5 ms·

SolidLight offers a true holographic video display

51 points by danboarder 5y ago

danboarder 5y ago
CNET explains the tech further here and the reporter used a magnifying glass to zoom in on the 3D display, apparently it's high res, requires no glasses to view in 3D: https://youtu.be/7oGtgbsmmg8 https://youtu.be/7oGtgbsmmg8
HKH2 5y ago
I can't wait for holographic jump scares.
- robbedpeter 5y ago
  Holo walls would be awesome. Can these displays work if they're set up in a grid?
generalizations 5y ago
Not a whole lot of substance there. I can't tell if there's anything significant to the tech.
- danboarder 5y ago
  Adam Savage's Tested went further in depth on this tech in the video below, you can see 3D without glasses. How Lightfield Displays Will Make Holograms Possible https://youtu.be/PgiyoweaPb4 https://youtu.be/PgiyoweaPb4 I have a display from Project Looking Glass (Kickstarter version), one of the makers of this tech, it's somewhat low res but very impressive and open for content generated in apps like Blender or 3D cameras.
  - rowanG077 5y ago
    According to the article this is completely different and waaaay more advanced tech.
  - alvarlagerlof 5y ago
    None of those look like the same thing
kingcharles 5y ago
Sounds amazing, but smells like hype. Will reserve judgment.
rasz 5y ago
That demo looks very demo, as in works only in super special narrow circumstances. EDIT: ha, only the blurry chameleon is generated by their tech, diorama is IRL Meatspace prop with good old mechanical actuator. Its a trick. I was expecting a story on https://voxon.co https://voxon.co. Dude who started writing Build engine (Duke Nukem 3D etc) while still in high school works for them https://voxon.co/behind-scenes-voxon-chief-computer-scientist-ken-silverman/ https://voxon.co/behind-scenes-voxon-chief-computer-scientis...
- kingcharles 5y ago
  Thanks. Hopefully he'll port Duke Nukem to it. There are so many startups working on this tech now that my faith is growing. Everything that is sci-fi keeps coming true.
- avalys 5y ago
  Even if it’s only the chameleon, I think that’s a pretty good demo.
- marcellus23 5y ago
  How is it a trick? The sentence right below the embedded video explicitly says only the chameleon is a hologram, seems hard to miss. It’s also still impressive nonetheless.
- bsagdiyev 5y ago
  Hey that’s neat! I remember writing an email to Ken Silverman back around 1999, maybe 10 years old, and asking for advice on how to get in to programming. He actually responded and gave me a few books to check out.
ChuckMcM 5y ago
An interesting strategy to approach it as a light field rather than a projection onto a plane. It seems to me that these things which most readily are useful for "entertainment" and "museums" don't get the level of investment dollars they need when they solve a real problem that someone has. As a result I fear for it's longevity. Still, the Foveon camera was a good example of the cool stuff you could do with computational photography, perhaps computational displays like this one will find a niche.
- unbanned 5y ago
  >solve a real problem that someone has Such as..
  - jakedata 5y ago
    Pornography, of course. Porn funded much of the Internet's growth. Eventually people found other uses for the Internet but the porn is still there.
  - ChuckMcM 5y ago
    So lets say you could do better air traffic control at busy airports this way by having a table projecting a 3D representation of all the traffic in the air so one could instantly see both altitude conflicts and heading conflicts. Could you reduce strain on the controllers? Could you make it effective enough so that you could fly planes closer together and get more traffic through an airport?
Animats 5y ago
Nice. The MIT Media Lab was trying to do that years ago. Somebody finally did it. Now to solve the cost problem.
boboche 5y ago
At least this time the article clearly make the distinction of people using the buzzword vs. the notion of a lightfield. Author seems to know the basics and got geuinely impressed so for once now I am cautiously curious. Wondering if they will show something at CES?
sydbarrett74 5y ago
'The shark still looks fake.'
jiveturkey 5y ago
Sadly, I watched this on my 2d display. I expected an HD vs SD "simulated picture" type of thing but that didn't really happen. One has to just imagine what it might look like.
boboche 5y ago
https://youtu.be/rF0ooPdmF8o https://youtu.be/rF0ooPdmF8o Found this presentation while digging, intro is interresting for people wanting to roughly cover 3d displays and what’s holographic vs hyped stereo or mirror displays. They go more in depth with the tech around the 20 and 26 minutes mark but won’t show actual stuff.
isoprophlex 5y ago
> Holding a magnifying glass up to the object looked exactly like it would with a physical chameleon. Holy shit
- cracell 5y ago
  This is obviously a lie as in their own demo video it's very clearly not a physical chameleon. Remember articles like this are PR pieces. Specifically written to sell the product and find more investors in the company.

