- by Phil Mercer
- BBC News, Sydney
1 hour ago
Image Source, Hologram Zoo
image Caption,
Brisbane’s Hologram Zoo features 50 different creatures
At this zoo, visitors dodge elephants, peer into the gaping jaws of hippos, and pat friendly giraffes.
Such adventures are possible at Australia’s Hologram Zoo, which opened earlier this year, and features 50 lifelike exhibits ranging from laser-crafted dinosaurs to gorillas.
Its creator says it is the world’s most futuristic animal theme park, using technology that has not been used anywhere else.
Bruce Dale, chief executive of Axiom, explains, “There’s a lot of laughing, there’s a lot of shouting… but when the 30-meter whale passes, for some reason, everyone goes silent as if May they be in awe and reverence of such a magnificent creature.” Creator of holographics and hologram zoo.
This is a digital trick that tricks the brain into seeing something that isn’t there.
“You’re projecting an object in the air that appears real because as you walk around it you’re looking at it from different angles. So, you use laser light and we project these objects in the air. Let’s project,” he explains. BBC.
“The animals come into the room, they walk through the tunnel and you pat them like in the movies. You’re looking at an animal made of light in front of you. You’ll go out and extend your hand and pat the lion.”
Image Source, Hologram Zoo
image Caption,
Hologram system keeps track of everyone present in the room
The hologram show uses a new “depth” technology that makes animals appear larger. The moving images are brought to life by crystal-equipped laser projectors that deliver different fields of light to simple sunglasses worn by guests.
Crucially, having a device that knows where everyone is in the room creates a tailored virtual experience. The hologram shows come with sensory technology, allowing visitors to feel the smell of flowers and trees.
The technology that lit up Axiom’s theme park in suburban Brisbane is shining elsewhere. Bruce Dale told the BBC that his company has contracts with aerospace giant Airbus and American corporation Honeywell, as well as the creation of a hologram aquarium for a luxury hotel owned by Bill Gates in the Maldives.
The founder of Hologram Zoo says he is rethinking the industry by making components in a purpose-built factory in the Australian state of Queensland, cutting costs and increasing quality.
“Everyone is expecting a hologram revolution. It’s something we see in science fiction and we should have had it by now. But holograms have always been very expensive. We felt like making them very cheap Some things need to be done,” explains Mr Dale.
“Holograms typically take a huge amount of computing power. To do these you would typically have 10 computers linked together. Because of our good understanding of how computer memory management works, we were able to create such algorithms. Which reduce the hologram to just one. Computer.”
In Canberra, another race towards reimagining the concepts of holography is well underway. Researchers at the Australian National University (ANU) say they are disrupting the ancient laws of physics that use lenses and mirrors to scatter light.
The ANU team is experimenting with meta-optics or nano-photonics. When light rays pass through tiny meta surfaces, which are just millimeters in size, they can manipulate the wave, similar to conventional lenses, but on a much smaller scale.
“We are trying to drive the future of these technologies forward,” said Professor Dragomir Neyshev, from ANU’s Research School of Physics. “When we are able to miniaturize these lasers and put them on a small portable device, that’s when we will make the leap.” ” “Right now, everything is based on where holograms were at the beginning in the ’60s and ’70s.”
Meta-surfaces could turn reading glasses into night vision goggles, replace clinical blood tests with breath tests, and tell us when the food in the fridge is out.
Professor Neshev believes holographic technology could be “transformational” for medicine, and could help guide surgeons deep inside a patient’s body at the cellular level with real-time images.
Hologram technologies have also inspired what has been described as a “world-first collaboration” between psychology and theater at Queensland University of Technology (QUT). Alex is a one-hour drama about a child who has lost his father, and his efforts to find him, as well as his own journey of self-discovery.
It has a strong mental health message embedded in it. The show’s producers say it is an “arts-based clinical intervention for people with eating disorders”.
The play’s Dr. Shane Pike says, “Alex looks like a traditional play, any other trip to the theater, until the holographic image comes up. It looks like a Roger Rabbit movie; the real actors and animations are the same. Live in a dramatic space.” Writer from QUT’s School of Creative Practice.
“The technology used to create Alex is both amazingly simple and complex at the same time. Basically, it’s augmented reality (AR) without the need for wearables, glasses, or smart devices, to keep One has to hold it for this. The AR image will appear on the screen.”
Image source, Queensland University of Technology
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Queensland University of Technology created a play featuring the hologram Alex
While holograms create a completely virtual world, augmented reality at QUT uses a special effects screen, called Hologause, to bring the play’s virtual characters to the stage.
It is a special material that appears invisible to the naked eye, but when lit with the projected image from our high-powered projectors it is captured by the haze and appears as an embodied character. We connect the animation to a real-life actor backstage through motion-capture technology,” Dr Pike told the BBC.
Australian researchers hope to eventually create lifelike moving holograms that display directly on smartphone screens.
Bruce Dale recently organized a hologram dinosaur show at the Australian Museum in Sydney. He sees a ubiquitous future for holograms, including floating hamburgers and pizzas at fast food restaurants, and virtual 3D gems to lure shoppers at jewelry stores.
“Often we talk about technology revolutions; the television, the car, the mobile phone, the light bulb, and the question is, what’s next? Well, the media has been telling us, science fiction has been telling us for years, the next The hologram revolution, having holographic things everywhere, he predicts.
