360/24), compared to Actuality's 1.8 degrees (360/198). Or it could just be an artifact introduced by the video camera.

      The other big difference is you can actually buy a display [actuality-systems.com] from Actuality today -- if you have $39,995. :-)
    • ... If I had mod points I'd mod you down for having your subject as "Informative +5". That's like, false advertising. It's like saying "Windows is bug-free!"

      And today I discovered my school's library runs on SCO *shrudder*

  • 3D *movies*? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by JessLeah ( 625838 ) on Wednesday February 25, 2004 @06:39AM (#8384327)
    It seems to me like a system such as this would be rather inappropriate for watching movies. For one thing, making a device any much larger than a normal-sized tube TV would start to get really impractical, as the spinny elements would start to generate a lot of noise (and you WOULD NOT want to be there if a large, high-speed spinning element broke off of its axis and started ricocheting about the room...).

    Also, unlike conventional holograms, you would not be able to "touch" the image. Reach out to touch these images, and the rotate-o-thingy will lop your hand off.

    I shudder to think of the safety (and power consumption, and noise) issues that would be involved in making a movie-screen-sized version of one of these...

    Something like this is probably more useful for scientific and military visualization. I know it's corny, but think of the Star Wars-like 3D display in South Park, in the scene where Bill Gates gets shot by the army guy. Something like that display machine...

    • Re:3D *movies*? (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 25, 2004 @07:25AM (#8384492)
      Man, can't you see beyhond?! Rembember ENIAC [arl.mil]? It was the first digital computer. Let me just copy-paste a little:

      By today's standards for electronic computers the ENIAC was a grotesque monster. Its thirty separate units, plus power supply and forced-air cooling, weighed over thirty tons. Its 19,000 vacuum tubes, 1,500 relays, and hundreds of thousands of resistors, capacitors, and inductors consumed almost 200 kilowatts of electrical power.

      By your logic computers would never be PERSONAL computers, for gamming, watching videos, etc...

      This is awsome, and in 10/20/30 years they can probably build one small enough to put in the livving room.
      • This is awsome, and in 10/20/30 years they can probably build one small enough to put in the livving room. ... or to attach to a rolling trash can.

  • No glasses? WTF? (Score:3, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 25, 2004 @06:41AM (#8384333)
    What kind of geek doesn't wear glasses

  • Translation (Score:5, Informative)

    by chendo ( 678767 ) on Wednesday February 25, 2004 @06:44AM (#8384346)
    Used Babelfish and then paraphrased it so it wasn't as engrish:

    The stereoscopic video display that can been seen from all 360 degrees is in development. Video can be displayed on the fly. - Hitachi, Ltd.

    This time, Hitachi has developed a new stereoscopic video display that allows viewers to view it from all 360 degrees. With this technology, viewers can see a 3D picture as if the viewer was using special glasses. It is possible to enjoy this stereoscopic image which just floats in the air without special processing. In addition, using a special video recording system, it is possible to display the images in real-time. Through the network, the photograph is sent (along with positional vector details), and the image is displayed. Various applications in the field are expected as the new technology matures.

    Only bothered to do the first paragraph, as what babelfish produces is really really bad engrish :/ But from what I can read, I can tell you this:

    # It's called 'Transpost'

    # It uses LCDs and mirrors

    It'll be much better if a native speaker translates for us.

  • Translations (Score:4, Funny)

    by tiled_rainbows ( 686195 ) on Wednesday February 25, 2004 @06:46AM (#8384350) Homepage Journal
    Please, please, please, for the love of all that's intelligible, can people refrain from posting babelfish "translations".

    It's okay for the odd word or phrase, but for a whole article, it's just wrong. Or, as babelfish would put it:

    Please, for those the love for all the those that is understandable, can satisfy please of refrain of babelfish of the writing of the "translations" of the peoples. It is for the odd word or the approval of the sentence, but for a complete article, he is necessarily false. Or, babelfish that it puts...

  • No glasses? (Score:5, Funny)

    by Bazman ( 4849 ) on Wednesday February 25, 2004 @06:46AM (#8384355) Journal
    So you dont need glasses to see it, but I can imagine after squinting at 24 rotating mirrors projecting a fuzzy blob into a vague space just in front of your nose you soon *will* need glasses!

