The video below shows a demonstration of an experimental system called HoloDesk. It’s being developed by the Sensors and Devices group at Microsoft. The system allows a user to simply interact with 3D objects that are projected onto a beam splitting surface, a basic webcam is used for head tracking so that objects are persistent realative to the user, and the ever-present Microsoft Kinect is used for depth tracking and user input. The video itself gives a few examples of possible use cases for the tech such as rapid prototyping, games, etc. I would really be interested in seeing something like this combined with glasses-free 3D and some sort of haptic feedback gloves. I think the haptic feedback at least would be a big deal as it would make things a bit more immersive and give the user a better idea of the physical boundaries of the virtual world they are looking into.
For more in-depth info hit this link to check out the MS Technet blog post.
Very neat stuff! I get all excited every time I see interesting virtual UIs like this! Let me know what you guys think about this and definitely hit me up with any of your own innovations on this concept!
