Tag: 3d

Inspired by the mind-bending transportation technology in last year’s sleeper hit game Portal, this video clip uses digital augmented reality technology to produce a similar effect in the real world. Created by EmmanuelMFr of France’s Total Immersion, the illusions in the video really are reminiscent of those in the game.

A while back, I reported on James Clar’s cool 3D cubes which could display images using a grid of about 1000 LEDs connected to a computerized controller. While Clar’s cubes are simply amazing, they can only display monochrome images.

Here’s some pretty cool news which could provide entirely new ways to interact with your computer or game console. This new technology will enable automated 3-dimensional tracking of heads and faces using a webcam along with some very special tracking software.

What if Mario weren’t a cartoony video game character? Artist Pixeloo set out to answer that question when creating this “realistic” rendering of Nintendo’s little Italian plumber. While it’s some pretty amazing graphic work, “real” Mario isn’t quite as endearing as he’s been in previous incarnations.

With all the buzz about the new iPhone SDK, all kinds of nifty applications are starting to crawl out of the woodwork. Of all the coming programs, this LEGO construction concept application has to be one of my favorites.

UTIII is one of the few console games out there that really lets gamers create their own unique maps. I don’t mean just moving a few things around like you can with Halo 3’s Forge mode.

While a few of us are are patiently awaiting the release of Apple’s application SDK for the iPhone and iPod Touch, crafty (and impatient) developers have found ways to run plenty of their own applications on the popular media players.

Most robots are controlled using a joystick or other traditional input device, but this new system allows operators to issue commands to robots using simple hand and body gestures. Developed by engineer Tsuyoshi Horo at Tokyo University, the system uses a circular array of cameras to detect human movements in the room, then convey them to a robot as directional commands.

There’s nothing quite like a delicious virtual donut and a hot cup of paper coffee before parking it in front of the fake TV to get my day going. This off-the-wall creative project takes items seen in the 3D virtual world of Second Life, and transforms them into real-world (paper) objects.

Taking a page from systems like the Sony EyeToy and the Nintendo Wii control scheme, this new camera from Israel’s 3DV Systems could bring gaming interaction to a whole new level. The company’s recently revealed ZCam is capable of not only capturing gamers’ most intricate gestures, but detecting full-body movements in three dimensions, without the need for the player to hold a controller.

This amazing tech demo shows off an augmented reality system which can digitally swap out textures on clothing. While it sounds pretty simple, the ability to exactly mimic the behavior and appearance of cloth is extremely difficult to pull off.

At this week’s IFA consumer electronics show in Berlin, Philips is showing off a presentation system that can display images in 3D on a huge wall-mounted display. The 132-inch display was made by connecting nine of Philips 42-inch 3D displays in a 3×3 grid.

At the recent SIGGRAPH 2007 conference, a team of engineers from USC showed off a display system that’s capable of projecting interactive 360-degree viewable images produced by a computer. By using a high-speed video projector, a spinning platform with a holographic diffuser and special decoding hardware, the display can crank out up to 5,000 real-time images per second.

I came across this cool 3-dimensional LEGO sculpture of everyone’s favorite video game plumber (sorry Luigi) over on TechEBlog this morning. It must have take days for the artist to painstakingly recreate all of Mario’s details.

Budding 3D graphics and animation buffs, there’s a new reason to get excited this morning. A company called NaturalPoint has just announced a complete motion capture systems that only costs about $5,000. Traditional (if you can call them that) MoCap systems usually start around $30,000, and often much more.

If you’re an Xbox 360 fan like me, you’re probably looking forward to the upcoming release of Bioshock. For those of you who unfamiliar with the game, the baddest baddie in the atmospheric thriller is known as “Big Daddy.”