    Baz

    • Re:No glasses? (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Eivind ( 15695 ) <eivindorama@gmail.com> on Wednesday February 25, 2004 @08:54AM (#8384832) Homepage
      Where does this common, but confused, idea come from ? I mean, the idea that straining your eyes, like trying to look at a fast-moving object, or looking in poor ligth or whatever will damage your eyes ?

      It's not like people commonly claim that straining your ears, trying to hear a very very soft noise is damaging to your hearing. Or that trying to taste something that's present in very very low concentration will damage your sense of taste

      Now, staring at something very brigth, or hearing a very loud noise can indeed be damaging, but that's sorta in the oposite direction, overload if you like.

      Still, people persist in this "trying to see in poor ligth will kill your eyes" thing. I've honestly got no idea where that comes from.

      • Re:No glasses? (Score:4, Insightful)

        by evilviper ( 135110 ) on Wednesday February 25, 2004 @10:01AM (#8385269) Journal
        Where does this common, but confused, idea come from ? I mean, the idea that straining your eyes, like trying to look at a fast-moving object, or looking in poor ligth or whatever will damage your eyes ?

        Reality maybe?

        Okay, maybe some people misunderstand how the eye works, and use the analogy to apply to things that won't actally damage your eyes. However, your eyes most certainly can be damaged by some activities...

        It was recently discovered that the muscles in your ears will atrophy if they are in a completely noiseless environment (but normal, quiet, background noise prevents it) so eyes aren't the only sense that can be damaged due to extra-low conditions.

        Your eyes are different entirely. The real problem is that your eyes focus, and different envirnments will influence your eyes to focus differently... For example, if you wear a pair of perscription glasses designed for someone else, your eyes will gradually try to adjust their focus to accomodate. Wear those glasses for several weeks, and when you finally take them off, your eyes won't be able to focus normally again.

        Another issue is moisture. When trying to focus on things like a computer screen, you will subconsciously begin to blink less. If you don't blink often enough, this will both cause pain to you, and can cause scratches on your eye's lense, which will damage your vision.

        So, yes, there are a number of things that you can do that will damage your eyesight..
  • This won't be big until its actually useful for something other than technical visualisation. But it's still cool...

  • Product homepage (Score:5, Informative)

    by News for nerds ( 448130 ) on Wednesday February 25, 2004 @06:48AM (#8384358) Homepage
    Transpost product homepage [hitachi.co.jp] (Japanese w/ pictures) at Hitachi Human Interaction Lab. [hitachi.co.jp]

    Other products [hitachi.co.jp] from this laboratory include Waterscape [japantoday.com] (English).

  • How are these images projected/created in the tube (Score:3, Insightful)

    by huha ( 755976 ) on Wednesday February 25, 2004 @06:51AM (#8384369)
    I really wonder how these images you can see in the tube are created.
    I could imagine it's a kind of fog where the image is projected by the help of lasers or other strong light sources.
    I don't think this technique is very helpful because it requires really bulky "Displays", returning a relatively small picture.
    If this does ever want to become generally accepted, the viewing appliances have to shrink and return bigger pictures, perhaps by sacrificing quality over price and bigger pictures.

    -huha

  • 3D Catnip and warm Soda... (Score:4, Funny)

    by Geburah ( 610977 ) on Wednesday February 25, 2004 @06:53AM (#8384377)
    Holy crap. My cat already goes bonkers with the mouse pointer in 2D mode. 3D?! She's gonna friggin explode!

    I can see it now...

    She crouches down, eyes fixed on the Mecca that is my cursor, while time and space come to a stand still...

    Eyes fixed, heart beating swiftly, she tactfully wiggles her butt, to confirm her primal instinct. This... this is her moment... her destiny...

    ..........

    ... SLAM!!! Kitty head goes face first into hard cold monitor, while simultaneously knocking over a half can of warm Dr. Pepper all over my keyboard.

    She twitches her noes and squints her eyes, and runs off feeling sheepish, as I make a half ass attempt to clean off my keyboard with a dirty laundry, cause im to lazy to find paper towels.

  • 3D in a way (Score:4, Interesting)

    by nuffle ( 540687 ) on Wednesday February 25, 2004 @06:56AM (#8384389)
    From the article description and pics, this seems to be a relatively simple concept, but nicely implemented. Although I can't read the article, I'm guessing that the "3d" effect is a much better version of those "holograms" that appear to move when you tilt at different angles (e.g. Ken Griffey player appears to swing when you tilt his baseball card). But instead of 2-3 images on a flat card, you have 24 images on a cylinder. Needless to say, it's not "real 3D" as none of 24 images themselves have depth.

