In a lot of movies set in the future, even sometimes the near future, we see computer control panels that just pop up, immaterial, floating in the air, responding to hand gestures or “contact” with the screen.
I can imagine this kind of experience being simulated once we can get “enhanced reality” apps into VR-capable contact lenses.
But of course, it’s not portrayed as such in these movies.
Is there some conjectured way that such a screen could be created? Any means by which a holographic control panel could be projected into mid-air like that?
I’ve seen a couple of demos of such a technology (the holographs rely on some sort of mist or fog, I don’t recall which), even some with haptic feedback to make it like you are touching keys or pushing buttons, so in theory, it’s possible. The real issue would be how to project the holographs, I think, but I don’t see it as an insurmountable issue. There are already systems that can recognize gestures for a VR or augmented reality type system if you go the contacts or glasses route, which seems more likely to me (I think augmented reality contact lenses are the most likely with some sort of gesture system, maybe tied into some sort of compact cell-like device).
While I can agree that AR pop-up displays and input panels would probably be feasible in the near future, there’s a difference between that and what OP’s suggesting.
In an AR system, the user wearing the AR projection system (what Vernor Vinge calls HUDs) would see the displays etc., but no one else does. In the SF portrayals, the pseudo-displays are visible to all, including the audience, which means they’re projected to all viewing that volume of space. (Or something more esoteric and unusual; Vinge’s AR system included the ability for multiple AR users to synchronize some of their displays spaces into a consensus view, which I always pictured looking like what OP’s describing; the weakness with that is that out beyond the 4th wall, we don’t have any such AR consensus tie-in, but we see the displays anyway.)
Why would they bother? A direct brain interface that creates the illusion of the screen in front of you is much more efficient. It requires less power (though maybe not by much), offers much better privacy and can easily be adjusted to the desired opacity. Developing the direct brain interface should be a much higher priority than figuring out how to create a floating image.
Yeah, that’s just a projector using mist for a screen instead of a white sheet. No more a hologram than the Pepper’s Ghosts that people call holograms.
Well, they COULD…if the system were networked. Maybe the 3rd party that is viewing the starship or whatever has the same augmentation and can ‘see’ the screens as well.
Basically, it would make more sense to do it this way (based on where I perceive the technology to be today) than to try and figure out how to project holograms into empty space (or have some sort of mist or another semi-transparent medium it’s projected onto). I think you COULD figure that out, but I’m unsure it would be worth the effort when you could just use AR either with some sort of contact lenses or maybe a direct neural interface if we are going all SciFi on this. Hell, perhaps they are all in some sort of Matrix-like pods on the starship and everything they see is just projected into the digital space they use to manipulate the ship from their pod, and we, the viewing audience are just seeing the digital representation.
OP might be interested in this video from YouTube on a company working on this technology (it’s from 2016). Here is another who disagrees me my assessment that AR is the way to go…it shows a demonstration tabletop system in the works. It’s pretty cool, but I still think it’s more trouble than it’s worth for a starship (also, they still use glasses and it’s a promotional video for a product they want to sell).
This “Holovect” was funded on Kickstarter but never delivered. The consensus seems to be that it was never what it claimed to be, i.e. a 3-D laser projection. The video likely depicts a 2-D pattern projected on a “screen” of fine mist. Their web site doesn’t even exist anymore. See discussions on kickstarter and reddit, for example.
This is basically a 3D TV laid on its side, with the added capability of showing different things to 4 different users. It’s still just a display with depth, not a free-floating image.
Since it offers no advantage to other technology (and it’s difficult to read a semitransparent display if the background isn’t solid), I serious doubt anyone would bother.
The other, similar thing that often turns up in futuristic fiction is screens that are made of transparent glass - these actually exist - made of OLED films on a transparent substrate - but they are unlikely to become very common as VDUs, just because there’s no obvious reason to want a transparent screen for anything productive.
They work in movies because we can see the actors’ faces at the same time as seeing the thing they’re reacting and emoting to.
May I add another observation? Why do movie and TV people think that it is so high-tech to reach up (or down) on these “screens” and move things around? People are always moving a virtual folder or image from one side to the other, usually at least a couple feet, with their entire arm. We actually already have devices that allow us to move a finger or hand just a fraction of an inch and accomplish the same thing much more quickly and efficiently.
A quick link to a company started by a mate of mine that makes the nearest thing to a 3D display I know of. No glasses, Very neat tech. https://voxon.co/
On the subject of “projected holograms” in general, it’s quite simple: If you look in a particular direction and see something, then somewhere along that line of sight, there is something which is either reflecting or emitting light. It’s amazing how many people, even well-respected science fiction authors, fail to get that simple principle.
Femtosecond focused laser pulses can create displays of dots in mid-air. The dots are bluish-white from air ionization, and are accompanied by a buzzing crackle as the plasma balls form and collapse. As of 2015, they were even touch-interactive! Youtube promo video.
Now, a roomful of these things buzzing and glaring and ozonating would be a nightmare, but still. Floating in-air 3D images!
I find it odd in general that look-through displays like clear glass display panels or holograms get so much traction in theatrical representations of scifi when designers know how lousy they are in real life. They are a useful shorthand for ‘future-y’, like the big arm gesture interactions in Minority Report, but they represent a future we should be trying to avoid, not emulate. It’s like the ‘future-y’ beds in ST:TNG having angular pillows and abrasive-looking plastic sheets. Or this bed, from Galaxy Quest.
I recommend the website Scifiinterfaces as an excellent resource for discussion of, well, interfaces with technology in sci-fi visual media.
