Have you ever thought how a full-color 360-degree 3D display will look like? You don’t need to visualize it now as a team of researchers led by Susumu Tachi ay the University of Tokyo has devised a rotary panoramic display that throws the viewers into a 3D video environment. The Telexistence Wide-angle Immersive STEReoscope (aka TWISTER) is claimed to be the world’s first full-color 360-degree 3D display, which viewers can experience without the need to wear any annoying 3D glasses.
TWISTER is the result of long 10 years of research and development. The cylindrical display, which measures 4 ft tall and 6.5 ft wide, comprises 50,000 LEDs set in columns. When the display moves over the observer’s head at speed of 1.6 revolutions per second, the specifically arranged LED columns creates a slightly different image to each of the observer’s eyes to create a 3D illusion. The 3D image of the observer is taken by the cameras fitted on the rotating panels. Technically, TWISTER plays with the observer’s eye with a phenomenon called ‘binocular parallax,’ which is the apparent difference in position of an object as seen separately by the left eye and the right eye.
Currently, TWISTER is able to present pre-recorded 3D video from a computer only but the researchers are working to widen TWISTER’s 3D videophone capabilities by outfitting it with a camera system that can capture real-time 3D images of the person inside the system. These three-dimensional images can further be sent to a TWISTER positioned somewhere else via fiber optics. In this way, two people will be able to enjoy real-time 3D virtual interaction.
Meeting in a virtual place? Sounds an interesting idea! But, the only thing that might restrain common man from buying TWISTER (if it goes into commercial production) is its large size.
Via: PinkTentacle
