360-degree 3D autostereoscopic display

Recently several devices and technologies have been introduced using a three-dimensional display (3D smartphone,

3D computer display, touchable holography). Actually they are using two-dimensional displays to generate the

illusion of a three-dimensional image. But on this years SIGGRAPH japanese company SONY introduces a 3D display

wrapped in a cylinder that is ten inches tall and has a diameter of five inches. The prototype not just allows to reach

into the display and turn objects, but it also allows to walk around and watch it from all angles.

DarvishP (feat. Megpoid) - Holography (single)

Holography is a japanese anime song by interpreter DarvishP. The track is produced with VOCALOID, which is a technology and application software developed by Yamaha enabling users to synthesize authentic-sounding singing just by typing in lyrics and melody. Sometimes a real human voice is recorded and being used the basis for the synthetic new voice.

Megpoid is the name of one of the voices generated by VOCALOID and is synthesized of the real voice of Megumi Nakaji. She is a seiyū (voice actress) and a singer. For an animated synthetic voice does not have a body, an anime character is created. The mascot of voice Megpoid is GUMI.

GUMI: mascot of voice Megpoid

Holography (cover)

DarvishP (feat. Megpoid) - Holography

This is supposed to be the english translation:

Silence echoes from the voice of, an unknown source that haunts me.

Fading through time, I go back to that day.

My heart is torn between my,

lust for rays of sunshine

Enclosing myself in everlasting despair

Smeared across this canvas painting such beauty to life

Catching dreams as they fly by

All the little things you notice seem to matter most

The feeling of belonging to you

Everything passes me by like the cold wind

Wishing to release the solitude within my heart

A corrupted world with obscure revenue

How can I break free from this boundless nightmare I suffer from

Day by day, limitless nights which go nowhere

Ascertain the meaning of life we have to at all costs

The sands of time, fade away with such tourment

Weakness descends, under my grasp!

Reminiscing such emotions, intwining souless thoughts that

wander through my mind rendering me helpless...

Retaining relentless feelings, with impure thoughts of carnage

Why is it that I, sense a sudden presence of warmth

Smeared across this canvas, painting such beauty to life

Capture dreams with every stroke

All the little things you notice seem to matter most

Reaching towards my every desire

The answer is ...

All I see passes me by like the cold wind

Wishing to release the solitude within my heart

A corrupted world with such tarnished lies

How can I break free from this boundless nightmare I suffer from

Tomorrow will bring hope for the future I seek

All this frustration soon fades away and slowly disapates

Can you see me? By-and-by with no regret

I will one day, walk my own path

Sharp announces 3D smartphone

Japanese company Sharp announces the international release of a smartphone with a 3D display, that also comes with a 3D capable camera, by the end of 2010.

No glasses are needed to see the three-dimensional illusion that is generated by a technology called parallax barrier system, which has been introduced in April this year. This technology is characterized by vertical slits dividing the light emitted by the display and radiating them into to the left and right eye of the observer. The fundamental principle is the same as lately described in Apple patents glass-free holographic 3D display.

The parallax barrier system technology just works on small displays, because it requires a frontal view, which is mostly given on mobile devices.

Apple patents glasses-free holographic 3D display

Mid May the U.S. Patent and Trade Office reveals a new patent application from Apple, original submitted Jan. 14th of 2010. Under the title Three-Dimensional Display System it describes an "angularly responsive reflective surface".

A projector generates an image onto a special screen, which reflects the images into the right and left eye of the observer.

Furthermore the position of an observer is tracked by an advanced camera system / light sensor syncs the projector system to ensuring that the light beam for the left and right images would correctly reach the observer's respective left and right eyes:

"The positions of one or more observers are also tracked in real time so that the images that are being projected to the observers can be continually customized to each observer individually. [...] The real time positional tracking of the observer(s) also enables 3D images having a realistic vertical as well as horizontal parallax."

"In addition, each 3D image can be adjusted according to the observers' individually changing viewing positions, thereby enabling personally customized and individuated 3D images to be viewed in a dynamic and changeable environment. Further, the positional tracking and positionally responsive image adjustment enable synthetization of true holographic viewing experiences."

The patent also describes "unobtrusive 3D virtual desktop" allowing users to "manipulate objects within the desktop by reaching into the virtual display" and "grasping" and "pushing" the objects.

"The manipulation of the virtual objects occurs because the feedback mechanism recognizes observer movements, such as finger movements, at the locations of the virtual objects and reconfigures the display of the virtual objects in response."

The idea of accomplishing multi-touch with projected objects in a 3D space isn't all new. In February entry Hand tracking introduces Johnny Chung Lees similar work.

Star Wars IV: Holo Chess

Entry Futurama: Holo Chess assumes the holo chess game between Fry and Bender as a reference to the holo chess scene in Futureworld. But it seems more likely that it refers to a similar scene in more popular movie Star Wars IV: A new hope from 1977.

Star Wars IV: A new hope (1977)

Played in Futureworld (1976) one year earlier, the chess game in Star Wars IV is recognizable as a holographic one, even it is not mentioned, and does not need no explanation about what it is.

The man who fell to earth

In the same year as Chuck Browning and Tracy Ballard play holo chess in Futureworld, another movie comes to the cinemas using a hologram: The man who fell to earth.

In the Sci-Fi movie from 1976, which is based on same-titled novel by Walter Tevis from 1963 and directed by Nicolas Roeg, David Bowie plays main character Thomas Jerome Newton. Newton is a humanoid alien from outer space falling down to earth to find water for his dried out planet. He founds hi-tech billion company World Enterprise to build a spaceship taking him back home again.

Right in the middle of the movie is a short shot showing his wife on far distant home planet forestalling the idea of holographic television. She holds a holographic screen to watch his husband on earth.

The man who fell to earth (1976)

Therewith The man who fell to earth is also one of the earliest movies, in which holography appears.

The above shown scene does not just show a hologram. Subliminal the scene demonstrates one of the main characteristics of holography, the parallax view. The alien wife can see the front of red-head Newton in the TV commercial, that stays hidden to the observer sitting in front of the TV watching it.

While in Futureworld the chess game is not recognizable as holographic chess and needs later explanation, the holographic display in The man who fell to earth is clearly visible as a hologram, as it is in use.