Thread: Star Wars Tech - Yours For A Low $18K

  1. #1
    Widdle Coding Peon Aerie's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2004
    Posts
    115

    Star Wars Tech - Yours For A Low $18K

    I live in a giant bucket.

  2. #2
    UT2004 Addict Kleid-0's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2004
    Posts
    656
    And people want LCDs, what the heck were they thinking!

  3. #3
    That reminded me of when I was younger, and that If you looked at those Magic Eye books with your eyes crossed, the front will sink and the background will come way out and you can touch it too

  4. #4
    Registered User
    Join Date
    Dec 2004
    Posts
    43
    WOW thats some amazing technology. I have seen a similar thing done a few years ago with lasers and holograms at the London Science museum, but I havent ever seen a multi-coloured version like that. and $18,000 not too bad when you consider that a few years ago the top end LCD projectors cost that.

  5. #5
    ---
    Join Date
    May 2004
    Posts
    1,379
    I bought one yesterday....










    Not really.

  6. #6
    Widdle Coding Peon Aerie's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2004
    Posts
    115
    Heh. What's REALLY cool, I think, is that it doesn't require a screen or fog/mist or anything -- it's a direct air projection, though admittedly it has to 'modify'(prolly ionize) the air before projecting to it... they claim whatever it does is non-chemical and temporary, so ionization is all I can think of...
    I live in a giant bucket.

  7. #7
    Registered User
    Join Date
    Oct 2004
    Posts
    63
    Wow, thats awesome!

    I want one...next christmas? :P

    C Board members! If you each donate $1...we will be on a good start to getting me one
    -Webmaster-
    http://www.koaworld.com
    Pr0gr4m|\/|1Ng n00b

  8. #8
    verbose cat
    Join Date
    Jun 2003
    Posts
    209
    Now that kicks... um, bottom. They said it only projects a 2d image like a regular computer monitor... it's only a matter of time though...

    Imagine this technology catching on big and the units replace LCD and CRT technology in the vast majority of applications. Now the technology is developed such that it actually displays a 3-dimensional image if the program running can support it (otherwise it can apply effects like shadows or make the 2d images into 3d "block" images). DirectX and OpenGL jump on the bandwagon and suddenly Unreal Tribes 3D is released... instead of using a mouse and keyboard, you plunge your hand into the display with a pen-like object (USB device that comes bundled with the game, or perhaps is already in use for other applications) with a couple buttons... You maneuver through the death match/capture the flag match/etc. by pushing the device forward from a specific position (calibrated like an analogue joystick is calibrated nowadays), turning the pen sideways to turn corridors, pointing it at opponents and clicking one of the buttons for your weapon, a slight flick of the wrist upward to effect a jump...

    NOW comes the part that I can forsee being really exciting. Imagine an industrious company working with this technology to develop HUGE Heliodisplays set up in a small room or large booth, with speakers in various places in the walls like a movie theatre. Make the floor moveable like a huge trackball so as the person walks around this virtual room the floor moves in the opposite direction and the display updates so it actually feels as though you are walking around.

    We already have technology that can track a person's movements (those playstation games with the camera that puts you into the game and tracks where you move your hands to determine if/when you do stuff), so this type of technology could be used to track when a person hops in the air and how high and such (or like the arcade boxing games and those new consoles for baseball, bowling and stuff, require a special pair of gloves, a belt, anklets and a headband so the program can keep your orientation in mind and more accurately display an image of you with your picture as a texture).

    Now, this industrious company makes a plastic gun with a couple sensors in it, sets up a huge warehouse with many of these rooms and a next-gen Deathmatch type game... Now THAT would ROCK!

    And here we see the next step toward this type of game... Or this type of virtual tour through a prospective home... or this type of virtual expo, virtual ANYTHING, all without requiring anything special of the end user except perhaps a simple sensor to keep track of the user's orientation so she can be displayed accurately to other users. And this would be so much more natural of a way to interact with the program's environment than using an artificial plastic mouse to represent where you are... What about people who aren't physically able to walk around in that environment? No problem. If they're already confined to a wheelchair, the program could make an accomodation and display this person as standing / walking / running / etc. to all other participants, and the person in the wheelchair would use an old school joystick to represent the direction and speed he is moving. Might take some getting used to, but you could pick up a virtual object and the display would show it in your hand even though you don't have a physical object... it could be thrown, dropped, put on a shelf, etc.

