Sony demos 3D display prototype

Author: Gareth Halfacree      Editor: Ben Hardwidge
Published: 20th October 2009
Comments (21) Stumble
Sony demos 3D display prototype

The OLED-based device allows the 96x128 true-colour image to be viewed from any angle.

If you salivate at the thought of 3D displays, but don't like wearing those dorky glasses, then Sony's latest prototype might be just up your street.

The display, which is due to be demonstrated at Japan's Digital Content Expo this Thursday, can be seen over at Impress (Babelfish translation), and it's certainly a departure from the norm.

Rather than a traditional flat screen, the 13 x 27cm cylinder looks more like a stylish desktop water cooler than a display. However, at the heart of the device is a wraparound OLED display that shows an image that can be viewed from any angle - in true 3D. This makes it very different from standard 3D displays that project a 3D picture via anaglyph images or polarising filters.

Sadly, the resolution is currently far from high definition standards: although the little figure is presented in glorious 24-bit colour, it's a mere 96x128 pixels in size (0.12 megapixels), so it's not exactly photo-realism.

That said, the device is clearly a prototype, and a smart one at that. Sony reckons the device will be handy for anyone who needs to work with three dimensional objects, such as those in the medical imaging market. What's more, it will also have the obvious "cool" factor that could see it being snapped up as a neat 3D photo frame - as long as someone releases a decent 3D camera, that is.

A video of the device is available on Sony Japan's website, although the true test of the gadget will of course be the public demonstration on Thursday.

Does Sony's latest wheeze looks like the 3D display you've always wanted, or does the technology have a long way to go before products such as this will be genuinely marketable? Share your thoughts over in the forums.

Via Engadget.
Quote azrael- 20th October 2009, 12:25
Very interesting! Or at the very least it's a lot more interesting than the current crop of 3D technologies needing glasses and whatnot. :)
Quote Omnituens 20th October 2009, 12:25
Until I can have a 3D render of Vergon 6 projected above my desk, I'm not happy.

It's a step in the right direction though.
Quote proxess 20th October 2009, 12:39
Definitely a step in the right direction!
Quote scrimple3D 20th October 2009, 12:54
Given the ability to allow many people to view the 3D image at the same time from different angles I can't see how a wrap-around screen is going to do the job.

If you're standing in one place and you have a wrap-around screen changing the image content to show other viewers the object from a different point of view then you'll just see a blur of changes going on and also it won't be a true 3D image.

It more likely that the low-res screen is spinning in the middle of the device, changing its image depending on the position of the rotation. That's been done before using projected images and its intention was also for medical use.

Just my 2p worth.
Quote VipersGratitude 20th October 2009, 16:31
"as long as someone releases a decent 3D camera, that is"
Yeah, exactly how could you take a picture of ,say, a house? The cheapest, and lowest-tech method would be a few carefully positioned enormous inverted onmiramic reflectors..if you couldnt afford a massive array of lenses and the scaffolding to hold them in place.
It's only good for rendered objects.
Quote crompers 20th October 2009, 18:06
would love one of these to display my 3DS character models on my desk, would be awesome
Quote Yadda 20th October 2009, 18:24
For such a small screen it looks a bit big (deep), like an old CRT monitor. Does that mean big computer desks are going to make a comeback?

*looks-up Chinese desk manufacturing companies*

Rodney my son, this time next year we'll be millionaires.....

:D
Quote johnnyboy700 20th October 2009, 18:40
Well I suppose we have to start somewhere...
Quote Yadda 20th October 2009, 18:55
Perhaps this technology relies on the "screen" being fairly deep to generate the depth of field perspective.

It'll be fun if it has to be as deep as it is square, like a fish tank on the desk. If the Images are "true" 3D and crisp it'll be well worth it though.
Quote HourBeforeDawn 20th October 2009, 19:51
still in the right direction at least, anything but those stupid glasses is the right direction.
Quote scrimple3D 20th October 2009, 20:54
If it is a spinning 2D display which varies output depending on angle (relative to the hardware) in order to describe the object in 3D space then it's unlikely to be used for large displays.
Quote Wolfe 20th October 2009, 21:01
Quote:
Originally Posted by Article

Sadly, the resolution is currently far from high definition standards: although the little figure is presented in glorious 24-bit colour, it's a mere 96x128 pixels in size (0.12 megapixels), so it's not exactly photo-realism.

