Japan's "real" 3D image projector

A new device developed by Japan's National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology uses lasers to project "real" 3D images into the ether. A special projector can cast three-dimensional shapes of white light between 2 and 3-meters into the air -- previous devices only tricked the eyes into thinking the image was 3D. The images are created by blasting the nitrogen and oxygen in the air at fixed points resulting in glowing plasma emissions which hang-out just long enough to etch an ephemeral image. The 3D images are, gulp, accompanied by a series of satisfying "tiny explosions" from the expanding air. With improved lasers, scientists say they'll be capable of projecting images at greater distances with more color variation making the device suitable for pyrotechnics or outdoor advertising. Sure that can, but we also hope to see 3D replacements to those child-hating balloons at the Macy's parade -- complete with what must be massive explosions at that scale to drown out any obligatory marching band shrill. Then we might actually pay attention.

[Via Pink Tentacle, Thanks Ed]

[John @ Feb 8th 2006 8:08AM]

"The images are created by blasting the nitrogen and oxygen in the air at fixed points resulting in glowing plasma emissions which hang-out just long enough to etch an ephemeral image."

That sounds ridiculously, ludicrously, awesome.

[Mark @ Feb 8th 2006 8:10AM]

Oops, we just destroyed the entire atmosphere in an unpredicted chain reaction!

[fonzter @ Feb 8th 2006 8:16AM]

good one :D

[PEZ @ Feb 8th 2006 8:27AM]

How about trying this without hazardous or explosive checmicals.

CAN IT BE DONE? Nope. LEts stick to those goofy red and blue paper glasses.

[Dustin Tarditi @ Feb 8th 2006 8:30AM]

This is all useless until you can produce Emporor Palpatine's image while he executes code 66.

[JakeH @ Feb 8th 2006 9:02AM]

Palpatine?!?! Yeah, THAT's the Star Wars hologram we all want...

[John Doe @ Feb 8th 2006 9:07AM]

Great. Does anyone else see this as a bad thing? This is going to be used by marketers everywhere turning the world into a psychotic place of moving billboard and 3d displays. Watch in 2030 when Amish communities explode 700% because people are being overloaded with visual data and want to get the hell away from it. Technology burnout coming to a society near you.

[tdungan @ Feb 8th 2006 9:13AM]

"making the device suitable for pyrotechnics or outdoor advertising"... I'm guessing b/c in a small enclosed space like your apartment, you'd eventually suffocate.
Emporer Palpatine suddenly makes sense.

[Mic2000 @ Feb 8th 2006 9:30AM]

Would be nice to play 3d Games on it, Real Time strategy games, where you can totaly move around the battle field, sweeet :D

[Gil @ Feb 8th 2006 9:48AM]

From the site:
"There is a technology where it condenses laser light to 1 point in the space strongly as the technology which makes luminescent point in 3 dimensional space in the air, the to plasma converts the focus adjacent air and radiates. Celebration 應 large (inc.) Barton, using this technology, has succeeded in as much as 2 dimensional image indication in the air which consists of dot array.

(Inc.) Barton, in order furthermore to develop this technology, under support of " Kawasaki city collaboration between the academic-business communities research and development project furtherance business ", aimed toward the actualization of the three-dimensional announcement light which can be indicated at 3 dimensions, the product entire research and celebration 應 advanced large and collaborative research.

2 dimensional image drawing technology in the former air actualizes by the laser illuminant and the fact that the galvano- mirror is combined, but 3 dimensional image is drawn, 3 you must control either the position of the focus dimensionally accurately, substantial improvement was necessary in quality and focus variable method et cetera of the laser and it could not actualize and was."
Leaving aside the bad translation it seems they haven't quite got the hang of full 3D images because the laser tech isn't quite good enough yet but it's only a matter of refining the technology not changing any principles.

[aparrish @ Feb 8th 2006 10:52AM]

Finally, a little something to add pizzazz to my Powerpoint presentations!

[ax7 @ Feb 8th 2006 12:03PM]

PEZ are you retarded? you are breathing oxygen and nitrogen right now! those are hardly dangerous explosive chemicals. It even says "the nitrogen and oxygen in the air", where are the dangerous explosive chemicals?

[Deozaan @ Feb 8th 2006 12:26PM]

I agree with #2, Mark, somewhat. I was wondering if it would be safe to stand in the area in which the air is being blown up, or would that harm you.

