Lightform connects to a video
projector to beam images and animations on to surrounding objects, essentially
turning any surface into a screen (a technique called projection mapping). It
scans the environment using depth sensors to map the shape of objects, then
tailors its lighting effects to fit. The idea is to seamlessly merge the
virtual world with the physical world, without wearing anything on your face. Initial
demos show a coffee shop’s price list materialising on a blank slate, squiggly
lines dancing across a store window display, and a cactus undulating with
decorative pulses of light.
But eliminating headsets would
mean many people can share in an AR experience at once and without special
preparation, and removes problems around the comfort, weight and power cables
of wearable displays. Projection mapping technology is usually used for
large-scale, one-off events. The size of the projection depends on the
projector. The mapping is not quite real-time – it takes about a minute to do a
scan – and you can’t interact with the projected images, unlike with some
systems that use haptic devices or motion tracking to give users the illusion
of touching what they see.
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