The BBC are clearly planning ahead, the future looks good for 3D!
Some of the technology in their recent R&D White paper sounds very impressive... particularly Helium3D's direct projected view RGB laser display.
HELIUM3D is creating a 3D display that will extend the state of the art in autostereoscopic (glasses free) displays. The HELIUM3D display technology addresses the effficiency and colour limitations of current and next generation displays by developing a new display technology based on direct-view RGB laser projection via a low loss transparent display screen to the eyes of viewers.
"The fundamental features of the display are:
- Support for multiple viewers
- Allow for viewer freedom of movement
- Motion parallax to all viewers
- High brightness and colour gamut
- Viewer gesture/interaction tracking
- User-centred design, ensuring that future products are "fit for purpose" in terms of perception and usability
Several viewing modes are possible including: motion parallax (the 'look around' capability) to each viewer, privacy of viewing from other viewers, a different camera viewpoint to each viewer and also conventional 2D to all viewers providing backward compatibility when necessary. This gives a display with a very wide range of applications and modes of operation.
The display and its viewer interaction technology will serve both consumer and professional applications. 3D television and 3D video gaming are the most important consumer applications, in which viewer gesture recognition can be a natural replacement for remote controls and game controllers.
The display also has a broad potential in professional applications, including medical imaging, video conferencing, engineering design, and oil and gas exploration. In these applications, gesture recognition can be the basis for device-less hands-free interaction within the 3D object viewing space.
The HELIUM3D project builds upon and adyances key technologies deyeloped in the EU funded 3DTV Network of Excellence, the MUTED(Multi-User3D Television Display) and the ATTEST (Advanced Three-Dimensional Television Systems) projects. Helium3D will lay the foundations for an autostereoscopic video display capable of being developed into a product that will be in use within the next ten years.
The HELIUM3D display will use pupil tracking to control and direct the light output to the viewers' eyes. The display operates by steering the horizontal direction of light emitted from the surface of the screen where columns of the image are scanned horizontally. High accuracy, low latency pupil tracking and a high display frame rate permits many modes of autostereoscopic operation to multiple mobile viewers due to the ability of the display to present a different image to every eye.
The goal of HELIUM3D is to reproduce images that are of sufficient quality to have virtually the same subjective appearance as holograms but without the attendant complexity and redundancy of information. This is achieved by exploiting the advantages of accurate pupil tracking, fast display frame rates and awareness of the limitations of the human visual system in terms of visual and stereoscopic acuity, thus overcoming the limitations of current LCD technology.
In producing such an advanced display HELIUM3D will also address new viewer interaction techniques in the near-field (distances within arm's reach of the display such as computing or medical imaging) and far-field (applications beyond arm's reach, such as domestic television or video gaming) that will be made possible by the new technology."
Sounds like a multi-beam, multi-person VRD (virtual retina display) laser projector which is also currently being developed for single eye spectacle wearer use where the RGB laser projects the image directly onto the eye retina.
More info on the BBC R&D White paper and the various 3D technologys here.. BBC R&D White Paper Details Holographic Future | 3D News from 3D Focus
