Imagine a world where two-dimensional data could be moved and manipulated in a three-dimensional setting. In the hospital room, for example, a doctor may visually see, manipulate, and experience a patient’s MRI brain scan, or a building engineer may project newly designed infrastructure so investors can walk through blueprints.
Rather than simply viewing two-dimensional data or information on a screen, a user can interact directly with an object, spin it around, and better visualize it in its full structure.
“We’re in a world now where there is an enormous amount of 3D data, yet there are presently only a limited number of ways to look at it,” says Michael Bove, a freelance researcher and inventor of 3D displays who frequently works with MIT.
Two modern technologies promise to provide just that: volumetric displays and holograms. Although the two terms are commonly used interchangeably, they are very different technologies, says Bove.
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