51 points by danboarder 5y ago

CNET explains the tech further here and the reporter used a magnifying glass to zoom in on the 3D display, apparently it's high res, requires no glasses to view in 3D: https://youtu.be/7oGtgbsmmg8 https://youtu.be/7oGtgbsmmg8

HKH2 5y ago

I can't wait for holographic jump scares.

robbedpeter 5y ago
Holo walls would be awesome. Can these displays work if they're set up in a grid?

generalizations 5y ago

Not a whole lot of substance there. I can't tell if there's anything significant to the tech.

danboarder 5y ago
Adam Savage's Tested went further in depth on this tech in the video below, you can see 3D without glasses. How Lightfield Displays Will Make Holograms Possible https://youtu.be/PgiyoweaPb4 https://youtu.be/PgiyoweaPb4 I have a display from Project Looking Glass (Kickstarter version), one of the makers of this tech, it's somewhat low res but very impressive and open for content generated in apps like Blender or 3D cameras.
- rowanG077 5y ago
  According to the article this is completely different and waaaay more advanced tech.
- alvarlagerlof 5y ago
  None of those look like the same thing

kingcharles 5y ago

Sounds amazing, but smells like hype. Will reserve judgment.

rasz 5y ago

That demo looks very demo, as in works only in super special narrow circumstances. EDIT: ha, only the blurry chameleon is generated by their tech, diorama is IRL Meatspace prop with good old mechanical actuator. Its a trick. I was expecting a story on https://voxon.co https://voxon.co. Dude who started writing Build engine (Duke Nukem 3D etc) while still in high school works for them https://voxon.co/behind-scenes-voxon-chief-computer-scientist-ken-silverman/ https://voxon.co/behind-scenes-voxon-chief-computer-scientis...

kingcharles 5y ago
Thanks. Hopefully he'll port Duke Nukem to it. There are so many startups working on this tech now that my faith is growing. Everything that is sci-fi keeps coming true.
avalys 5y ago
Even if it’s only the chameleon, I think that’s a pretty good demo.
marcellus23 5y ago
How is it a trick? The sentence right below the embedded video explicitly says only the chameleon is a hologram, seems hard to miss. It’s also still impressive nonetheless.
bsagdiyev 5y ago
Hey that’s neat! I remember writing an email to Ken Silverman back around 1999, maybe 10 years old, and asking for advice on how to get in to programming. He actually responded and gave me a few books to check out.

ChuckMcM 5y ago

An interesting strategy to approach it as a light field rather than a projection onto a plane. It seems to me that these things which most readily are useful for "entertainment" and "museums" don't get the level of investment dollars they need when they solve a real problem that someone has. As a result I fear for it's longevity. Still, the Foveon camera was a good example of the cool stuff you could do with computational photography, perhaps computational displays like this one will find a niche.

unbanned 5y ago
>solve a real problem that someone has Such as..
- jakedata 5y ago
  Pornography, of course. Porn funded much of the Internet's growth. Eventually people found other uses for the Internet but the porn is still there.
- ChuckMcM 5y ago
  So lets say you could do better air traffic control at busy airports this way by having a table projecting a 3D representation of all the traffic in the air so one could instantly see both altitude conflicts and heading conflicts. Could you reduce strain on the controllers? Could you make it effective enough so that you could fly planes closer together and get more traffic through an airport?

Animats 5y ago

Nice. The MIT Media Lab was trying to do that years ago. Somebody finally did it. Now to solve the cost problem.

boboche 5y ago

At least this time the article clearly make the distinction of people using the buzzword vs. the notion of a lightfield. Author seems to know the basics and got geuinely impressed so for once now I am cautiously curious. Wondering if they will show something at CES?

sydbarrett74 5y ago

'The shark still looks fake.'

jiveturkey 5y ago

Sadly, I watched this on my 2d display. I expected an HD vs SD "simulated picture" type of thing but that didn't really happen. One has to just imagine what it might look like.

boboche 5y ago

https://youtu.be/rF0ooPdmF8o https://youtu.be/rF0ooPdmF8o Found this presentation while digging, intro is interresting for people wanting to roughly cover 3d displays and what’s holographic vs hyped stereo or mirror displays. They go more in depth with the tech around the 20 and 26 minutes mark but won’t show actual stuff.

isoprophlex 5y ago

> Holding a magnifying glass up to the object looked exactly like it would with a physical chameleon. Holy shit

cracell 5y ago
This is obviously a lie as in their own demo video it's very clearly not a physical chameleon. Remember articles like this are PR pieces. Specifically written to sell the product and find more investors in the company.