3D Display Offers Glimpse of Future Media
November 10, 2008 by Lisa Zyga
The 3D display system, developed by researchers at the University of Southern California, uses a spinning mirror to reflect images in all directions. Image credit: Graphics Lab at USC.
(PhysOrg.com) -- The 3D objects in the display box may at first look like a product of smoke-and-mirrors trickery. That impression would be about half right, as a rapidly spinning mirror is one important component of the display.
But the overall 3D display system, developed by researchers at the Graphics Lab at the University of Southern California, is real technology that could one day transform visual entertainment.
The 3D display can project both virtual as well as real images from a recorded movie. The researchers, Professor Paul Debevec and his colleagues, hope that the display´s advantages will overcome many of the challenges faced by 3D technology. For instance, their 3D display is autosterescopic, meaning viewers don´t need to wear special viewing glasses to see the 3D effects. The display is also omnidirectional, so that multiple viewers can watch the display from all directions and heights.
To achieve the high quality, the researchers modified a video projector to project images at more than 4,000 frames per second. Also, the display is interactive, as demonstrated in this video showing a user controlling the 3D human head with a remote control. It can update content at 200 Hz, or 200 times per second.
The video projector projects high-speed video onto the rapidly spinning mirror, and the projector and mirror are synchronized so that, as the mirror turns, it reflects a different image to viewers in all directions.
As the mirror rotates up to 20 times per second, a viewer´s vision creates the illusion of a floating object at the center of the mirror. The image is enclosed in a glass box, to protect anything (such as a hand) from touching the spinning mirrors.
"While flat electronic displays represent a majority of user experiences, it is important to realize that flat surfaces represent only a small portion of our physical world," the team explains on its Web site. "Our real world is made of objects, in all their three-dimensional glory. The next generation of displays will begin to represent the physical world around us, but this progression will not succeed unless it is completely invisible to the user: no special glasses, no fuzzy pictures, and no small viewing zones."
The Graphics Lab has also been involved with creating films, computer animations, and other graphics projects.
More information: 3D Display Research Page
© 2008 PhysOrg.com
-
Researchers showcase cylindrical mirror on iPad
Oct 30, 2011 |
2.5 / 5 (15) |
10
-
Holodesk prototype puts life in computers (w/ video)
Oct 20, 2011 |
4.7 / 5 (22) |
12
-
Reach out and touch 3D characters with RePro3D (w/ video)
Sep 17, 2011 |
4.3 / 5 (7) |
4
-
Q&A: Skype CEO has no qualms about company's merger history
May 25, 2011 |
not rated yet |
0
-
Automakers showcase technology to go
Jan 07, 2011 |
not rated yet |
0
-
Engineers build first sub-10-nm carbon nanotube transistor
Feb 01, 2012 |
5 / 5 (21) |
19
-
Something old, something new: Evolution and the structural divergence of duplicate genes
Jan 31, 2012 |
4.6 / 5 (7) |
1
-
The hidden nanoworld of ice crystals: Revealing the dynamic behavior of quasi-liquid layers
Jan 30, 2012 |
5 / 5 (2) |
1
-
Stock market network reveals investor clustering
Jan 27, 2012 |
4.1 / 5 (21) |
8
-
Of microchemistry and molecules: Electronic microfluidic device synthesizes biocompatible probes
Jan 26, 2012 |
not rated yet |
0
-
Tennis Court Speed Measurement
12 hours ago
-
Fastest way to cool water
20 hours ago
-
Counter-weights
Feb 02, 2012
-
Composite electric glass heating elements
Feb 02, 2012
-
pipe stress analysis
Feb 02, 2012
-
Interested in average household energy consumption in 2011...
Feb 01, 2012
- More from Physics Forums - General Engineering
More news stories
Researchers find social robots require astute tuning to improve acceptability by the human mind
After years of existing only in fiction, social robots are finally being designed that can more closely emulate how people express themselves, interact and learn and doing so while performing jobs like teaching social ...
