Seminar Archive - 2012
March 28, 2012 6-7 p.m.
Speaker: Mark Flynn, Director of Displays & Hardware Engineering, Infinite Z
Title: zSpace: Description & Demo of a New Type of Stereoscopic Display
Abstract: zSpace provides a highly realistic 3D visualization experience that enables designers and engineers to work with product designs in a way not previously possible in a traditional 2D computing environment. Using a proprietary stereoscopic display, trackable eyewear, a new type of direct interaction stylus and an innovative software platform, objects in zSpace appear "solid" in open space, with full color and high resolution, and can be directly manipulated as if they were real physical objects. This capability gives users a natural way to navigate, grab, slice, carve, zoom and explore models as never before possible. Initially focused towards the digital/product design, scientific, medical, GIS/geospatial and government markets, zSpace is a completely new model for experiencing and communicating design ideas and significantly advancing the way people solve problems, learn, teach and communicate in today's world. We will bring several of these systems to the seminar for attendees to try out. Features and Benefits: - High-definition stereoscopic display with full images rendered for each eye for ultra-high realism - Lightweight, passive, trackable eyewear for viewing comfort - Full motion parallax, with sensors tracking the viewing angle, enabling the user to look around objects and visualize multiple perspectives with simple head movements - Uniquely designed stylus for managing direct and natural interactions with virtually-holographic images in 3D space - Innovative development platform for creating new applications and integrating new input devices Product Specifications: - zStation monitor, 24-inch HD LCD (1080p @ 120Hz) with tracking sensors - Direct interaction stylus with three buttons and integrated infrared LED and accelerometer design - Polarized passive eyewear with trackable markers - SDK for application developers - zSpace Maya Plug-in (available to licensed users of Autodesk Maya)
Speaker Biography: Mark Flynn obtained his Bachelor of Arts degree in physics at Cleveland State University in 1979, and his Ph.D. in physics at Washington University in St. Louis in 1986. From 1986 to 1991 he worked on computational physics problems in the field of condensed-matter physics, specializing in the general area of very dense, low-temperature quantum systems, at the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology, and at the Universities of Granada and Velencia. Since 1991 he has worked in the display technology field, beginning at the Liquid Crystal Institute at Kent State University, where he worked in liquid crystal display simulation and optimization. Work at Kaiser Electronics from 1994 to 2000 centered on head-mounted display systems using flat-panel displays. From 2000 to 2001 Mark worked at Inviso on the optimization of LCOS displays for commercial head-mounted systems. From 2001 to 2009 he worked at Aurora Systems, in San Jose, CA, where he was Director of Display Technologies. Since 2009 he has been Director of Displays & Hardware Engineering at Infinite Z, a startup building new and innovative 3D display systems.
Click here to access Mark Flynn's slides.