Random Accesses

If the resurgence of 3D glasses at local cinemas are any indication, we all want a bit more, ahem, depth to our cinematic experience. Unfortunately, the stylish glasses don't exactly lend themselves to an immersive experience. What would be really cool would be animated holograms.

While holograms aren't the easiest things in the world to make, it is possible to take a 3D computer model and compute the data necessary to generate a hologram that can be used to project a 3D image from a screen. Given that animation is largely computer generated now anyway, where are my holographic animated movies?

One of the problems turns out to be efficient rendering. A recent paper in Optics Express, although it presents a huge speed-up in holographic rendering, demonstrates just how difficult the problem is. The basic animation is now well within the reach of modern rendering farms—unfortunately, that doesn't leave any power left to put into important things like shading, lighting, and shadows (much less character and plot).

Source: http://arstechnica.com/hardware/news/2009/08/holographic-gpu-renders-at-near-real-time-speeds.ars

The 3D web moved closer to reality as Mozilla, the developer of the Firefox browser, joined forces with graphics consortium Khronos. Khronos has set up a working group to create a standard for what it calls accelerated 3D graphics on the web.

It could lead to widespread browser-based gaming as well as creating 3D environments in social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace.

The aim is to produce a first public version within a year.

"For a number of reasons, I think now is the time to .. figure out what an initial take of 3D on the web should look like," said Mozilla's infrastructure engineer Vladimir Vukicevic in his blog.

"People are doing more and more on the web… adding 3D to this mix ensures that current web applications can experiment with new user experiences, while also enabling new classes of web applications," he said.

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7963302.stm

As the demand grows for more sophisticated web applications, a very clear need has emerged for new, standards-based technologies that can expand the expressiveness and versatility of the medium. One standard that has long been neglected by browser implementors is the Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language (SMIL). Mozilla has recently taken a big step towards bring SMIL to the masses: after five years of development, a preliminary SMIL implementation for Firefox has landed. Although the implementation is still not entirely complete today, it covers a reasonably broad spectrum of features in the standard.

Another project that we have been watching closely is the Canvas 3D JavaScript library (C3DL), which aims to facilitate the development of browser-based interactive 3D graphics with JavaScript. It is highly experimental and is still at a relatively early stage in its evolution.

It was first created by Mozilla's Vladimir Vukićević, who hoped to eventually create an official standard for an OpenGL-like JavaScript API. The project has been picked up by an awesome team at Seneca College that is pushing it forward and adding a lot of impressive features.

Source: http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20090121-smil-animation-and-3d-canvas-library-for-firefox.html

Picture this: you're sat down for the Football World Cup final, or a long-awaited sequel to the "Sex and the City" movie and you're watching all the action unfold in 3-D on your coffee table.

The reason for renewed optimism in three-dimensional technology is a breakthrough in rewritable and erasable holographic systems made earlier this year by researchers at the University of Arizona.

Dr Nasser Peyghambarian, chair of photonics and lasers at the university's Optical Sciences department, told CNN that scientists have broken a barrier by making the first updatable three-dimensional displays with memory.

"This is a prerequisite for any type of moving holographic technology. The way it works presently is not suitable for 3-D images," he said.

Source: http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/science/10/06/holographic.television/index.html

Computer scientists and engineers have developed a new technology for the purpose of seeing through walls. The new technological gadget boasts visual penetration through wood, plaster, brick and reinforced concrete. The device uses sound waves at a particular frequency and a series of algorithms in the computer software to capture images through a wall or door and create 3D images. The military and law enforcement agencies hope to incorporate the device into their projects.

X-ray vision is no longer just for sci-fi movies and superheroes. Now, superhuman powers are closer to real life than you might think. Engineers have developed a new device, called the Xaver that can see straight through walls.

"It's designed to find people through walls and tell you where they are and how many there are," says engineer Robert Judd. The device can see through plaster, brick, even reinforced concrete.

Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/videos/2007/0706-seeing_through_walls.htm