7 hours ago |
not rated yet |
0
GPS shoe lets families keep track of elderly relatives
A Teaneck, N.J., shoe maker has joined with a California technology company to create a shoe that uses GPS technology that records where a wearer walks - and can send alerts to caregivers if someone suffering from Alzheimer's ...
Electronics / Consumer & Gadgets
9 hours ago |
not rated yet |
0
New Nokia phone no standout, but worth a look
The first of Nokia's new generation of smartphones isn't flashy and certainly isn't an iPhone killer. But it's a nice device, and at $40 with a two-year contract, a bargain.
Electronics / Consumer & Gadgets
10 hours ago |
1 / 5 (2) |
2
Motorola: Some refurbished tablets weren't wiped
Motorola Mobility says about 100 Xoom tablet computers that it refurbished for sale on Woot.com may not have been properly wiped of the previous owners' data.
Electronics / Consumer & Gadgets
8 hours ago |
not rated yet |
1
A boom in smarter baby monitors
The cry has been heard: After 20 years with little change to baby monitoring devices, new designs premiered in January at the Consumer Electronics Show promising Wi-Fi connectivity and high-definition video that streams live ...
Electronics / Consumer & Gadgets
8 hours ago |
not rated yet |
0
Amazon fungi found that eat polyurethane, even without oxygen
(PhysOrg.com) -- Until now polyurethane has been considered non-biodegradable, but a group of students from Yale University in the US has found fungi that will not only eat and digest it, they will do so even in the absence ...
Scientists chart high-precision map of Milky Way's magnetic fields
(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists at the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) are part of an international team that has pooled their radio observations into a database, producing the highest precision map to date of ...
Whole exome sequencing identifies cause of metabolic disease
Sequencing a patient's entire genome to discover the source of his or her disease is not routine yet. But geneticists are getting close.
Hearing metaphors activates brain regions involved in sensory experience
When a friend tells you she had a rough day, do you feel sandpaper under your fingers? The brain may be replaying sensory experiences to help understand common metaphors, new research suggests.
Renowned physicist invents microscope that can peer at living brain cells
(PhysOrg.com) -- Ever since scientists began studying the brain, theyve wanted to get a better look at what was going on. Researchers have poked and prodded and looked at dead cells under electron microscopes, ...
New kind of high-temperature photonic crystal could someday power everything from smartphones to spacecraft
A team of MIT researchers has developed a way of making a high-temperature version of a kind of materials called photonic crystals, using metals such as tungsten or tantalum. The new materials which ...
Nov 10, 2008
Rank: 4.8 / 5 (5)
Nov 10, 2008
Rank: 4.8 / 5 (6)
Nov 10, 2008
Rank: 4 / 5 (3)
Nov 10, 2008
Rank: 2.3 / 5 (3)
Nov 10, 2008
Rank: 3.7 / 5 (3)
Nov 10, 2008
Rank: 5 / 5 (3)
the 3 d image is constrained by the physics governning a spinning mirror. much of the mirrors own limitations are placed on it by its mass. when we find a way to create a near MASSLESS mirror and spin it incredibly fast, than this 3imensional hologram will start becoming much much more amazing and useful.
however, the true ideal would be to have 3mensional matrix of extrememly small (perhaps buckyball sized) spinning mirrors. thus, the 3mensional hologram could move in all dimensions of 3space, instead of just rotating and spinning around the center of a spinning mirror.
Nov 10, 2008
Rank: 4.7 / 5 (3)
Nov 10, 2008
Rank: 3.5 / 5 (2)
As for the hologram shown on CNN on election night. This was just 2D images placed one on top of another. Cool effect, but the 3D technologies coming out today, can offer much much more.
Nov 10, 2008
Rank: 2 / 5 (1)
Nov 10, 2008
Rank: 4 / 5 (1)
Nov 10, 2008
Rank: 4 / 5 (1)
Nov 11, 2008
Rank: not rated yet
Nov 11, 2008
Rank: not rated yet
Dec 13, 2008
Rank: not rated yet