New Invisible Technology

ahmadjee · Feb 5th, 2003, 05:01 PM

click above

Is he "The Invisible Man" by H.G. Wells? It looks like as if three men walking behind are seen through the body of graduate student Kazutoshi Obana during a demonstration of optical camouflage technology at the Tokyo University in Tokyo Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2003. The demonstration conducted by Faculty of Engineering Prof. Susumu Tachi is an early stage of his research that will eventually enable camouflaged objects virtually transparent by wearing an optical device. This photo was taken through a viewfinder that provides with a combined image of moving images taken behind Obana and him wearing a luminous jacket that makes a transparent effect. The technology can be useful for various professions such as surgeons who wish their own fingers and surgical tools won't block the view of affected parts and pilots who wish cockpit floors were transparent for landings. (AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi)
- Feb 05 5:39 AM ET

a1kashur · Feb 5th, 2003, 11:20 PM

damn.......... cool

Lajawab · Feb 6th, 2003, 12:00 AM

This is awesome man...I can guess whose minds must be working to devise a devious use for this technology...

nia_khan · Feb 6th, 2003, 12:22 AM

thats really cool

ahmadjee i wonder how did you get that info

ahmadjee · Feb 6th, 2003, 10:03 AM

^^ Shizuo Kambayashi is friend of mine!

Faisal · Feb 6th, 2003, 10:29 AM

I think it is the same logic as was explained in the latest Bond movie... to make his car invisible. Camera take pictures of the surrounding area and project it on the car making the car invisible.

ahmadjee · Feb 6th, 2003, 10:51 AM

It's not that they got the idea from the Bond movie, it's the other way around. A lot of people have been working on this "Optical Camouflage" technology.

Here is what the website of the Tokyo University had:

Optical Camouflage

What is Optical Camouflage?

Optical camouflage is a kind of active camouflage.

This idea is very simple. If you project background image onto the masked object, you can observe the masked object just as if it were virtually transparent.

This shows the principle of the optical camouflage using X'tal Vision. You can select camouflaged object to cover with retroreflector. Moreover, to project a stereoscopic image, the observer looks at the masking object more transparent.

Optical camouflage can be applied for a real scene. In the case of a real scene, a photograph of the scene is taken from the operatorfs viewpoint, and this photograph is projected to exactly the same place as the original. Actually, applying HMP-based optical camouflage to a real scene requires image-based rendering techniques.