www.gizmag.com: As soon as the year 2020, you may be seeing advertising or other imagery floating before you. That's when Mitsubishi Electric hopes to have its "aerial display" technology perfected and commercially available. Already, it's capable of displaying images measuring up to 56 inches (142 cm) diagonally, hovering in the ether.
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Every day, we get closer and closer to the technology from minority report becoming a real thing, and with Mitsubishi's upcoming aerial display, we inch closer to being Tom Cruise. However, the fact that the technology is being used for advertising specifically makes me sad for the state of the tech industry. This type of display has the potential to revolutionize the way we view entertainment, but instead we will get ads waving Big Macs in our faces as we walk down the streets. Glasses-free 3D has been around for half a decade now thanks to Nintendo's 3DS, and this tech seems to be an expansion of that, with the beam splitter giving our eyes two duplicate images that we process as a 3D hologram. Imagine what we could be doing if this research was being put to something that wasn't tailor made to advertisements, such as medical tech. A 3D display that gives doctors all of the information they need in a dynamic, interactive fashion could cause a large shift in the medical field towards new avenues. But alas, for now, get ready for dancing burritos.
This kind of technology is really incredible. The prediction of 2020 using this technology wide spread does not seem far off. The concept is actually pretty understandable and not too complicated. It did not go into much detail about the equipment but it seems relatively inexpensive and could easy be commercially used very soon. If this technology becomes used by theater it will really change the experience. I can see this being used in more theme entertainment style productions than a typical theatrical performance. I think that it is very interesting that test audience members were uncomfortable with the technology because they did not know where it "was". I can understand that it is something so different that it would be odd seeing an image in a plane that is not a physical piece is a little mind boggling. However, I think that after a even just a little bit of time with this technology introduced to the public that people will be adapted to it very quickly.
For some reason I am not mesmerized or completely sold on this take on an “aerial display”. Something about the use of a screen, a glass beam splitter, AND a retro-reflective sheet creates quite a bulky image in my mind. Unless all of theses components can be very discrete and essentially invisible- I question the “cool” factor (and innovative victory) of the end result. When I hear things like “floating image” my expectations sky rocket. I envision a floating, penetrable, and interactive interface, one that doesn’t need solid reference images to guide the users eye, or to ground the image. I firmly believe the floating image should be able to stand on it’s own, and be as vibrant as the source that is creating it. The current concept, centered around a screen with an image that gets reflected, leads me to believe that the final image will be less vibrant and crisp than the original image. Any drop-off in visual intensity from the source image to the floating image worries me. That being said, I believe the visual efficiency of this product will directly correlate to the success and innovation of the “Aerial Display.”
At first I was like “yay holograms!” but then the first sentence talks about this new technology being used for advertising and my heart dropped. The absolute last thing I want in my life is advertising being more in my face. The device to create these images seems a lot like Pepper’s ghost, which is fairly old technology. This new arial display projector seems like it is using a lot of screens and sheets and reflecting to create the image seems like a whole lot of work and setup to get this thing running. However, hopefully with the projected four years before they want this to be widespread, they will be able to compact it. I sincerely hope they use this new technology for a lot more than simply advertising. Using it in classrooms to teach or, because so many schools are poor, in museums. Or like how Jacob mentioned, in the medical field. I think there are a lot of uses for this technology.
Media, already the darling of pioneering theatre artists everywhere, has the potential to once again (quite quickly) shake up and change the face of theatrical performances once again. Being able to utilize media and projection without tasking scenic designers with the cumbersome exercise in creating and integrating projection surfaces into their designed environments is a tremendous boon to performance development. That said, being able to accommodate the space and angles needed to pull off this visual display presents a series of challenges in its own right. Being able to "lift" images from a two dimensional projection surface carries with it tremendous implications. This effect takes on an almost holographic presentation, enabling a "deeper" and more visually interesting environment to virtually perceive.
I am interested to see how this shapes the training and education of media designers everywhere, as this introduces new demands on the design and visualization process for media design and development.
I don't really get upset that this is used for advertising. Advertisers are constantly looking for ways to engage viewers, and even if it's used for the dangers of capitalism, it's still cool. It's not like this technology being invented by a company for advertisements means it can't also be utilized for art or media. Technology is an ever changing and evolving phenomenon that can extend through different kinds of mediums and entertainment - yeah, ads annoy me too but I'd be psyched to walk by a literal hologram.
This new technology obviously could have a huge benefit to theater and live performance. The possibilities of storytelling that can be done through holograms is pretty intense, like last week, this technology is already being experimented with for bands like the Gorillaz and performances by the notorious Hastune Miku. But I am having a hard time thinking of theater that has taken this new technology and used it - and I assume that is because of massive cost to put on such productions. At that level, Broadway is probably the only venue that could incorporate this new technology into live performance.
Although I would be curious what the viewing angles of a screen like this would be the potential for some really interesting entertainment effects is certainly there. I am sure that once the technology becomes accessible enough that we can build our own there will be some really innovative uses for this technology that go far beyond Mitsubishi’s “grand dream” of using it as advertising. A few things will probably need to happen before that however, the biggest being the size of the device itself. The device probably needs to be more inconspicuous if we want it to be practical in any position but right near a wall which defeats a little bit of the purpose of projecting in 3d. Whenever the technology does shrink and morph into the shapes and sizes we need however there can be no telling what we can do with it in the future.
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