Talk about an unusual and cutting-edge way to interact with CAD and other design tools. Infinite Z, which bills itself as a startup although it's been around in development mode since 2007, has launched its first product: an immersive, interactive 3D environment that uses virtual-holographic 3D imagery to bring product designs to life.
Objects in zSpace appear "solid" in open space, allowing users to manipulate them directly as if they were real physical objects.
The zSpace platform, which comprises a proprietary stereoscopic display, trackable eyewear, and a new type of direct interaction stylus, works in concert with the company's software to display objects that appear "solid" in open spaces, allowing the engineer or designer to directly manipulate them as if they were handling real, physical objects. According to Infinite Z, the zSpace virtual-holographic objects, which appear with full color and at a high resolution, look remarkably similar to real physical objects. In combination with the direct interaction stylus, users can navigate, grab, slice, carve, zoom, and perform other common functions to explore 3D models in a natural manner that hasn't been possible using traditional input devices.
It's a bit hard to visualize without seeing the demo. zSpace isn't a tablet or a 3D display -- in fact, company officials say it's in a category by itself, as it redefines standard display and mouse interaction. Scott Harris, a long-time CAD consultant who's working with Infinite Z, says zSpace's unique method of interaction will make working with CAD, medical imaging, GIS, and media and entertainment applications far more intuitive. "It can made a lot of the things you do all the time much more efficient," he explains, "and it takes down some of the barriers people have when working with CAD systems." For example, he says, six-degrees-of-freedom operations are much more streamlined with the zSpace approach compared with traditional input tools.
Because zSpace employs virtual holographs, the object (in this case, a part or assembly) will look as if it's floating in front of you. Using the pencil-like stylus, which has some sort of laser beam in front, users can click on the object and rotate it around, and the object will appear to the user as if it's sitting directly in front of her on her desk, for example. The interaction paradigm really lends itself to design or concept review, Infinite Z officials assert, because you can put items up and place them in a scene just as if you're putting a phone on a table and without requiring the users to think about adding constraints.
Part of Infinite Z's mission here is to forge partnerships with providers of design tool software to encourage them to support the zSpace platform. To that end, the first iteration of zSpace, slated to ship in the first half of 2012 at a pricetag of around $6,000, will support Autodesk's Maya 3D animation software and its Showcase 3D rendering and presentation tool. The firm is working with other CAD, CAE, GIS, and animation software providers to expand support for the tool.
Not only is the illustration impossibly good, but impossible. 3-D hardware providers should be held to task for the missrepresentations they use in promotional pieces. It's impossible to show/project/view a 3-D image beyond the edges of the screen.
We see this all the time on TV when 3-D TV manufactures show a viewer watch an image fly off their TV screen and over their sholder. Impossible!
What is presented here is a totally bogus artist rendering, selling a lie.
Some thoughts: There was probably some embellishment in the "ad" (like seeing the object in front of the user's face). However, there is still room for some 21st century 'magic'. Just because you see what looks like a souped-up WACOM tablet doen't mean that **that** device is creating the images. Note: This is called "virtual hologram" - this means real holgraphy (lasers, whatnot) is probably not employed (not for $6000). I imagine the image area is very large (and possibly curved - not a requirement). The Start Trek WACOM Tablet is probably an image that is drawn on the big screen. This gives you an "area of surprise" when you see objects rendered beyond its edge. This also gives you a psychological constraining area. For instance, if the tablet is 9"x9", you might have objects floating five or ten inches beyond the borders, but you wouldn't expect to see the object rendered eight feet away. So the disappointment that occurs when you drag something past the edge -- and it disappears -- still exists, it's only 30 inches away from the edge of the "tablet." This gives you a nice "play area" around the tablet. The tablet which doesn't exist - it's an image on the big screen. Nice magic. Too bad the video took it just past "likely."
And nice find, Beth! Can't wait to see one of these bad boys for real.
Real or not, this is an absolutely amazing way to do design work. I wonder how big the market is for this technology. Is Infinite-Z expecting broad use of this technology or is it a niche?
I think they're hoping for broad, Chuck, but at least for the near term, I expect it to be niche. It's cool stuff, but pricey and likely beyond the need and comfort zone of many CAD jockeys and engineers.
I work at InfiniteZ; hopefully I can clear some of this up.
The main point is: at no point do the pixels physically leave the screen. If the user's view of a virtual object slides off the screen, he won't be able to see it; likewise, if the screen is occluded by a real object (like the user's hand).
However, within these limits, the system provides a true virtual reality experience: the user can peer around virtual objects as if they were real, while directly manipulating them with the stylus. With a conventional CAD interface, that kind of task would require the user to stop editing, tweak the view camera, then switch back to editing again -- but with virtual reality, this context switch is unnecessary.
The 3D printing revolution seems to have a knack for quickly moving technology ahead by way of collaborative effort and even a little friendly competition -- all of course in the name of scientific advancement.
Laura Sapiens' Ego! Smartmouse offers users a unique interactive experience by providing 2D and 3D connectivity, hardware identity authentication, data storage, and more.
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