And what effect would it have on the air? Does it emit dangerous radiation? Or, would it emit dangerous amounts of radiation if built on a larger scale like they're hoping to do?

Generally I'm not incredibly worried about the environment, but you have to know that someone is going to wave their arm through it if they get one. And if that doesn't hurt, they'll probably stand in it for a while. The Japanese might have common sense, but in the U.S.A. even if people have common sense it is usually defeated with alcohol or drugs.

These things must be tested, and probably more things, before the product should be released.

[josh @ Feb 8th 2006 12:41PM]

i think how this works is the lasers ionize the air at a point which causes light to be released. The only danger this would pose would be those little lights would be very hot. As for #2's theory, there's no freaking way this could cause a chain reaction. Take a physics or chemistry class.

[jr @ Feb 8th 2006 1:15PM]

Oxygen burns. thus the explosion. Nitrogen doesn' burn. thus the plasma. Lasers producing enough heat to instantly burn oxygen fast enough to make a plasma out of nitrogen must be pretty dang hot. I imagine a bird flying through this would come down in little pieces. I'm guessing this is not for your living room.

[Gavin @ Feb 8th 2006 1:19PM]

What happens if someone is standing in the way?!?...
just hope tis not me
looks cool bt what about global warming, blasting more oxygen sounds counter productive.

[slyecho @ Feb 8th 2006 1:33PM]

Actually it's a bad idea 'cause NOx gases are pollutants. They cause acid rain among other things and might even be responsible for global warming.

[Gil @ Feb 8th 2006 1:40PM]

It's more of a proof of concept really. I think they could switch to another gas and a controlled atmosphere.

Oh and I'm pretty sure that if you touch it you get burned not only by the laser(s) but also by the minidetonations. It's not deadly but it'll hurt.

[Adamant @ Feb 8th 2006 1:57PM]

Give me lightsavers NOW!

[sherman1 @ Feb 8th 2006 2:44PM]

"7. Great. Does anyone else see this as a bad thing? This is going to be used by marketers everywhere turning the world into a psychotic place of moving billboard and 3d displays. Watch in 2030 when Amish communities explode 700% because people are being overloaded with visual data and want to get the hell away from it. Technology burnout coming to a society near you."

Nerve Attenuation Syndrome anyone?

[Lighthouse @ Feb 8th 2006 2:51PM]

"Does it emit dangerous radiation? Or, would it emit dangerous amounts of radiation if built on a larger scale like they're hoping to do?"

what kinda 'tards post on this list? not everything that lights up is radioactive. maybe you shoulda payed attention in high school science class instead of dreaming about asian character tattoos for your ass.

[ax7 @ Feb 8th 2006 3:07PM]

oxygen doesn't burn.

[Sasha @ Feb 8th 2006 3:09PM]

14. As a matter of fact oxygen is the only thing that does not burn. Burning is an exothermic chemical reaction between something and oxygen, so oxygen itself can not burn by definition.

Lasers just create plasma, heating atoms of oxygen, nitrogen or whatever the laser beam encounters in the focal point to such a degree that they lose some of their electrons and turn into positive ions. When electrons recombine back with ions they produce light which we see. Fast thermal expansion of air in the focal point produces "mini-explosion".

It is quite possible that this mechanism produces some residual positive ions and burns some nitrogen making NOx gases. NOx would not do anything good to your health and positve ions are not that good either.

From the other hand it may produce nitrous oxide N2O (also known as "laughing gas") which is quite fun, addictive and mild aphrodisiac to boot.

[bsullins @ Feb 8th 2006 3:34PM]

Ok thats cool...but when can we watch porn on it?

[MEdude @ Feb 8th 2006 3:54PM]

LOL, this is funny, they probably made this to do battle card games like Yugioh, I can see it now, all of the japanese kids will be battling eachother in the midle of the street. The stupid thing that people come up with...

[JX @ Feb 8th 2006 5:13PM]

the fact that he is wearing safety gogles to watch it says a lot.

[Jellodyne @ Feb 8th 2006 5:17PM]

Radiation? The photo above clearly shows electromagnetic radiation in the visible spectrum!

Come on, what's wrong?
It's a radiation vibe I'm groovin on --
Don't it make you want to get some sun?
Shine on, shine on, shine on...