    Some people mentioned a strobing projector around a rotating screen as being the method used here. I wonder if also some sort of projector facing upward from below could be reflected laterally in 24 directions by a 24 sided mirror.

  • rough translation (Score:5, Informative)

    by offpath3 ( 604739 ) <.offpath4. .at. .yahoo.co.jp.> on Wednesday February 25, 2004 @06:57AM (#8384393)
    The basic point of this article is that this technology is interesting because it can be done in realtime, unlike holography. Holograms have to be prepared in advance, while with a good connection, this can be streamed over the network so that the viewer of the projector can see what is going on where the remote camera is at the same time as it happens.

    They then go on to explain a little more about the technology. They take video feed from 24 different angles and then feed that into their projection system which I think is a number of projectors inside a single machine. They then project it upwards onto some sort of rotating screen/plate.

    They then talk some more about how it's automatic and works in realtime over a network.

    Lastly they just talk about how a color projector like this is possible and what some of the uses might be (business, entertainment). Then at the bottom, they define the terms "holography" and "hitachi human iteraction lab".

  • Bah! (Score:3, Funny)

    by SinaSa ( 709393 ) on Wednesday February 25, 2004 @07:01AM (#8384411) Homepage
    I am totally against this technology. Totally 100% vehemently abhorrent of it. If every 3d image requires 24 2d shots to create, this is going to make my porn image collection only one twenty-fourth of the size!

    And now porn is going to take 24 times as long to deliver! For every 1 shot they want to get to the end user, the photographer has to do 24 times the work. Every second spent in the studio is a second that porn hasn't spent on my hard drive! BOYCOTT I SAY! BOYCOTT!

  • Immersive Karaokes? (Score:4, Funny)

    by dtio ( 134278 ) on Wednesday February 25, 2004 @07:15AM (#8384453)
    One of the firs applications of this new tech could be immersive karaokes, where you can sing your favourite song among a living 3D projection of the real band (without the singer of course)...

    Just imagine, the *huge* market that there is in Japan for this kind of stuff: all those japanesse business men impersontating Freddie Mercury after work ;)

  • Actuality Systems has had this for years (Score:4, Informative)

    by Eponymous Cowboy ( 706996 ) on Wednesday February 25, 2004 @07:40AM (#8384552)
    http://www.computerworld.com/hardwaretopics/hardwa re/story/0,10801,69675,00.html

    • (Oh, that's what I get when I accidentally hit the Enter key....)

      Anyway... :-) ... I meant to post a nice link to Actuality Systems [actuality-systems.com]. Their site has neat closeup color pictures of their system which works on the same technology as this Hitachi system, and which has been working since at least 2002 [computerworld.com]; Hitachi has done nothing new, and from the specs that I can make out, their system actually seems to operate at a far lower resolution than Actuality's.

  • You're out of luck.. (Score:3, Funny)

    by Channard ( 693317 ) on Wednesday February 25, 2004 @07:43AM (#8384563) Journal
    .. if you've only got one eye, though.
    • .. if you've only got one eye, though.
      Not really, since you'll still be able to walk around the display and view the object from all sides. It'll not be stereoscopic but it'll still be 3d.

  • 3D Control? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by cheesethegreat ( 132893 ) on Wednesday February 25, 2004 @07:43AM (#8384565)
    If 3D ever become mainstream for computing environments, my big question is how we'll navigate it. You can't exactly move your mouse up and down through the table as it tends to leave big holes. Maybe an orientation-based thing a la Twiddler 1, or a POV button for vertical movement and rotation. It's something I haven't seen addressed at all, and if we want to get support for 3D computing then I think we need to start with some interesting ideas on how we'll use it.
    • firstly, i can't imagine (true) 3d interfaces being used for "general" use - that is any kind of text-based work, including the majority of internet browsing - i think that while 3d navigation might be useful for some situations (very large quantities of information might benefit), for the most part 2d will be the easiest, and importantly quickest to use (a 3d slashdot would not be a success..)

      Of course there could be uses for 3d - the equivilent of flash at present (although i suspect a system designed fo
    • Come on now... 3D track-balls have been around for a LONG time now.

  • And if you are not myopic, you will think you are when you are looking at Casper the Friendly Ghost bustin' a move...
  • Better pictures & diagrams here [hitachi.co.jp].

