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SIGGRAPH 2006 Review
Emerging Technologies
By Hamish Millar
One of the most exciting parts of SIGGRAPH 2006 is the Emerging Technologies floor. Let’s take a look at some of the most interesting stuff on show.
This morning the exhibition opened. The registration line was long. I’m glad I don’t have to do that again.
Madness on the busy floor.
John Finnegan addresses the media group before we head to the Emerging Technologies floor.
A giant touch-screen. People can manipulate objects by moving them around with their hands and fingers. It seemed to support any number of people touching the screen at once.
Shake hands with a virtual character. The image of the Japanese woman is what the girl with the VR headset is seeing. The green dummy which is just visible underneath is what is sitting on the show floor. The image speaks and reacts to the user, eventually culminating in a handshake. This is coordinated by a robotic hand inside the dummy. Augmented reality was a strong theme this year and this is perhaps the most impressive example of it.
Although difficult to see in a photograph, these guys have created a giant flat screen holographic TV. You just have to make sure you are sitting directly in front of it or else the image becomes distorted.
This one truly has to be seen to be believed. A simple model house spins slowly in a glass case. It then speeds up extremely fast. Once spinning fast, a different selection of flashing lights can be selected which give the illusion that the house is being manipulated in various ways. The manipulations range from the house looking like it has been splintered into a thousand pieces, to making it look like it is make out of liquid. I can’t see much application for it other than in nightclubs to entertain people who don’t want to actually take drugs to see crazy stuff.
This is potentially my favourite because it is simply so charming. Using new projection technology, small projections are able to be moved around in an interactive environment. You can pick up each character and move them towards each other and see how they react. They will engage in humorous gibberish conversations, sit on the chair, and express whether they like or dislike each other. This could be a great learning tool. A second projector used the same technology to show vertical slices of the inside of pieces of fruit. Moving the projection forwards and backwards over an image of the fruit displayed the each relevant view of this inside of it.
While much earlier in development, this is perhaps one of the most significant achievements. Laser plasma is used to create 3D images in the air made of a series of white dots. This is the first time this has been done in 3D. Perhaps droids will display emergency messages for us as seen in star wars, or perhaps McDonald’s golden arches will be suspended in light over your city. Either way it will look cool once the technology is better refined.
For a full list of the technologies and their contributors visit http://www.siggraph.org/s2006/main.php?f=conference&p=etech
Stay tuned for more photos and articles from SIGGRAPH 2006.
Hamish Millar
Web Editor
Vancouver ACM SIGGRAPH
© 2006 Vancouver ACM SIGGRAPH — August 1, 2006
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