You're forgetting that since you can view this from any angle, it's has to be rendered in voxels.

Depending on how it works (swept screen, or something new), it's more likely that it's approx 96*96*128, which is 1.17 mp.
In any event, processing power to drive 3D displays does not scale quite linearly, so it takes [b]lots[b] of processing power.
Quote Yadda 20th October 2009, 21:02
Quote:
Originally Posted by scrimple3D
If it is a spinning 2D display which varies output depending on angle (relative to the hardware) in order to describe the object in 3D space then it's unlikely to be used for large displays.

The article says it's based on a OLED display.

"However, at the heart of the device is a wraparound OLED display that shows an image that can be viewed from any angle - in true 3D. "
Quote scrimple3D 21st October 2009, 08:14
Yes, the article *says* it's a wrap around display (and perhaps it was a guess), but as the device is capable of showing many people a view of the object then it can't be a wrap around display since the act of changing the content of the display will simply produce a series of rapidly changing images at each viewpoint.

A flat, wraparound screen wouldn't even work for one viewer since it can't provide depth and wouldn't even sort out rotation unless some method was present to determine where the viewer was.

The spinning 2D screen works because, when spinning fast enough and with a suitably high refresh rate, it's capable of positioning information in 3D space. Your eye is fooled into thinking it's seeing a 3D object.

This technique is unlikely to be found in large displays since, as Wolfe suggests, the numbers get big very quickly. The resolution at the outer edge would very quickly become a problem.

Regardless, it would be interesting to see a technical explanation of it all.
Quote scrimple3D 21st October 2009, 08:29
...... and the physical appearance of the device, particularly when you take into account what Sony is capable of in terms of packaging, also suggests it's not as simple as displaying images on a wraparound screen.
Quote Bursar 21st October 2009, 10:42
Has anyone been able to get the video to play? I've tried both the Google translated page, and the native url, both in IE and Firefox, but no go.
Quote scrimple3D 21st October 2009, 10:48
It's not available until tomorrow..... so the conversation goes on Engadget.
Quote Star*Dagger 22nd October 2009, 05:14
This is going to revolutionize display tech!!!
Quote Joeymac 22nd October 2009, 07:33
Quote:
Originally Posted by scrimple3D
Yes, the article *says* it's a wrap around display (and perhaps it was a guess), but as the device is capable of showing many people a view of the object then it can't be a wrap around display since the act of changing the content of the display will simply produce a series of rapidly changing images at each viewpoint.

A flat, wraparound screen wouldn't even work for one viewer since it can't provide depth and wouldn't even sort out rotation unless some method was present to determine where the viewer was.

The spinning 2D screen works because, when spinning fast enough and with a suitably high refresh rate, it's capable of positioning information in 3D space. Your eye is fooled into thinking it's seeing a 3D object.

This technique is unlikely to be found in large displays since, as Wolfe suggests, the numbers get big very quickly. The resolution at the outer edge would very quickly become a problem.

Regardless, it would be interesting to see a technical explanation of it all.

The spinning display in your example would have to flicker the image in a very controlled and complicated way. For starters the image would have to be vertically symmetrical on the axis of the display wouldn't it? You could get a non symmetrical 2D image floating in 3D space with the spin method... but that's not what this is.

The only way I can think that the wrap around screen would work is with eyeball tracking, but that doesn't seem practical for multiple viewers.
Quote scrimple3D 22nd October 2009, 10:41
"You could get a non symmetrical 2D image floating in 3D space with the spin method... but that's not what this is."

The spinning method *obviously* involves lots of processing since the spinning display is having to describe the outer layer of the object in 3D space for each supported angle of rotation. It's how the projected version works (except the one I saw was in monochrome). Persistence of vision does the rest.

The object does not have to be symmetrical.
Quote scrimple3D 22nd October 2009, 10:53
.... or perhaps it's more like this.... http://gl.ict.usc.edu/Research/3DDisplay/

.... except using OLED.
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