The Cutting Edge: COMPUTING / TECHNOLOGY / INNOVATION : Projecting 3-D Images Into the Future
If you saw an ironing board or a pair of blue jeans floating above the sidewalk, you might conclude that you’d been working too hard. But it could be that you’d just encountered novel technology capable of projecting realistic, full-color, 3-D images--with no special glasses required.
Known as HDVD, for high-definition volumetric display, the technology relies on a combination of sophisticated computer software and a complicated array of optical filters and lenses to project images into space. HDVD’s inventor, Dimensional Media Associates of New York, is secretive about the technical details, but it says its equipment can project images ranging in size from a few inches to 20 feet. And the viewing angle can be as wide as 360 degrees, permitting onlookers to actually walk around the projection.
Advertisers, not surprisingly, are intrigued. “When the founders of DMA brought this technology to our attention, we thought it was an exciting new media that could have broad applications for our clients,” says Barry Linsky, senior vice president at the Interpublic Group, a major ad agency. “We see this as both an advertising media and a promotional media--any time it’s helpful to draw people’s attention to new products.”
At the Electronic Entertainment Exposition in Los Angeles this week, HDVD’s attention-getting abilities will be put to the test. Together with Pacific Automation, a company that specializes in interactive displays, DMA will be mounting an interactive information kiosk that uses projected 3-D images.
“We will set up a directory that will allow visitors to the show to easily find a specific person at the show and be directed to their trade booth,” explained Steve Weick, vice president of research and development for DMA. A computer-animated 3-D image of the show’s E3 logo will roll and tumble and explode in thin air; beneath the logo artistry is a full-color panel that visitors can interact with to get information.
A key aspect of DMA’s design is that it combines the projected 3-D image with a back screen that can show any kind of video.
“Let’s say for instance that Coca-Cola is showing their commercials on the back screen and they want to show dancing bears in mid-air (in front of the commercial),” says Susan Kasen Summer, chairwoman of DMA.
“We will digitally render those dancing bears, which add a further visual dimension to the experience.” The 3D images can even become part of the commercial on the back screen, creating the illusion of objects absorbed into and spewed from the picture behind them.
Besides advertising, other applications for HDVD include entertainment systems, virtual reality worlds and medical education--though for the moment, museum and trade show displays seem to be the more practical uses.
