LEIA 3D : Holographic Reality

3D-Television

Thank you LEIA 3D for sponsoring this conversation.

A few years ago, 3D television was billed as the next big thing in home entertainment. Manufacturers came out with 3D sets, some programming became available, but ultimately it didn’t catch on for one main reason, consumers didn’t want to wear the glasses. The industry is back to the drawing board on that, and glassesless technology just isn’t there yet to match the quality of what consumers can get with 4K television.

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However that is the story on big screens with fast moving entertainment, what about small screens, and other uses for 3D technology? How about every day mobile uses like your smartphone, watch, or infotainment screen in your car? LEIA 3D is pioneering that next frontier in holographic technology. Their interactive holographic technology makes it possible to deliver collaborative 3D experiences on any device in the world.

Here’s how it works :

LEIA 3D’s technology replaces the standard light guide in a LCD display with a much more sophisticated one that has nanoscale gratings. The new light guide has much more control over the direction that light travels before it reaches the pixel array, and can direct a single ray of light to a single given pixel on the display.

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This diffractive “multiview backlight” allows the projection of different images in different directions of space with smooth, gradual transitions between views. The result is content that looks 3D from any viewpoint, by any number of viewers, with a seamless sense of parallax — no more breaks, ghost images or “bad spots” that plague lenticular displays.

The display retains a slim form factor which makes it ideal for integrating into consumer devices. This glassesless technology could be used for countless solutions, but is particularly useful for communication, gaming, automotive, healthcare, and education products. LEIA 3D itself is a technology that needs to be implemented in 3rd party devices to become truly useful. Check out the video below for a demonstration of how it can work :

In order to take that next step, LEIA 3D needs developers utilizing their technology and creating a demand for it in the products they develop. To realize that goal, they’ve created a Dev Kit that is available for just $399. It includes a 2.2″ Holographic display module with integrated hover-touch panel, accelerometer/gyro chips, and an adjustable base element for maximum viewing comfort. LEIA 3D is a hardware breakthrough that uses a fundamental change in the LCD display to produce their holograms. The software to implement it is readily available open source and already implemented on several platforms including webGL and Unity3D.

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With this DevKit, developers can :

  • Create holographic content and experiences with or without prior knowledge of 3D modeling.
  • Use the native hover-touch panel and integrated gyro/accelerometer functions to explore and create stunning holographic user interfaces
  • Employ third party gesture / facial recognition hardware such as the Leap Motion Controller™ or Intel® RealSense™ 3D cameras to explore advanced holographic product concepts

This is an exciting tool to put into the hands of developers. What would you build with LEIA 3D? Visit their site now to get started!