    As can be seen, a screen spinning rapidly about a vertical axis reflects images generated sequentially by a single projector, pointing up. The images first reflect off the mirrored top cover, down onto smaller mirrors arranged around the base of the viewing chamber onto the spinning screen. The full 3-D cycle of images are projected once per revolution of the screen, so the screen sees a slightly different image as it aligns with each mirror.

    The screen is near-transpare

  • 3D or stereopsis ? (Score:5, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 25, 2004 @08:04AM (#8384632)
    Many people are dubious about 3D screens. This is understandable as there have been doezens of them and none has "made the grade"

    The reason for this is simple: stereopsis is, while whiz-bang, is not "interesting". After the initial gee-whiz the grim reality of the lack of value added benefits for the cost always come into play.

    Today the tag "3D" has a fuzzy meaning, but it is usually interpreted to mean mere stereopsis: artificial illusion created by presenting each eye a differing perspective of am in image.

    The reason stereopsis fails is that it only provides a fractional increase in information, where as "holographic" (a misnomer) provides a full dimensions worth of information.

    To explain it simplest: stereoptic images have one depth of focus, whereas a "holographic" image has thousands of "planes" of focus. A holographic image allows you to focus your eyes at different depths whereas a mere stereoscopic image keeps your eyes focused at one depth.

    When it comes down to it, its about information density; fake stereroptic effects add no information. So we can conclude that "3D" technology won't ever become mainstream until true depth "holographic" imaging is available.

    Bottom line: this screen is not worth its cost. Give us depth of field.
  • way we can manage to project a true 3d hologram like in starwars would be once we conquer light - when we can restrict the distance it travels - without it losing its brightness...
    Guess as of now its impossible to project a holo from a single point/side source using current technology
    This idea however is brilliant.. i guess.. 24 cameras would mean.. 24 fps.. where each frame would be a pic from a successive camera, and the screen rotates to those 24 positions each second...
    Now that someone has implemente

  • Years ago, when I was in my Street Fighter II Turbo days, I used to go to an arcade in Fox Valley, IL. They had an arcade game there that had a flat screen and the characters would stand up out of it, much like the pictures show attached to this story. So this technology has been around for years, and I always wondered when it was going to pop up again for mainstream use.

    The real question is: does anyone know what the name of that arcade game was? I'd love to be able to prove what I'm saying by providing

    • Re:Already Been Done? (Score:2, Informative)

      by DZign ( 200479 )
      You probably mean Sega Time Traveller
      http://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?let ter=T&game_ id=10124

      which according to the klov entry uses a parabolic mirror to display a hologram image

      I remember this game too, and yes it looked very cool

  • Heavy processing workload (Score:5, Interesting)

    by zero_offset ( 200586 ) on Wednesday February 25, 2004 @08:33AM (#8384744) Homepage
    Unless I'm missing something, this approach (as others have noted, this is Hitachi's take on a relatively old idea) means you have to constantly generate an image for EVERY viewing angle. In this case, you're cranking out 24 3D images for every frame.

    Either your images have to be very simple, or you need extremely powerful hardware, or the resolution sucks, or you're going to have to accept low frame rates.

    I wonder how frame rate relates to the rotational speed of the projection surface.

    • Either your images have to be very simple, or you need extremely powerful hardware, or the resolution sucks, or you're going to have to accept low frame rates.

      Well, duh! 24x3d images, given that we can do one image now, Moores law would say that the tech should be mainstream in about 7 years. Not that I think Moore's law is correct, but the point is, of course it's computational expensive, if it weren't it wouldn't be innovative. Eventually, processing power will catch up.
    • Yes you are right. It is a relatively old technology, also used in Arcade games. More than 15 years ago, here at an arcade center called "Sindbad's" in Dubai, U.A.E, Middle East, there was a game which you could play and control, seeing everything in 3D. If you pased your hand through it you could not touch anything. I think, I am not sure, it was a StarWars game.

  • happy reading (Score:2, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward
    http://www.lemminginvestor.com/DDDpresentation.htm l

  • Coversation Pits?! (Score:3, Interesting)

    by killfixx ( 148785 ) on Wednesday February 25, 2004 @09:16AM (#8384970) Journal
    This'll bring back one of the weirder architectural designs from the 70's..the conversation pit...

