3-D Images Float On Air
Source: The Korea Herald October 18, 2000
Looking like an ordinary TV, a display screen shows a
recent news clip in which a North Korean military leader shakes hands
with U.S. officials. With a simple push of a button, the characters
suddenly leap out, forming a three-dimensional image 50 cm from the
screen. Unless you touch it, it's hard to tell it is just an image, it
almost looks like the real thing.
A hybrid of computer graphics and optical image
processing, the new technology has brought to reality what has only
been seen so far in futuristic sci-fi flicks.
"Everything on the screen from beverage cans to new
cars, from geology guides to animated characters can be converted to
3-D images," said Kim Yong-min, 29, chief executive of XOrbis Co. Ltd.
at a demonstration for the press yesterday.
To see it, viewers need not use the headsets or special
glasses that often make people nauseous and disoriented. Neither do
they have to be connected to the computer with wires that make virtual
reality an awkward experience.
"Virtual images come more natural with this, a thing you
can experience with unaided eyes," he added.
At the heart of the gimmick lies technology called
"volumatrix," which, simply put, makes the image projector recognize a
point somewhere outside the screen as a monitor, he said.
A high-precision optical technology was harnessed to
modify the focus of the image to make it come out of the frame. The
whole picture is divided into foreground and background images, which
are then synchronized as a coherent 3-D image floating on the air.
The core technology has been provided by Optical
Products Development (OPD), a Silicon-based optical display
manufacturer.
Kim and his colleagues have combined their computer
graphics technology with the optical solution in a two-year joint
project, and the efforts resulted in the world's first 3-D image
projector that doesn't require any viewing aids.
3-D visualization solution has been around for years.
Holography forms image with electron beams and is currently limited to
representing simple movements. Stereoscopic systems need additional
devices like a head-mounted viewer, and can be used by only one person
and have a limited viewing angle.
Laser display systems, the most advanced 3-D technology,
needs a catalyst to form an image in the air and is too expensive to
have commercial applications. 3-D computer graphics are just 2-D
images that give a 3-D feel.
"The device gets around such problems to good measure,"
he said.
The device, named O-Cubic, comes in three models with
different image sizes and viewing angles. The lowest-end model offers
an image of 10 cm in diameter, a projection distance of 35 cm, and
viewing angle of 29 degrees in horizon. The figures for a premium
model are 40x30 cm, 46 cm and 55
degree.
The system can accommodate a wide variety of input
sources, including illuminated solid objects, a CRT displaying
real-time computer generated imagery or output from CD, DVD (digital
versatile disk) or conventional video tape.
A number of commercial applications are immediately
available, from product presentation, virtual catalogs, storefront
kiosks and outdoor sign boards for advertising, allowing vendors to
visualize features of their
products more effectively.
"Almost any communication or media delivery application
can be greatly enhanced with the 3D visualization technology," he
said.
"Imagine that that the image of objects float in space
at your store, offering clients a closer look of it in every color and
pattern and rotate the object to see it from various angles.
He is highly optimistic about the commercial prospects
of the products as "the advantages will be simply irresistible."
The merits have succeeded in persuading some domestic
corporations.
The company has signed with SK Telecom to install the
device in mobile phone stores. It will also be deployed at an
exhibition hall in COEX, southern Seoul, and used by an online
advertising agency DKims Communications. Its U.S. partner has won
orders from the U.S. chains Hyatt Hotel and McDonald.
Further development will find other applications like
computer games, encyclopedia and class rooms, he said.
The two companies share patents for the technology
currently pending. Under an agreement, XOrbis holds rights to sell
them in Asia, and OPD will be in charge of marketing in the rest of
the world.
The device is expected to sell for 30 million won, a
price far lower than other 3-D visualization equipment currently
available. (HJJ)
http://koreaherald.co.kr/news/2000/10/__10/20001018_1051.htm