Re: 3D TV

[P3D John W Roberts <roberts@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

>Date: Fri, 13 Dec 1996 14:15:28 -0600
>From: P3D Marvin Jones  <72657.3276@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>Subject: 3D TV

>> >I don't think this writer has a very good grasp of what he's writing
>about.
>> >3D TV isn't about to "hit the market early next year"! The system he's
>> >describing (badly) is highly experimental, capable only of producing a
>> >minute little image in a minute little cube. 
>> 
>> Pretty big, actually (at least the one I saw). Of course at ~50^3 voxels
>> and 10 Hz refresh (according to the quote), there might be problems in 
>> trying to watch a football game using the current model. :-)
>> 
>The cube was described in a couple of articles as "about the size of a
>sugar cube." My "minute" might be a slight understatement, but I'd hardly
>call it "pretty big" either! 

You're thinking of the *other* volumetric display, the intersecting IR laser
beams in a solid-state cube. This is the one with a big rotating helix
(I think the one I saw in ~1995 was about 12-18 inches across), put in
a clear box so it doesn't blow wind in your face, and *visible light* lasers
spray voxels onto the helix as it spins. *No wonder* you thought the article
didn't describe the system very well!  :-)   :-)   :-)

Somehow I have the vague recollection that Parviz Soltan had some association
with the intersecting IR volumetric display as well. Both of them were
described at the workshop. If I ever find my notes, perhaps this can be
straightened out.

[Note: yet another volumetric display technology uses a spinning flat phosphor
screen to sweep a volume in an evacuated glass chamber, while an electron
beam scans it.]

John R


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