    Instead of sitting in front of the TV...people will sit around it...

    Probably wouldn't work for sports though...at least not until they have a few crays laying around processing the every second of play to track an morph the images from 24 cameras all having to run at different levels of zoom...

    Nice for soaps and sitcoms...Boxing matches...But football would be a little tougher...

  • Here is what is happening (Score:5, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 25, 2004 @09:28AM (#8385031)
    I posted this same news notice which appeared on the front page of Mainichi Daily News [mainichi.co.jp] but obviously the /. editors didn't post it.

    For those wondering how this system works here is the actual article:

    Viewers gaze at a live three-dimensional image produced with groundbreaking technology unveiled by electronics giant Hitachi Ltd. on Tuesday. Hitachi's device is the first in the world that can record and instantly display three-dimensional images from 360 degrees.

    Up until now two steps were required: special filming using lasers and the intermediate process of physically recording the image, meaning that the image could not be seen at the same time as filming.

    The circular viewing device stands about 2 meters high and is 40 centimeters in diameter. The image of the person being filmed is portrayed onto a high-speed spinning screen from angled mirrors.

    When viewed from the side, the person's face can be seen and their back is visible when viewing the object from the opposite direction.

    The person or object being filmed is surrounded by 24 mirrors and recorded with a camera. This recorded image is instantly transmitted to a projector in the viewing device. (Mainichi Shimbun, Japan, Feb. 24, 2004)

    To see the picture, which is larger than the ones on the Hitachi site, go to Mainichi Daily News and in the lower right corner of the current picturce click 'More'. When the pop-up occurs click 'Next' to see the single picture and the text I just posted.

  • Translation (Score:4, Informative)

    by takasuz ( 709172 ) on Wednesday February 25, 2004 @09:39AM (#8385093)
    I hope this helps.

    Hitachi Co. Ltd. (CEO: Etsuhiko Shouyama) has developed a novel 3D image display technology, which allows a 360 degrees view from any direction. The technology allows a viewer to enjoy a 3D image that appears to be floating in the middle of the air. With the proprietary camera system, one can take and view a captured real-time 3D image. The taken image can be sent over a network and played in distant places simultaneously --- this makes a totally new presentation style possible. The technology is expected to be use as a new image-based information system in various fields.

    Holography has been a well-known method for playing floating 3D images to date. However, playing a 3D image requires preparation of an interference pattern (hologram), and this make real-time playing of a captured 3D image impossible.

    Real-time playing of a captured 3D image will bring, for example, projection of 3D images of a person or an object in the air, which has appeared in SF movies, to the real world. As a new style in oversea business, discussion of a product design or a presentation to a customer can be made based on the image of a sample freshly made here in Japan.

    The Hitachi Human Interaction Laboratory in the Hitachi Fundamental Research Center has developed the 3D image display technology that allows one to view a real-time 3D image floating in the air from any direction. This comes with a demonstration system, cylindrical 3D image display "Transport." The developed display technology has the following features.

    (1) 3D image display by a simple mechanism

    The system is based on simultaneous projection of the images of a subject taken from multiple direction onto a proprietary prepared rotating screen. In the experimental display "Transport," the images of the subject taken from 24 different directions are projected to (a) mirror(s) at the top by (a) LCD projector(s) set in the base. The projected images are reflected by the mirror(s) to 24 mirrors placed around the rotating screen, and further directed on to the screen.

    (2) Real-time display of captured 3D image

    The Lab developed a proprietary camera system that automatically produces images of a subject from 24 different angles. Directly sending the images captured by the camera system to the LCD projector displays the captured 3D image in real time. The captured image can be sent to a distant place by connecting the camera system to "Transport."

    The developed 3D image display technology can handle both still and animated images with full colors and from computer-generated graphics to real image captures. The technology may find various applications in business and entertainment as a unconventional display system for 3D image presentation and information distribution in the ubiquitous era.

    (Notes about *1) holography and *2) Hitachi Human Interaction Lab)

    Left: Overviews of the display system (left) and the camera system(right)

    Right: (top) "It appears to be floating in the air."

    (bottom) "One can move around and see."

  • Sharp has had a 3D laptop using technology that looks almost identical for quite some time now. Take a look at

    http://www.sharpsystems.com/products/pc_noteboo k s/ actius/rd/3d/#

    The best part of the unit was the big button on the top of the keyboard. You hit it and it lights up green and says "3D". Oh so gaudy.

