Hewlett-Packard Zvr 3D: set to change what you think you see

Australia’s first virtual-reality monitor capable of projecting holograms will soon be available in Australia.

Australia’s first virtual-reality monitor capable of projecting holograms goes on sale in Australia next Monday.

Hewlett-Packard’s futuristic 60cm Zvr display lets you pull objects out from the screen, view them in midair, and rotate them to view other angles.

The hologram effect is a clever adaptation of 3D. Consumers watching 3D movies might have experienced objects jumping out at them or floating by them. The difference with the Zvr display is that, with software, you can manip­ulate such objects in 3D space using a three-button stylus.

My hands-on time with the Zvr last week included picking up a tiny watch from the display, enlarging it and turning it over to read the inscription on the back, picking up a house and unpeeling it floor by floor, and using a tiny virtual camera to probe inside objects­ from all angles.

But the most dramatic demonstration was the heart. I could not only pick up a model of a heart and inspect it from all angles, I could also render individual sections transparent to look inside, using one of the other styles buttons. For example, I could see the valves inside the left and right ventricles in a realistic 3D setting.

The applications are myriad. First, there is the obvious: education. School and university students can study biology and other sciences such as molecular model­ling in a realistic 3D world, rather than through 2D represent­ations.

Architecture, and an ability to virtually build and assemble machine prototypes are other examples.

However, that’s just the start. Hewlett-Packard and the device’s original manufacturer, California-based zSpace, have worked with developers such as Dassault Systemes, Autodesk and Siemens to adapt their 3D content to the Zvr, while zSpace has released a software development kit for educators and others creating applications.

In cardiology, Paris-based Dassault Systemes has a living heart project aimed at enabling surgeons to reproduce a patient’s defective heart as a 3D model, allowing the team to discuss and even simulate an operation before the real thing.

The design of medical devices insert­ed into the body could be refine­d in the same way.

To aid the design process, objects­ can be displayed in virtual reality with their dimensions showing and objects built and rebuil­t without the expense of creating a physical prototype.

On the demonstration software I used, you could squiggle a camera rail through a 3D design and run the small virtual camera along it. The camera’s output displays on a virtual monitor inside the monitor.

To see the effect, however, you need to wear passive 3D glasses. For the visually challenged, the good news is I could place the 3D glasses over my reading glasses, see the display output with crystal clarity and even takes notes at the same time.

However, there is no guarantee this will work for different eyesight issues.

The 3D glasses have five sensors, meaning the 3D perspective changes as you move around the monitor, just as a real-life perspective changes as you walk by. By sitting up straight I could see over objects in the foreground.

The stylus attached to the Zvr also features haptic feedback. So when I picked up the heart I could feel it beating while linked to my hand.

HP is making the display available under license from zSpace.

The HP Zvr will be available only through HP online and from its commercial resellers.