More Kinect Holograms From [programming4fun]

[programing4fun] has been playing around with his Kinect-based 3D display and building a holographic WALL-E controllable with a Windows phone. It’s a ‘kid safe’ version of his Terminator personal assistant that has voice control and support for 3d anaglyph and shutter glasses.

When we saw [programming4fun]’s Kinect hologram setup last summer we were blown away. By tracking a user’s head with a Kinect, [programming] was able to display a 3D image using only a projector. This build was adapted into a 3D multitouch table and real life portals, so we’re glad to see [programming4fun] refining his code and coming up with some really neat builds.

In addition to robotic avatars catering to your every wish, [programming4fun] also put together a rudimentary helicopter flight simulator controlled by tilting cell phone. It’s the same DirectX 9 heli from [programming]’s original build. with the addition of Desert Strike-esque top-down graphics. This might be the future of gaming here, so we’ll keep our eyes out for similar head-tracking 3D builds.

As always, videos after the break.


[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4fU59lv5KA&w=470]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJ6Mc0aOk_o&w=470]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qspZlu9jtkE&w=470]

15 thoughts on “More Kinect Holograms From [programming4fun]

  1. Stop calling this “holograms”. This is nowhere the definition of a “hologram”. If the editors were Hollywood people, then I would let it pass but this is a hacker’s space for the god’s sake!

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holography

    For you to have an hologram, you need a medium were you can record and then fully reconstruct a wavefront.

    So please, next time you call something an “hologram” please make sure it actually matches its definition.

      1. The correct term is freeview 3D. But yes, it ends up being a 3D projection into a 2D plane with an active system (kinect) for perspective correction. You can even have more than 1 projection to create more views for stereoscopic and multiview displays.

        A hologram is this:
        http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhPDeUtn8mc

        In that video, the recording medium is just a photosensitive glass which when illuminated, it fully modelates the incident light such that the light scattered (reflected) from the glass surface 100% “imitates/clones” the light that would be scattered from the real (recorded) object.
        In other words, there is no optical difference between the light scattered from an hologram and a real world object.

        In that video you can see that the world geometry (physical dimensions) is preserved. You can also see that you have full horizontal and vertical parallax (the perspective changes when you tilt your head in all directions). Also, and really important cause stereoscopic 3D cannot do this, is that your eyes can actually focus the virtual (reconstructed) object. If seek the video to around 1:04, you can see that by putting the camera (or your eye pupil) in the virtual lens of the virtual microscope, you can actually see the zoomed mosquito that was below the real microscope objective at the time the hologram was recorded.
        This is what makes holograms so cool.

    1. I would imagine only the person being tracked would get the 3d experience. The other would get a shifting 2d view as the person being tracked moves around. Unless you were able to sync your movements exactly like the person being tracked.

    2. A great solution to this is using a 3Dtv with 2 of the same lense, i.e.
      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8F-04HIi48

      Basically enables 2 users (or more once they get 180hz/240hz TVs) if both are being tracked by the kinect to see different images.

      I honestly think 2 player fullscreen is going to take off if 3D tv makers finally decide to use the same protocol for glasses (and ideally, it’s passive).

  2. Not trying to sound like a dick. I just want to make sure I understand. Please correct me if I’m wrong.

    1. It only works for one person in the room. Similar to Johnny Chung Lee’s Wii project.
    2. The focal point (when using 3D) depends on the media and not your eyes. Like all 3D TVs and movies.
    i.e. it’s fuzzy if you’re not looking where you are supposed to.
    3. The kinect tracks your head from 10 feet behind. Is it possible for the kinect to be mounted by the TV and would it operate in a dark environment like a theater?

    1. 1. Yup. There are some fancy setups that can do 2 person 3d by using a 240 hz TV, 60 hz for each of the 4 eyes of two people, not sure how available these are, but in theory it’s possible. But as far as commonly available stuff, yes, one person. It’s not a hologram, which works for all points in space viewing it.

      2. Well, the focal point is the distance of the screen, the camera’s focus is what the camera is focused on. A computer generated image can have everything in focus (simulating a pinhole camera), at the expense of a little 3d realism.

      3. Yes. The kinect uses IR and needs no visible light, and the location of it is pretty arbitrary and just needs to be accounted for in software. Not sure why he put it behind in the first place.

  3. WHAT IS A HOLOGRAM PEOPLE?
    In scifi, its a virtual object witch apears completely 3 demensional from whatever angle you are standing at in the room and viewing it, A projection of light that that appears to hang in midair.
    IN REALITY
    Light dosent just suspend in midair , but it can be made to appear that way , and 3d objects can be made to appear as if they are real 3demensional objects floating in midair. But in reality , light does not just float in midair.

    1. Yes i know , a true hologram is physicaly intractive projection of light , but at least for the time being we have achived stage 1 “actual 3d objects that “appear” to float in midair and visible from any angle. And we can actually manipulate via varies human to computer interfaces.

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