Newly Developed Projector Lets You Make 3D Animations That Can Interact With Real Objects

A couple months ago when Tupac "appeared" at the Coachella Festival, they incorrectly called it a "hologram" when in fact it was a style of 3D projection—the same that is used when Hatsune Miku makes live appearances. Now you can make your favorite murdered rapper or vocaloid come to life with similar 3D projections using your tablet computer and "Hakoani!"

To put it simply Hakoani is just a box, but inside of the box is a pyramid made of semitransparent mirrors which reflect images on a device such as an iPad. When the iPad is placed on top of Hakoani the image on the screen (configured in a specific way) appears 3 dimensionally inside of the pyramid.

Solid objects can also be placed under the pyramid, allowing a skilled animator to interact with the virtual images. The girl in the box used in the demonstration isn't doing a whole lot, but with a little imagination this box could have many applications such as a home decoration, gaming or business presentations.

Particularly for presentations, it's compact and rather classy design is a more memorable alternative to bulky projectors and their screens. This should help to justify its rather steep price tag of 36,750 yen (US$ 470). This may seem like a lot for a glass box, but the reason for it is the high-grade film they use on the mirrors to eliminate any distortions.

I wouldn't mind getting my hands on one so I can have my own personal deceased rapper music festival with B.I.G., Guru, Big Pun, Big-L, and Sweet Baby Jesus himself Ol' Dirty Bastard.

Source: Hakoani via IT Media (Japanese)