For decades, researchers have tried to create holographic displays with the aim of displaying 3D objects that can float in the air. Here’s the latest from researchers in Canada and Brazil who created a spherical display, called Spheree, that lets you gesture and interact with 3D floating projected images. The project was on display at SIGGRAPH 2014 in Vancouver presenting their work through a paper in the IEEE Spectrum. In their own words, this is the first display, “capable of projecting uniform, high resolution pixels on a spherical surface.”
Multiple smaller pico projectors are calibrated together through their FastFusion system, creating a seamless display which uses a standard webcam to automatically blend and calibrate the system. The demonstrations include an interactive snow globe which is a 3D animation of a popular winter seasonal image of a house, snow and train moving around the house. “In one demonstration, viewers have the sensation of staring into a snow globe that they can control with simple gestures from any angle,” said IEEE Spectrum. Another fun application includes 3D sculpting using pointing and bi-manual gestures. You can even take the sculpted piece and send it to the 3D printer. Gesture support include moving, rotating, sculpting and painting objects.
The authors explain that the Spheree is completely scalable with their system, enabling Spheree’s that can go as large as required. The team has even tested a 20-in diameter, eight projector unit as well. Head tracking support allows Spheree to display a prospectively correct view of the object inside, making it look like it’s floating in thin air within the globe. In fact, according to the authors, Spheree also uses six infrared cameras to track the movement of special headbands worn by viewers. The data the cameras feed to a computer constantly provide perspective-corrected virtual scenes based on a viewer’s position with respect to the globe.”
Awesome work. Here’s a related project from years past:
Bring on the spherical displays!