MIT Media Lab’s ingenious fellows have done it again. Upping the stake on 3D art apps like Leonar3do is the Beyond project initiative, which lets you draw freehand in 3D on a 2D touchscreen, minus the awkward 3D goggles. Led by graduate students Jinha Lee and Hiroshi Ishii, their collapsible stylus, when pressed against a touchscreen, extends virtually into the 3D space. Just like that, you can select, draw, push and sculpt 3D geometric shapes easier than you can say “three dimensional”. Adding an interactive glove provides another layer of manipulation.
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Even high fashion is going 3D. As unpredictable and unbelievable as it seems, XpanD recently brought 3D technology to Paris Haute Couture Week. Maybe 3D isn’t just a fad after all. No, the models didn’t wear fancy 3D-ready glasses. Rather XpanD shot selected runway shows by world-renowned designers such as Jean-Paul Gaultier and Valentino in native 3D to be aired on TV. Fashion shows doesn’t seem like the most likely choice for developing 3D television programming, but it would be very interesting to see models in lavish clothes walk straight into the living room.
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Earth view is available through the installation of a browser plug-in Google originally issued in 2008. With it, people can see the contours of world–canyons and mountains, most dramatically–using the Google Earth fly-through interface. Places with 3D building models look more interesting from ground level, but if your suburb hasn’t received that treatment, the perspective mismatch can be a bit awkward when viewing the scene from an oblique angle farther from perpendicular. There’s still some ways to go, though. For one thing, Earth view at present lacks the rich interaction of traditional Google Maps service, including street names and travel directions. For another, in areas with approximate contour data, Earth view can look like somebody stretched a rubber sheet with a satellite photo over a swoopy, curvaceous version of the world.
The Golden Gate Bridge, exists both with a nice 3D model above the Bay and as a spooky satellite-photo version that creeps across the underwater contour. The sparkling water surface looks very nice, though. Change is afoot with the computing technology required to deliver this experience, so don’t expect a permanent requirement for the plug-in requirement–a requirement that will keep most people from using it, most likely. Google is among the browser makers backing a 3D Web technology called WebGL for built-in 3D that can tap into a computer’s graphics chip for acclerated performance. And Google also is rebuilding its higher-level 3D Web technology, O3D, on a WebGL foundation.
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