Microsoft HoloDesk

[Silversurfer]

By Daniel Cooper posted Oct 20th 2011 2:52PM


[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHL5tJ9j ... r_embedded[/youtube]

If you'd thought that OmniTouch and PocketTouch were the end of Microsoft Research's natural user interface projects, think again. It's now released a video of the HoloDesk, a tool that lets you manipulate virtual 3D objects with your bare hands. Looking through a transparent display, the objects react nearly instantly, rolling from a sheet of real paper into a real cup and falling into shadow if you block the virtual light-source. The Cambridge lab that developed the tool sees uses in remote working, collaboration or device prototyping. If you hadn't guessed, there's a hacked Kinect at the heart of HoloDesk's DNA, which makes us wonder how long it'll be before we can use it to play Halo.
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[Fredz]

Wow, great !

I wonder why they didn't make it stereoscopic though, because this display looks very similar to a Planar setup. I guess it should be possible to replace the beamsplitter with a half-silvered mirror and use this with polarized glasses for stereoscopic visualization.

But great idea and implementation anyway, kudos to Microsoft for that.

[cybereality]

Yeah, this is really impressive. Still had some latency, but the concept worked.

@Fredz: A stereo mirror setup wouldn't work right, because they need the objects to overlay real objects. It would only be 3D behind the AR interaction (since the second monitor would be in the back). However they could have used an active setup, with shutter glasses I suppose.