Scientists claim to have developed the world’s first
holographic flexible smartphone that lets users interact with 3D videos
and images without any headgear or glasses.
The
device, dubbed HoloFlex, is capable of rendering 3D images with motion
parallax and stereoscopy to multiple simultaneous users without head
tracking or glasses.
“HoloFlex offers a completely
new way of interacting with your smartphone. It allows for glasses-free
interactions with 3D video and images in a way that does not encumber
the user,” said Roel Vertegaal, from Queen’s University in Canada.
HoloFlex features a 1920x1080 full high-definition Flexible Organic Light Emitting Diode (FOLED) touchscreen display.
Images are rendered into 12-pixel wide circular blocks rendering the full view of the 3D object from a particular viewpoint.
These pixel blocks project through a 3D printed flexible microlens
array consisting of over 16,000 fisheye lenses. The resulting 160x104
resolution image allows users to inspect a 3D object from any angle
simply by rotating the phone.
HoloFlex is also
equipped with a bend sensor, which allows for the user to bend the phone
as a means of moving objects along the z-axis of the display.
Vertegaal envisions a number of applications for the new functionality of the HoloFlex technology.
A first application is the use of bend gestures for Z-Input to
facilitate the editing of 3D models, for example, when 3D printing.
Using the touchscreen, a user can swipe to manipulate objects in the x
and y axes, while squeezing the display to move objects along the
z-axis.
Due to the wide view angle, multiple users can examine a 3D model simultaneously from different points of view.
“By employing a depth camera, users can also perform holographic video conferences with one another,” said Vertegaal.
“When bending the display users literally pop out of the screen and can
even look around each other, with their faces rendered correctly from
any angle to any onlooker,” he said.
HoloFlex also
can be used for holographic gaming. In a game such as Angry Birds, for
example, users would be able to bend the side of the display to pull the
elastic rubber band that propels the bird.
When the
bird flies across the screen, the holographic display makes the bird
literally pop out of the screen in the third dimension.
No comments:
Post a Comment