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Zeiss's "Holocam" turns glass windows into cameras

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Re: Zeiss's "Holocam" turns glass windows into cameras

#191

Post by crazygringo »

I've read through all the comments here but I still don't have the slightest idea of how this works.

I see some references to "light guides" and words like "coupling" but I don't know what those mean at all, and all of my googling is not helping to explain how light guides embedded in a thin, mostly transparent layer could possibly be used to project a hi-res holographic 3D light field out of a piece of glass. How big is each guide? What is it exactly -- what is it actually made of? How is it shaped? How are they arranged? How are they illuminated? How do you manufacture something like this?

Can anyone ELI15 how this works?

Re: Zeiss's "Holocam" turns glass windows into cameras

#192

Post by ijhuygft776 »

AnarchismIsCool wrote: post #74

For the people kinda worried: this is a highly specialized piece of glass that is extremely complicated to manufacture at present and must, due to the laws of thermodynamics, not be 100% transparent. It's not going to allow surveillance through existing glass installations in any form, just possibly new ones if there's room for the support equipment and through the use of 4-5 digit piles of cash. Any camera glass lik…

> It's not going to allow surveillance through existing glass installations in any form, just possibly new ones if there's room for the support equipment and through the use of 4-5 digit piles of cash.

Total surveillance is just a matter of time...

Re: Zeiss's "Holocam" turns glass windows into cameras

#193

Post by raphman »

sleepybrett wrote: post #186
raphman wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As I posted below, Microsoft's Applied Sciences Group did something similar (I guess) back in 2011: https://www.microsoft.com/applied-sciences/uploads/publicati... https://www.microsoft.com/applied-sciences/projects/the-wedg...

I remember a friend on a team adjacent to the surface table team talking about them trying to do this when they switched from projection tables to tables with screens in them. As I recall with the projector based tables (the ones that looked like old cocktail arcade tables) I think they were using an ir camera to detect items and touches on the 'screen'.

Yes, the original Surface tabletop used IR cameras. Its successor, the Samsung SUR40 had in-cell sensing, i.e. photosensors embedded into the LCD so that it could capture a 960x540 image of the table surface.

Re: Zeiss's "Holocam" turns glass windows into cameras

#194

Post by mrexroad »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #48

> Glass surfaces can also generate energy. The microoptical layer in the window pane absorbs incident sunlight and transmits it in concentrated form to a solar cell. This combines the advantages of conventional windows – natural light and an unrestricted view – with the additional benefit of efficient energy production. This is pretty cool.

Agree. Obviously a few orders of magnitude in cost reduction would be required... but this seem like it could have interesting potential for energy generation in high-rise buildings, which currently have near-zero solar footprint. With that said, the lack of any mention regarding efficiency makes this part of the press release seem like a bit of smoke and, erm, mirrors.

Re: Zeiss's "Holocam" turns glass windows into cameras

#195

Post by tasty_freeze »

fourteenfour wrote: post #11
pushcx wrote: post #5

I spent a few minutes looking for more info, doesn't seem that Zeiss has published anything but a press release yet: https://www.zeiss.com/corporate/en/about-zeiss/present/newsr...

Here's their CES page with a video: https://exhibitors.ces.tech/8_0/exhibitor/exhibitor-details....

This video is nothing but holographic displays. The article is about an invisible layer camera sensor.

Re: Zeiss's "Holocam" turns glass windows into cameras

#196

Post by [deleted] »

AnarchismIsCool wrote: post #74

For the people kinda worried: this is a highly specialized piece of glass that is extremely complicated to manufacture at present and must, due to the laws of thermodynamics, not be 100% transparent. It's not going to allow surveillance through existing glass installations in any form, just possibly new ones if there's room for the support equipment and through the use of 4-5 digit piles of cash. Any camera glass lik…

[deleted]

Re: Zeiss's "Holocam" turns glass windows into cameras

#198

Post by Wowfunhappy »

boxed wrote: post #76
wkat4242 wrote: post #38

Yeah it sounds like a great option to place a camera invisibly in the middle top half of your screen so you can actually look a person in the eye when videoconferencing. No more weirdly looking down or to the side for everyone. I'm sure it can be used for creepiness as well but I see the benefits too.

iPhones solve the camera angle by changing the position of the pupil in software instead.

This doesn't solve the issue, because it looks like the person is always making eye contact! You don't want that—you want it to look like the person is making eye contact only when they are actually making eye contact. Constant eye contact is exhausting.

Re: Zeiss's "Holocam" turns glass windows into cameras

#199

Post by dontupvoteme »

ChuckMcM wrote: post #147
KMnO4 wrote: post #15

The article is poorly written, as it only discusses the camera component. Strangely, they chose stock images of holographic and optical displays, but didn’t mention that even once. The Zeiss site is a much better read: https://www.zeiss.com/corporate/en/about-zeiss/present/newsr... In summary: 1) ZEISS unveils holographic Smart Glass at CES 2024, both for displays/projection/filtering, but also another component whic…

First, holy crap! Second, #3 is always a red flag for me. It is sometimes code for "we can do this in the lab but we have no idea how one would manufacture it." A similar analogy is "we've got this great idea for a program you can license but no one here knows how to actually code it up." Third, the impact of this going mainstream would be hard to underestimate. All those people working on transparent displays like t…

If it was anyone but Zeiss I'd call it a red flag too, but they're basically Old Gods of Glass.

Re: Zeiss's "Holocam" turns glass windows into cameras

#200

Post by dontupvoteme »

ysofunny wrote: post #39
xyzzy_plugh wrote: post #21

It's a reverse light guide. We've been beam forming for a long time, it's unsurprising that the reverse is possible (imaging through a light pipe). The principal issue will be gathering enough energy. A well lit source like a bathroom mirror (mirror behind the light guide) could work pretty well I'd wager. If the light guide is too efficient then it will appear opaque, so there is a trade-off. I find "turns any windo…

> Zeiss isn't going to aspire to sell cheap glass on razor thin margins. why not?

because they're Zeiss. They made the lenses for the photos on the moon, they're not small potatoes.
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