![Star Wars Tech: Display Uses “Directional Pixels” to Show Glasses-Free, Multi-perspective Holograms
The HP display replaces the randomly scattering bumps in a normal LCD with deliberately [nano-]patterned grooves.
Each “directional pixel” has three sets of grooves that direct red, green, and blue light in one particular direction. The number of directional pixels determines the number of viewpoints the display can produce. Light from the pixels then passes through a conventional array of liquid crystal shutters that pass or block the light to make a moving image—just like in a conventional LCD.
The HP researchers showed that they could make static images with 200 viewpoints, or videos with 64 viewpoints and 30 frames per second—so far. The number of viewpoints in the video system has been limited by their ability to put the backlight together with the nanopatterned liquid-crystal shutters in the lab. Fattal says the system should ultimately be easy to manufacture, because it’s a modified LCD.
(via HP Labs Shows off Glasses-Free 3-D for Phones and Tablets | MIT Technology Review)](http://25.media.tumblr.com/51d003adaa22e2bb64e633c284e31a72/tumblr_mjz9k4Dczc1qgpcs1o1_400.jpg)
Star Wars Tech: Display Uses “Directional Pixels” to Show Glasses-Free, Multi-perspective Holograms
The HP display replaces the randomly scattering bumps in a normal LCD with deliberately [nano-]patterned grooves.
Each “directional pixel” has three sets of grooves that direct red, green, and blue light in one particular direction. The number of directional pixels determines the number of viewpoints the display can produce. Light from the pixels then passes through a conventional array of liquid crystal shutters that pass or block the light to make a moving image—just like in a conventional LCD.
The HP researchers showed that they could make static images with 200 viewpoints, or videos with 64 viewpoints and 30 frames per second—so far. The number of viewpoints in the video system has been limited by their ability to put the backlight together with the nanopatterned liquid-crystal shutters in the lab. Fattal says the system should ultimately be easy to manufacture, because it’s a modified LCD.
(via HP Labs Shows off Glasses-Free 3-D for Phones and Tablets | MIT Technology Review)
New 3D Interface Uses Levitating Metal Ball as Controller
…ZeroN is a small metal orb floating in free space that users can manipulate by moving around and placing in midair.
Suspended by a highly tuned electromagnetic field, the orb really does seem to levitate, and the degree to which the system keeps the ball stable even as it is moved around on all three axes is pretty mind-blowing. The ball floats until it is moved, and when placed in a point in space it stays there.
…with an added layer of software surrounding it, the orb becomes a tool for all sorts of applications. For instance, the ZeroN can be used as the stand-in for a camera in a 3-D scene (imagine a scale architectural model placed in the ZeroN’s working space; the ball can be moved around the model, changing the point-of-view of the 3-D representation in a graphic representation). The ZeroN can also remember how it has been moved in the past, retracing a path that it was previously moved along (the ZeroN doesn’t have to be moved by a human hand, but can also be moved around the space by the computer).
The trick to all this is a precision electromagnet fitted to a moving actuator above the ZeroN’s workspace. The electromagnet can move around the space above and rapidly adjust its magnetic pull or resistance based on where the ZeroN is in space, a value that is measured every few milliseconds by an array of IR cameras. So while the ZeroN appears to float as if in defiance of gravity, the setup is purely mechanical. All it really requires is a very precise electromagnet and the right software to keep the orb stable.
Next up: replacing the actuator with solenoids, which might allow the system to place several objects in the same ZeroN workspace at the same time, allowing for whole new applications.
(via Video: MIT’s Latest User Interface Employs Gravity-Defying, Levitating Metal Orbs | Popular Science)
New Glasses-Free 3D Display Supports Multiple Viewpoints Without Losing Image Quality
If 3D has a future in our pockets, then it must be one that requires no spectacles. Not only are the goggles an issue, other key factors like resolution and viewing angles all need to be bettered before it stands a chance of broad adoption. NLT technology knows this, and has prototyped a 3.1-inch 3D LCD display that not only matches 2D resolution (as we’ve seen before,) but also offers up to six viewing angles. The display is based on existing horizontal double-density pixel technology with “HxDP” (horizontally x times-density pixels,) a new technology for creating multiple viewpoints, thrown into the mix. Standard HDDP gives a 3D image two viewpoints, HxDP allows more depending on density of sub-pixels. It also allows for both 2D and 3D images to be on-screen at the same time, meaning you can decide which version of Alvin and the Chipmunks Chipwrecked you prefer side-by-side.
(via Prototype 3D display maintains resolution, bumps viewing angles, spans dimensions — Engadget)
Virginia Tech Engineering Department Deploys 3D Printing Vending Machine
A 3D Printing vendor machine at Virginia Tech:
The DreamVendor is an interactive 3-D printing station for Virginia Tech students to enable them to quickly fabricate prototypes for their academic and personal design projects.
The station is part of the Department of Mechanical Engineering in the College of Engineering at Virginia Tech.
(via prostheticknowledge)
Improvements in Augmented Reality Tech Allow Virtual Objects to Interact With Physical Environment:
The application uses a system called Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM) in real time to project and render the tank from all perspectives in new and unknown environments.
The demo video below shows how the demonstrator is able to walk around the tank and see it from different angles without using a special environment or background for the app to work with.
According to Ogment, SLAM “is typically used by robots and autonomous vehicles to build up a map within an unknown environment… while at the same time keeping track of their current location.” Applying the system to AR games allows users to drop digital environment elements into any space.
Ogment is billing the tank as having “x-ray vision”—that is, when the tank spins its cannon and fires a shot at a detected surface, the AR application will display a “hole” showing “what’s behind” that surface. In the demo video, a hole blasted in the tablecloth where Will Wright and Bruce Sterling are sitting shows bottles of booze and pantless legs (though if this were real and serious AR, it would show two bloody stumps instead).
Oriel Bergig, vice president of research and development at Ogment, told Ars that other pre-loaded X-ray vision themes will include “scenery” and “urban.” But the X-ray vision is just a distraction; more important is the game’s ability to render a tank in real time and space without prior preparation, and to detect targetable surfaces in its environment
(via Augmented reality tank can blast holes in real surfaces | Ars Technica)
