We have not modified the above picture in any way -- Scout's Honor. That's a real baby, wearing a real IR necklace that interacts with a real
Wiimote. What's not real, of course, is the view of San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge.
That is generated by Ryan Hoagland's DIY virtual window, a brilliant pastiche of interior design,
RED ONE footage and
Johnny Chung Lee-style headtracking, all directed to your eyes by a Mac Pro feeding a pair of plasma screens. As the viewer moves around, dual 1080p images move the opposite direction, providing the convincing illusion of looking out a real pane of glass at the incredibly detailed scenery beyond. Exciting? Then you'll be giggling like Jr. when you hear it's for sale. After spending a year figuring out how to mount, drive and cool the whole shebang, Hoagland would like you to have one too; he plans to have basic kits ready by July for under $3000. Watch baby-powered plasma in motion after the break, as well as a sweet time-lapse video of the build process.
[Thanks,
Andy, ArjanD]
posted April 15th 2010 3:17PM
All I need to say is that that guy is going to be rich.
no one had mentioned back to the future 2 yet? really?
@BrianH
damnit, nvm
practical no, epic yes
I can totally imagine these becoming common. Get rid of the require tracking device and have live cams at scenic views and you're set.
Sean Hollister, you're a discredit to the Honor of the Scouts! That big red arrow seems like a pretty significant modification to the picture above...
@sullivan504 The arrow was added by the author of the video (see top clip at 1:10), so sean still retains his badge ;-)
@jok D'Oh!! Figures that I didn't stick around long enough to see it... my patience ran out before 1:10.
It's a cool implementation, but I would want mine to double as a home theatre screen. So one big screen with maybe a window dressing treatment (shutters perhaps?) and a glass arrangement which makes it look like multiple panes of glass. Then slide it away for movie night.
Probably will need one of them 100" TVs for that though.
You don't need a huge dongle for it - You can make a small, light setup using three LEDs. http://www.free-track.net/english/ - DUI TrackIR clone using a wiimote.
Hooray for The Faint!
Microsoft should buy this guy and release with Natal, no necklace required.
I wonder if he applied for patents before releasing to youtube.
This type of a device may pave the way for real-time wrap around viewscreens in spaceships and aircraft ala Star Trek. The only problem is you need a monitor that compensates for everyone in the room and spatially gives them their own viewpoint which is related to their position. That's a hard task indeed!
This has been available in Linux for a while so you don't need to throw lots of money at it, just get an LCD, webcam, cheap computer, and Linux, your done.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=askKFSe3aLk
@MrLinux
and a window frame
@MrLinux
Nope don't need lots of money at all.. Big LCD screens and cheap computer grow on trees for just about everyone don't they?
"What happened to your face?"
"I was tripping on acid and jumped through my. . . plasma screen... window... dimensional portal... thing."
Where can I get my hands on those hi res videos of the GGB, ocean, space, etc...
I've been looking for stuff like that for a while. At my noffice we sometimes run Planet Earth on a projector to keep from going crazy because we don't have a window by our editing/workstations.
The next question is:
If Natal can remove the need to have IR sensors, does it also allow more than one person to view it at different angles at the same time? That seems a bit tough I would think, maybe even impossible.
I can see it being used in a corporate/excessively rich people context, but for the cost-weary average consumer - it probably wouldn't be the first thing they want to splurge 3K on?
I'm sure it'd be a hit in jails too :)
I'd have a view of the outside as if I were on the Enterprise... but I'm a dork.
Very futuristic. Feels like being in Futurama.
That's it I'm selling my waterfront property and setting up these instead.
Who needs views when you have technoology?
Now prisoners everywhere can enjoy the view from Alcatraz.
i dont see how it should cost 3000 bucks.. that chinese wiimote hacker guy did it for nothing.. this guy is trying to rip people off
@classy
2 huge 1080p screens, computer, cooling, building of a fake window
...i think it adds up to 3k$
Best thing ever
wow! imagine the grand canyon, or space????
I would like to wake up to jupiter in my window like on starship troopers...
+ Denise Richards
Fantastic idea, would love to try something like that, but space is at a premium in the UK - we can't afford to lose a whole foot or two in room breadth like they do!!
Plus 3 grand essentially for nothing but an artistic display is a bit rich by most peoples standards. Perhaps if it can double up as a web browser or something...its even in portrait!
lol @ view from iss :D ... having that would ROCK!
btw they could have gotten better sensor and made the wall and furniture on the opposite side of the screen more IR reflective or whatever; the human would be track-able without a 'necklace' cause he would be the only thing in the room that's making a black-spot in the sensor.
I knew it was possible to run Windows on a Mac - but this takes it to a new level.
If you didn't doctor the pic, how did the arrow get there?
@centizen
"If you didn't doctor the pic, how did the arrow get there?"
Welcome to 2010, for the past decade and a half we've had what are called "video editing software" for computers.
Epic. The sensor looks unwieldy, but I guess if the baby can wear it...
http://blog.itag.com/260/3-insane-inventions/