[Pete @ Feb 8th 2006 7:59PM]

Given those comments which have already made mention of Star Wars, and given how this thing works, I can only conclude that they would be just about ideal for generating a lightsaber blade... :-)

[blankoboy @ Feb 8th 2006 8:38PM]

One of the first applications for this no doubt will be 'airvertising'....3d advertisements floating in the air.

[Krymzon40 @ Feb 8th 2006 8:42PM]

I think number 23 knows what he is talking about.

Its a really cool idea, but walking through a path of thermally expanding air does sound painfull.

The next generation of bug zappers is here!

[Mark @ Feb 8th 2006 8:58PM]

Chill josh. It was a joke, not a theory. And about the physics lesson, I did say "unpredicted" chain reaction. ;-)

[Roomba @ Feb 8th 2006 9:15PM]

That is cool. I need one as I'm an angel

[Chad Wight @ Feb 8th 2006 9:15PM]

god I love the frontiers of science. I also love fudge and wearing my pajammies.

Good luck laser beams

[zlot @ Feb 9th 2006 2:38AM]

but can it play DOOM?

[VTBlue @ Feb 9th 2006 4:49AM]

Next stop, the Holodeck. I always wanted to be a Starship Captain.

[dan rather @ Feb 9th 2006 9:00PM]

simulated fireflies on a date might score some points out by the lake where where are no fireflies :)

[Jason @ Feb 9th 2006 11:23PM]

"Technology burnout coming to a society near you."

Every generation says this. But what about the market for augmented reality glasses to block 3d ads.

[Steve Wight @ Feb 10th 2006 3:36AM]

C'mon Engadget, you have enough clout these days to request a video from these folks! I know we all want to see one!

[Ryan @ Feb 10th 2006 2:39PM]

Does anyone else notice that the lights are not reflected in the goggles? Unless they are behind him.... and that looks like an indoor environment, then where is the danger? Plus I do not see any light radiating into ambience.

[Joseph Francis @ Feb 11th 2006 11:36AM]

Reminds me of this:

http://mrl.nyu.edu/~perlin/experiments/holodust/

...same idea, only with dust in the air

[Joseph Francis @ Feb 11th 2006 2:45PM]

http://mrl.nyu.edu/~perlin/experiments/holodust/

[space @ Feb 11th 2006 9:45PM]

come on people, aren't we forgetting i02tecnology's free-space projection technology??? I mean for one it works with anything, doesn't explode and it's for freaking sale!!! but do they get any hype? NOOO! You should be ashamed of yourselves! www.io2technology.com

[Ricky @ Feb 20th 2006 4:02PM]

io2technology still not 3D

[pedro @ Feb 23rd 2006 4:45PM]

I think this will be in the Nintendo Revolution

[College Student @ Feb 25th 2006 9:56AM]

What happens if someone is standing in the way?!?...
just hope tis not me
looks cool bt what about global warming, blasting more oxygen sounds counter productive.

[Aaron @ Mar 1st 2006 2:47AM]

Just think. Once they get this technology down to the size of let say a torch. You could have a real non lethal Light Saber. Now that be cool. The power usage would be amazing. I would say that the power of the current device would be clasified as non lethal but up the power and could at least cause serious burns.

[Max @ Mar 1st 2006 8:47AM]

Whatever happened to the 3-D plexiglass display BYTE wrote about sometime in ca. 1990? It sounded like a really nifty idea, projecting laser dots on an oblique screen that was rotating inside a plexiglass cylinder. That way, true 3D images e.g. of CAD models were produced. But I've never heard of it since. Anyone got an idea?

Cheers
Max

[Daniel @ Mar 10th 2006 8:20PM]

Regarding comment 27.

The plasma balls could be created in a line making a virtual light saber. This could be enhenced by creating a 3d pattern , for example 2 pipes , one inside the other, and very high voltage&s are feed into the inside pipe and the energy goes through the plasma to the end of the pipe (the tip of the lightsaber) and then comes back in the outer pipe back to the lightsaber.

[peter mattinson and tommy shaw @ Mar 16th 2006 7:46PM]

tommy says super heated plasma has been tried in aura chambers and lasted only a fraction of a second creating a mini sun and then disintigrated.
I say (pete) can you warm your friday night kebab in it on your way home and if you is drunk it wont hurt that much.

[jim simpson @ Apr 21st 2006 7:19PM]

i just want to get a pair of those sweet glasses