Tag: AR
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Lion ‘hologram’ display not a true hologram, experts say
Argentinian sports club Estudiantes de la Plata celebrated its first match in the Estudiantes stadium since 2005 with an impressive show featuring a gigantic flaming lion prowling around the stadium in hologram-like form. Coverage of the event by BBC Sports described the display as a "giant lion hologram”.
Following the broadcast, some social media users expressed discontent with the accuracy of the coverage, explaining that the display is not a true hologram.
An art director and graphic artist familiar with manipulating images told E&T that: “The crucial thing here is that [the BBC] shouldn't be taking press release waffle at face value. You'd think, particularly after wreathgate yesterday [in which the BBC replaced footage of Prime Minister Boris Johnson wrongly placing a remembrance wreath with similar footage from 2016 during its BBC Breakfast coverage of the ceremony] and during an election they'd go to great lengths to fact check these things. It's laughable to have just reproduced such journalism.”
Speaking to E&T via email, Professor Robert Stone, director of the University of Birmingham's human interface technologies team, commented that the display is “absolutely NOT a hologram - at best it's a - not very well done - AR implementation”. He suggested that the display could have been generated in similar fashion to the image below, which was animated using PROmax3D.
Image credit: Turbosquid.com
Stone said that this could be combined “with readily available online animated fire assets”.
“At worst - and I suspect this to be the case, given the very fake-looking stadium and audience - it's a not very well done VR/basic CGI sequence using similar cheaply available asserts. Too many folks [are] quick to call these things holograms.”
Stone's scathing assessment could raise questions about why the BBC producers were unable to distinguish the display from a true hologram.
University of Westminster computer science expert Dr Li Jin told E&T that the designers may have used '7D Hologram Technology' to achieve the flaming lion display; a method for capturing high-quality holograms using seven parameters, including 2D angle, light properties, and time: “The latest technology has been popular in Japan and Dubai and for instance in Dubai Malls, in cinemas and other public places such as theatre stages and so on,” she told E&T via email.
Modernised versions of the Victorian “Pepper's Ghost” illusion, which uses an angled sheet of glass to create the appearance of a ghostly figure, have frequently - but inaccurately - been characterised as holograms.
Microsoft files patent application for vibrating VR mat
The application, which was first noted by Variety, proposes a “[VR] floor mat activity region” embedded with sensors to enhance the experience of playing a VR game while also preventing the user from crashing into nearby furniture and walls.
The mat would be integrated into a gaming system, which uses a combination of optical sensors, fiducial markers and “spatially distributed” pressure sensors in the mat to calculate the user’s position in a 3D space and shape a simulated world around them. This could reduce reliance on sensors within the headset.
“The virtual reality experience for the user is selectively augmented based on the positioning of the physical subject identified relative to the activity region,” the application explained. “For example, a notification of a user's proximity to a boundary of the activity region may be provided to the user through visual, auditory, or haptic feedback.”
The application suggested that the user could receive notifications within their VR session if they approach a boundary of the mat, allowing them to avoid crashing into real-world objects. Small vibrating devices could be inserted into the mat to provide haptic feedback to help the user remain within the boundaries of the mat as well as to provide in-game feedback. The application suggests having different textures towards the outside of the mat, presumably to warn the user that they are reaching its boundaries.
The filing also suggests establishing a set ‘starting point’ at the centre of the mat. When the user stands here, a game begins to run.
Several different designs are suggested, including a modular form which would allow for multiple mats to interlock and cover a large area.
As is usually the case with patent applications, this will not necessarily become a commercial product, but it indicates the possible directions Microsoft’s engineers are exploring. The application does not specify which headset the mat would connect with, and it mentions a range of possible computing devices the mat could be used with, including PCs, smartphones, and wearables.
Microsoft’s mixed-reality ventures are currently focused on business rather than entertainment; the HoloLens smart glasses are designed for business, design, training (including military training) and education, with minimal gaming applications. However, the mat could be intended for use with Microsoft’s gaming-focused Kinect motion sensor controller, which was launched in 2010 and intended for use with the Xbox 360 and Xbox One but discontinued in 2017. One of the diagrams included with the application features a device sitting on of a television which bears a very strong resemblance to the Kinect. In May 2018, Microsoft teased a return for the Kinect, suggesting that the dead device could have applications beyond gaming.
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