Slashdot Log In
3D Display, No Glasses Required
Posted by
timothy
on Wed Feb 25, 2004 05:25 AM
from the lucas-had-this-in-1977 dept.
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?
This discussion has been archived.
No new comments can be posted.
3D Display, No Glasses Required
|
Log In/Create an Account
| Top
| 285 comments
(Spill at 50!) | Index Only
| Search Discussion
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
that's easy... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:that's easy... (Score:4, Interesting)
(http://www.wherethesundontshine.net/ | Last Journal: Tuesday May 27 2003, @04:48PM)
It's rotating? (Score:4, Funny)
It's just strobe interference with the cameras!
flickering (Score:4, Informative)
(http://agh2o.org/ | Last Journal: Tuesday September 19 2006, @02:56PM)
How many companies are making these now? (Score:4, Interesting)
(http://clickcaster.com/)
Re:How many companies are making these now? (Score:5, Informative)
(http://home20.inet.tele.dk/plams)
Re:How many companies are making these now? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:How many companies are making these now? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:projecting in thin air... (Score:4, Informative)
It does look pretty neat. But it's not 3D imagery.
Translation (Score:5, Funny)
The caption on the second link says, "Help us, Obi-Wan."
That's about all I can make out.
Re:Translation (Score:5, Informative)
(http://www.fsl.cs.su...ean/parser.cgi?index)
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)
Of course not perfect translation, but should able to give some draft idea what it is talking about.
Re:Translation (Score:4, Insightful)
(http://www.grapefruitopia.com/)
--
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.
Re:Translation (Score:4, Informative)
More pictures (Score:5, Informative)
Think of the possibilities... (Score:4, Funny)
(http://bjcomics.com/)
Re:Think of the possibilities... (Score:4, Funny)
s/unless/until (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Think of the possibilities... (Score:4, Informative)
(Last Journal: Tuesday September 12 2006, @03:31PM)
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?
New ? (Score:4, Interesting)
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)
Old News (Score:5, Interesting)
Seems like technology similar... (Score:5, Interesting)
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)
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.
Re:Not 3D, 2.5D stereoscopic (Score:4, Informative)
(Last Journal: Monday February 16 2004, @04:04PM)
Re:Not 3D, 2.5D stereoscopic (Score:5, Informative)
You are correct in this assertion. The infinite limit of this approach is a hologram. True holograms play out the 3-dimensional wavefront of light as reflected by the 3-dimensional object. Frames taken with a 2-dimensional camera are just that 2-d.
I interned at Holographic Studios with Jason Sapan in New York City. We would construct images like these using 16mm film frames and a cylinder of holographic film. This is similar to the technique in Logan's Run, but I don't think Jason did that one. This image type is called integral since it is an integral model of a 3-dimensional image kinda like sticking cheese wedges together to make a wheel of cheese. The wheel is round when you slap it together, but it is still an approximation and not a whole wheel. This design seems even worse than the cylinder hologram, because at least the cylinder can play out multiple angle truly at the same time.
As an experiment you can use a stereo pair of 2-d images and a real object. When you look at one of the stereo pair images with one eye you will see that it is flat. This is due to the scanning of a single eye as it looks at the scene. When you look at the real object with one eye you will see the foeveoal (center) scan of depth from the real object. That is why stereoscopy != depth. Reference "Practical Holography" by Graham Saxby for a more eloquent explanation.
3D *movies*? (Score:5, Insightful)
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 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.
No glasses? WTF? (Score:3, Funny)
Translation (Score:5, Informative)
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
# 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)
(http://www.godsrudewireless.co.uk/ | Last Journal: Thursday June 03 2004, @05:22AM)
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)
(Last Journal: Sunday July 13 2003, @10:38AM)
Baz
Re:No glasses? (Score:4, Insightful)
(http://ekj.vestdata.no/)
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)
(Last Journal: Thursday November 29, @09:35PM)
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..
Product homepage (Score:5, Informative)
(http://zzz.zggg.com/)
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)
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)
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...
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)
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)
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)
(http://herbix.cuodan.net/)
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)
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)
You're out of luck.. (Score:3, Funny)
3D Control? (Score:3, Insightful)
3D or stereopsis ? (Score:5, Informative)
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.
Heavy processing workload (Score:5, Interesting)
(http://www.subgenius.com/)
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.
Coversation Pits?! (Score:3, Interesting)
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)
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)
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."
3D Display Technologies: Overview and Comparisons (Score:5, Informative)
(http://go-blog-go.blogspot.com/)
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:
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:
Literal Japanese Translation (Score:3, Funny)
Porn is the killer app. (Score:5, Insightful)
(http://www.petesmith.co.nz/)
If you think about it, it is going to be really hard to show scenery ie mountain landscapes on this screen - you can only show objects standing in a void - the demo piccies here show a man standing in the middle of nowhere. Think about Star Wars and Princess Leia standing in the middle of nowhere in R2's projection - there are no walls around her...
So if you think about it, the only real use for this are artificial landscapes like Air Traffic Control displays, and people.
Porn is _the_ killer app for this one.