    The display takes anywhere from one to 10 images to get used to, but it does work well. The lack of anti-glare coating can make usage in some orientations troublesome, but that can be overcome
  • I was CEO of a 3D display startup before they did the dirty on me, so I can offer some insight here.

    This Hitachi display is not new technology and it has some problems, principally:
    • size, bulk, cost, noise
    • image can not be opaque (only translucent)
    • image is blurred towards its centre by internal "cloud" or "haze" effect created by the axis of the spinning plate
    • unusual/custom software and camera setups required to create image

    On the upside:

    • no special viewing position required, you can walk around it
    • works for people with only one eye

    It would be most useful for applications such as air traffic control, etc.

    It competes with the other autostereoscopic displays (the LCD shutter glasses will never break out of their nerd/medical/scientific-imaging market for social and multi-tasking reasons), of which there are only really 2 consumer-market viable architectures:

    • parallax barrier
    • holographic

    The other displays linked to in the comments, and various others not linked, are all variations on the parallax barrier approach. Again, not new. They have the benefits of:

    • being relatively cheap
    • having more or less the same physical form factor as a normal flat-screen
    • only needing special graphics drivers to display normal 3D images, which are pre-written for most current graphics cards

    They have the big downsides of:

    • requiring very close manufacturing tolerances
    • picket fence effect where black vertical bars appear to float in mid air between you and the image
    • inversion -- where moving left or right "flips" an image inside out, eg a nose will go backwards while ears come forwards, EXTREMELY disconcerting
    • very very narrow viewing angle and position -- move an inch in any direction from the sweet spot, e.g. lean back in your chair, and the image goes to pieces

    The limited viewing angle practically requires most parallax barrier systems to use active head tracking systems, where the display identifies where your eyes are and retargets the imaging accordingly. This exposes the practical usefulness of the 3D image to a further potential degradation if the headtracking system is not spot on.
    Sharp and Dresden both use parallax barrier. Dresden's is beautifully bright but its headtracking can unfortunately jump the image around very badly for some people -- speaking from experience, it is beyond unusable if you're one of the unlucky ones, the image is jumping inches in random directions on random sub-second intervals.
    Another major disadvantage is the extreme difficulty of presenting a 2D image via parallax barrier systems, thereby sharply restricting its desktop market. If you want to write or read something, such as a spreadsheet or some code or a word document, you're out of luck -- you need another monitor.

    The other approach has been developed by a single company comprising now 2 people (holographic artists) about 10-12 years ago. The Display:

    • is holographic
    • is at the theoretical maximum of all the optical angles etc.
    • has no picket fence effect, no inversion, and no intrinsic refresh rate (ie, instantaneous)
    • provides very large 3D image-depth of about one screen-width "height" towards you and 1.5 screen-widths "depth" away from you
    • degrades gracefullly to 2D should you lean too far away from the very broad sweet spot, so needs no head tracking
    • is about the same size as a normal flat panel screen, although deeper to allow for non-flat backlight
    • has no brightness issues as there is only a single additional layer to the LCD
    • astoundingly, it is extraordinarily cheap and simple to build using existing technology and manufacturing processes
    • requires NO special cameras or preprocessing required-- all standard. to create a 3D video-conferencing camera, just tape together two narrow cameras so the lenses are eye-width apart, interlace
  • I could have sworn I saw a video game with very similar technology in the Indianapolis Circle Center Mall about 10 years ago. It was a stupid video game...the only reason anyone played it was because of the 3D effect.

    If I remember correctly, it was encased in a dome so you could only see it from the front (160 degrees or so) or from the top. It wasn't 360 degrees viewable, but probably didn't need to be.

  • Serious question.
    I have a set of eye conditions (farsightedness combined with astigmantism) that means my right eye is nearly totally dominant (that is, i "look" out of it primarily) And as a result, conventional (with glasses) 3d things dont work worth a damn for me, because i only see the blue side.

    It doesn't SEEM as if my eye dominance problem would make a difference, as with this setup you're not having to view and interpolate two streams of data, but I could be wrong.
    Opinions anyone more qualified ta

  • Literal Japanese Translation (Score:3, Funny)

    by khrustalicious ( 689719 ) on Wednesday February 25, 2004 @11:18AM (#8386047)
    "Obi ran, all my hope are belong to you. EKEKEKEKEKEKEK"

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