An interactive holographic display that can create 3D digital worlds inside a special pyramid shaped display has raised more than four times its crowdfunding target.
The device, developed by Vancouver based H+Technology, sits on a table top and can be viewed from numerous different angles. Using a smartphone or tablet users can interact with 3D objects 'inside' the pyramid.
The company hopes that the device will help people to interact with technology more naturally in groups, rather than alone.
Isn't Kinect a better interface for this kind of thing?
(Score: 3, Informative) by kaszz on Tuesday June 23 2015, @11:31PM
The BBC article is a horrible mess so here's a direct link to the image [bbci.co.uk] of the transparent pyramid. It does however look awfully like a mockup with plastic objects inside. Perhaps that what it is? Regardless, how is this suppose to work?
Some links:
* H+Technology [hplustech.com]
* H+ Technology receives the Company of the Year and Most Disruptive Awards from DigiBC [startupbeat.com]
* Holus Turns Your Digital Media Into Interactive 3D Holograms [techtimes.com] (javascript warning - turn off) "One Holus" can be ordered for 688 US$, "One Holus Pro" 769 US$ expected to ship 2016-Q2
* Holus: The Interactive Tabletop Holographic Display by hplustech [kickstarter.com] Holus Home 850 US$, 385 backers 255 398 US$ pledged of 50 000 US$ goal.
I suspect it works by having an ordinary display in the top of the unit that radiate its picture downwards towards the pyramid shape which then reflect that image in way that makes the eye interpretate it as a 3D structure?
Also watch out for the cheaper models that seem to lack the SDK. Which can be kind of defeating before compatible content is available.
(Score: 1) by pinchy on Tuesday June 23 2015, @11:45PM
Its probably something similar to http://www.voxiebox.com/ [voxiebox.com]
A plate thats moving up and down really fast and something that projects onto it a different image at each z position.
(Score: 1) by FrogBlast on Tuesday June 23 2015, @11:54PM
It isn't. The techtimes article says more explicitly that it isn't a hologram. Each side of the box can get a different, flat image floating in the cube, but it's four viewpoints total, which is not something you can get parallax from. People in the techtimes comments left comments like, "This could help me with my 3D modelling," and "I can't wait to play games on it," which really underscores the fact that people wouldn't be giving it money if they actually understood what it does. Their video obscures it well enough that it seems deliberate. The whole thing is shady. It's just four flat screens, with weird presentation.
(Score: 2) by kaszz on Wednesday June 24 2015, @12:01AM
So it's a dud?
Would been nice if it worked like a real 3D thing.
(Score: 2) by jcross on Wednesday June 24 2015, @02:37AM
So no head tracking? If it offered four views, each with dynamic perspective like the Fire Phone, that could be pretty cool. Still no parallax but maybe enough of an illusion to make it *feel* like 3D.