Researchers in Glasgow claim to have come up with a reliable and cost-effective way of forming 3D images.
Work has been going on at the School of Physics and Astronomy in the city and the team is led by a chap called Professor Miles Padgett. He said that the system uses single pixel detectors which are placed in four different locations. These are then used to detect the light which is projected towards it in a series of black and white patterns.
The clever part is that the detectors can work out the shape of the objects which are in the path of the light due to the intensity of the light which is reflected back to them. The technique which is used to piece together a 3D image is called Shape from Shade and is apparently already familiar to most people who know about these things.
Only a Few Seconds of Work
It sounds awfully complicated but Prof Padgett says that it only takes a matter of a few seconds to bring up a 3D image of even a complex object.
This single pixel approach differs greatly from the traditional 3D image generation method and the scientists who have worked on it suggest that the fact that it can recognise objects beyond the range of visible light could make it useful in things like medical and scientific fields, with one suggestion being that it could help look for tumours.
This system is said to cost “a few pounds”, while for one of the traditional 3D image generation methods you are talking about thousands of pounds.
