Google has unveiled a prototype technology that makes the people in a video call appear in 3D even if they’re physically elsewhere. At Google IO, the software giant announced Project Starline, a breakthrough in the world of technology that combines both hardware and software to create life-size images and videos of the person you are on call with.
The phrase “video booth” really is the simplest way to describe Starline in its current form. The video conferencing tech uses a “light field display system”, which consists of various cameras and sensors, to capture a person’s appearance that are then rendered to form a 3D model.
The cameras and sensors, probably a dozen or more hidden around the display, capture the person from multiple angles and figure out their exact shape, creating a live 3D model of them. “The effect is the feeling of a person sitting just across from you, like they are right there,” said Clay Bavor- VP Virtual and Augmented Reality at Google. Although you cannot touch the person on the other side of this screen, you can talk and make gestures and eye contact with this person the same way you would do in real life.
In its tweet, Google describes this technology as “Imagine a magic window, and through that window you see another person, life-size and in three dimensions.”
The cameras and sensors, probably a dozen or more hidden around the display, capture the person from multiple angles and figure out their exact shape, creating a live 3D model of them. “The effect is the feeling of a person sitting just across from you, like they are right there,” said Clay Bavor- VP Virtual and Augmented Reality at Google. Although you cannot touch the person on the other side of this screen, you can talk and make gestures and eye contact with this person the same way you would do in real life.
In its tweet, Google describes this technology as “Imagine a magic window, and through that window you see another person, life-size and in three dimensions.”
The cameras and sensors, probably a dozen or more hidden around the display, capture the person from multiple angles and figure out their exact shape, creating a live 3D model of them. “The effect is the feeling of a person sitting just across from you, like they are right there,” said Clay Bavor- VP Virtual and Augmented Reality at Google. Although you cannot touch the person on the other side of this screen, you can talk and make gestures and eye contact with this person the same way you would do in real life.
In its tweet, Google describes this technology as “Imagine a magic window, and through that window you see another person, life-size and in three dimensions.”
Imagine a magic window, and through that window you see another person, life-size and in three dimensions.
Project Starline is a technology project that combines advances in hardware and software to help people feel like they’re together, even when they’re apart. #GoogleIO pic.twitter.com/2yNJrXoQcx
— Google (@Google) May 18, 2021
The video chat booth is currently only available at a few of Google’s offices due to its reliance on custom-built hardware and highly specialised equipment. After undergoing thousands of hours of testing in these offices, Google said it recently starting conducting demos with various healthcare and media companies to receive feedback on its usability. The trial deployments are likely to begin for enterprise partners later this year.
At this point Project Starline is still very much a prototype (an expensive one), so don’t expect to get one in your home any time soon. However, Google believes this is the future of person-to-person communication and its goal is to make the technology more accessible and affordable.
