ZScape 3D holographic prints take maps to the next dimension

[Silversurfer]

By Ben Bowers posted Dec 8th 2010 12:23AM

[youtube-hd]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... 9QR3qaK_Cs[/youtube-hd]

As the video above shows, Zebra Imaging's so called ZScape prints pull off some pretty amazing 3D visual effects despite being based on old school hologram technology. These prints are made using a variety of 3D data sources -- think AutoCad and the like -- that are then rendered as thousands of holographic elements by recording laser light onto a single film-based material. The resulting images are easily viewed without glasses or spinning mirrors, and just require a run-of-the-mill halogen or LED light source to reveal 360-degree, full color representations -- akin to what a physical model might look like. Fancier versions can also be made using overlays and layering techniques to show more information. To date, over 8,000 ZScapes have already been developed for the US military, but surprisingly their prices range between $1,500 for a 12- x 18-inch version to $3,500 for the largest 2- x 3-foot size, making them relatively obtainable for those not on Defense Department tabs. If the video of Seattle pulling an Inception above didn't impress you enough, be sure to check another embedded video after the break.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6AVAzGQM ... r_embedded[/youtube]

http://www.engadget.com/2010/12/08/zsca ... ension-sa/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Dvice
Zebra Imaging

[Silversurfer]

don't know what is the matter with the first embedded YouTube video footage but you go to the article you can find the link there.
old school holographics rock, now if you could only make these prints animated.......

[Fredz]

It reminds me of the Ultimate technique invented 10 years ago (2001), maybe they use a similar technology :


It's nice to see holograms of such a quality used with computer-generated content. Holograms are really a great thing, better than stereoscopy for still images in some regards since they inherently don't suffer from problems like the vergence-accommodation conflict, multiple viewers and observers movement.

But apart from the animation problem which has seen some progress recently (but only at 2im/s for now) they'll have to address the very limited depth range before being able to be used for movies or video games.

[cybereality]

Thats a really impressive video and gives a glimpse of how good things will be once we sort out the issues with holograms (mainly animation). Whats really amazing is that all the comments were really positive and everyone was blown away. Even though this is not even remotely new technology. I've worked with holography before and was doing stuff like this years ago (although the lab only had the capacity for single color prints, the 3d was just as impressive). The thing is, stereo 3d displays today can look just as good, assuming you look at them dead-on and don't move your head (and really, how often do you move your head when playing a PC game?). I think those fools just have no idea what stereo 3d really is. If they actually saw it, they might wake up. It just that holograms and cheap hacks (like the Johnny Lee video) make for good YouTube clips but stereoscopic 3D displays don't really translate well into 2D video at all. They just don't get it. Its like if we imagine no one had ever seen or heard of HD before and we were trying to explain it. But lets say we could only communicate through YouTube, and only at 240P. Posting videos of Blu-Ray scenes at 240P would not impress anyone. Its sort of like the same situation.