Tangible 3D UI being developed in Japan (video)

People have been trying to sell us 3D this and 3D that for ages, but for the most part it's always been the same flat surface we're looking at and poking with our fingers. Some restless souls in Japan, however -- including Engadget's very own Kentaro Fukuchi -- have begun developing a way for computers to recognize a person's interactions with real objects and to respond accordingly. The essence of this new technique is to use translucent rubbery objects, whose diffraction of specially polarized light is picked up by a camera. Thus, relatively subtle actions like squeezing and stretching can be picked up by the different light results produced. Still in the early stages of design, the system is hoped to assist in surgery training, though we've got video of its more fun potential uses after the break.

[via New Scientist]

See more video at our hub!

[ImDaIllest Posted Oct 13th 2009 6:50AM]

implement this in pron please.

[PeggedLegs Posted Oct 13th 2009 6:56AM]

And that's the first comment. Well done, you!

[Nino Posted Oct 13th 2009 6:59AM]

Wonderful suggestion, it would be nice though. lol

[husher Posted Oct 13th 2009 11:20AM]

but... that face has a purty mouth.

[Jeeves Posted Oct 13th 2009 6:59AM]

I'm sure "surgery" is all the Japanese will use this for lol.

[airtyper Posted Oct 13th 2009 6:59AM]

Oh wow, they feel soo real!

[aeth Posted Oct 13th 2009 6:59AM]

That face....

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 13th 2009 9:12AM]

dat ass...

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 13th 2009 7:42AM]

Watch it again and pay better attention lol.

(hint the shuttle was dropped from the mothership a while after they were encamped, the movie showed this with news footage, speculating on what the object was that dropped down and the fact they couldn't find it, the 'dad' alien clarifies that it was the shuttle/command module later.)

The crt screens salvaged and shown in the house of 'dad' only showed data in their symbols and gui, just doing what screens do.
Anytime they used the interactive holographic interface there was an alien device visible making it.)

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 13th 2009 8:04AM]

I can imagine the next generation of Japanese sex dolls :D

[anachostic Posted Oct 13th 2009 9:52AM]

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[Chaosdivine Posted Oct 13th 2009 10:36AM]

I think I just threw up a little in my mouth...thanks!

[Tropolist Posted Oct 13th 2009 10:02AM]

Yeah, but they are only objects placed on the screen right? Which means when you just want to browse the web, you have giant rubber faces and dog bones laying around your desk.

[markyb Posted Oct 13th 2009 10:25AM]

i wonder if you could use jello...

[Feign Posted Oct 13th 2009 10:42AM]

Sooo... The GUI is now... Gooey?

[Rooshma Posted Oct 13th 2009 11:41AM]

I'm sorry to misunderstand if I have, but does this basically mean that to manipulate objects on-screen I'll have to manipulate them in real life? If so, that seems kind of pointless (though I might just not be realizing the point), and is not at all the Ironman-esque solution I got from the headline.

[Brokinarrow Posted Oct 13th 2009 1:09PM]

@ luggage - indeed. Still an outstanding movie though :-D

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 13th 2009 6:42PM]

I actually got to meet up with these guys at Siggraph 09 when I was working as an SV. Got to help out with introducing it to attendees. The face application was by far the most popular version but I found the drawing program the most intuitive. The material could be applied in a variety of shapes. Unfortunately, the display would get dirty quite quickly since around 200 different people would be messing with it every hour.