    God I wish I had the ability to work on this type of stuff for a living! Ok, I'll shut up now.

  9. #9
    Yes, my avatar is stolen anonytmouse's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2002
    Posts
    2,544
    Anyone got institutional access to ieee.org so we can see this document?

    http://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=...plore.ieee.org

    This page suggests it is based on a fog screen and the required moisture is extracted from the air.

    I'm still a little skeptical.
    Last edited by anonytmouse; 01-21-2005 at 07:01 AM.

  10. #10
    ---
    Join Date
    May 2004
    Posts
    1,379
    >>I'm still a little skeptical.
    skeptical about what? it works! what is there to be skeptical about?

  11. #11
    Yes, my avatar is stolen anonytmouse's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2002
    Posts
    2,544
    >> it works! <<

    Who says? And under what conditions? Why haven't we seen any press?

  12. #12
    The C-er
    Join Date
    Mar 2004
    Posts
    192
    When I saw this I thought - "pah - scam".

  13. #13
    Widdle Coding Peon Aerie's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2004
    Posts
    115
    Quote Originally Posted by anonytmouse
    Anyone got institutional access to ieee.org so we can see this document?

    http://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=...plore.ieee.org

    This page suggests it is based on a fog screen and the required moisture is extracted from the air.

    I'm still a little skeptical.
    That's a different technology, developed by a completely different group of people.
    I live in a giant bucket.

  14. #14
    Widdle Coding Peon Aerie's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2004
    Posts
    115
    It got some press attention back in the day.

    The main reason is that the guys who made this thing didn't just sell it off to some big company who'd take over and paper the world with press releases and advertisements. In other words, if they actually make this competive(IE., quieter, bigger screen size, affordable) they want to be the ones making money off it. They could prolly get a few K from selling it to somebody, but frankly, that would screw them over long term. They'd get a flat amount of cash, which would be nice, but if this gets off the ground, they wouldn't be the ones raking in the bucks.

    The ideas behind this are pretty easy to follow, really, and it only surprises me that it took so long for this to be developed...
    I live in a giant bucket.

  15. #15
    Yes, my avatar is stolen anonytmouse's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2002
    Posts
    2,544
    Quote Originally Posted by Aerie
    That's a different technology, developed by a completely different group of people.
    Quote Originally Posted by Geeknews
    IO2Technology (6:04pm EST Thu Sep 18 2003)
    This thing is garbage comparing to www.io2technology.com's screen. They don't need any medium but air. And it can act as a touch screen.

    Say good buy to his POS. - by JoeLee
    IO2technology (12:40am EST Mon Nov 03 2003)
    There thing is the same only they have a dehydrator built in to suck water out of the air then vaporise it and pump it through some nicer jets to make the "screen" smoother - by bobbdobbs
    IO2technology (5:18am EST Tue Feb 03 2004)
    Also the size of IO2technologys screen is somewhat smaller, that could explain the smoother pics.

    If you look at the videos from IO2technology (their new site has those now), you can see that it's not that smooth after all.

    Compared to FogScreen, IO2technology has the projector built in their system somehow. Also what's interesting, IO2technology claims that the image from rear is transparent, or a copy of what's in the front. This I'd like to see and understand. - by Arkkimaagi
    Quote Originally Posted by Aerie
    The ideas behind this are pretty easy to follow, really, and it only surprises me that it took so long for this to be developed...
    Would you care to explain these ideas? I'm curious on how one projects an image on to thin air.

Popular pages Recent additions subscribe to a feed

Similar Threads

  1. star wars vs star trek
    By psychopath in forum A Brief History of Cprogramming.com
    Replies: 28
    Last Post: 06-14-2005, 10:28 PM
  2. Does anyone have a Legit Star Wars battlefront CD key?
    By Shamino in forum A Brief History of Cprogramming.com
    Replies: 1
    Last Post: 05-25-2005, 05:38 AM
  3. Resource ICONs
    By gbaker in forum Windows Programming
    Replies: 4
    Last Post: 12-15-2003, 07:18 AM
  4. Star Wars Kid: Episode II.
    By Cheeze-It in forum A Brief History of Cprogramming.com
    Replies: 54
    Last Post: 07-31-2003, 04:41 PM
  5. Star Wars or Star Trek
    By Garfield in forum A Brief History of Cprogramming.com
    Replies: 32
    Last Post: 09-28-2001, 08:33 AM