[HN Gopher] Multivox: Volumetric Display
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Multivox: Volumetric Display
Author : jk_tech
Score : 318 points
Date : 2025-12-04 16:58 UTC (1 days ago)
(HTM) web link (github.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (github.com)
| JKCalhoun wrote:
| In case you miss it, a video of the thing in operation is linked:
| https://youtu.be/pcAEqbYwixU
|
| Reminds me that there are limitations to volumetric displays--
| namely that, since you have no idea where the viewer is located,
| there is no backface culling you can perform. So it seems to work
| best for "cutaway" views.
|
| I'd like to see one in person. Might be "magical" -- the video
| only kind of hints at this.
| lawlessone wrote:
| I can see it making a great "radar" peripheral for 3d space
| games, think Elite Dangerous or No Mans Sky that both have one
| in their cockpits.
| seanmcdirmid wrote:
| If only Halolens took off. Now we have to make do with Chinese
| drone performances at night.
| two_handfuls wrote:
| I think this limitation could be overcome with the right
| hardware.
|
| For example imagine a spinning display like those of the
| article but somehow tuned so that they are only visible when
| exactly head on. In that case, you _know_ where the observer
| is: right in line with the screen. So you can have backface
| culling; as the display spins you render all 360 (or however
| many) viewpoints.
|
| Now granted, this doesn't deal with how high or low the
| observer is. We'd need to find another solution for that.
| PetitPrince wrote:
| > imagine a spinning display like those of the article but
| somehow tuned so that they are only visible when exactly head
| on
|
| I don't understand: doesn't defeat the purpose of a
| volumetric display (seeing what is displayed from multiple
| point of view) ?
| two_handfuls wrote:
| This would be a poor man's "lightfield" display: as you
| move left or right you see a different perspEctive, just
| like you would if it were a physical object on the table
| instead of the spinning screen contraption.
|
| So you would indeed see different points of view.
| ruined wrote:
| that's just a flat display with extra steps
| two_handfuls wrote:
| It's different from a flat display in that if you walk
| around it, you see a different perspective. And it works
| with any number of viewers.
| unwind wrote:
| I think it's worth pointing out that "in operation" here means
| it's running Doom. Which I was not expected, and somewhat blown
| away (heh) by. Very very cool.
| thesz wrote:
| These displays use rotating mechanisms.
|
| This ones does not: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrfBjRp61iY
|
| Volumetric display in the video above uses static projector whose
| pixels light up etchings inside solid glass.
| probablycorey wrote:
| The same person built both of these.
| ge96 wrote:
| feel like I saw this in a hackaday, at least remember hearing
| the podcast about projecting all the rays at all intersections,
| it was green though maybe I'm thinking of something else
|
| oh wow yeah I've seen a lot of this channel's work before the
| lego display, the CV fiber optic bundle display
| yboris wrote:
| Thank you for sharing - it's a brilliant piece of tech. I
| posted this earlier but it didn't catch on with upvoting
|
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46137203
| wowczarek wrote:
| Whatever the outcome, when someone sets up an optical table,
| I'm sold.
| two_handfuls wrote:
| Speaking of tables, you probably already know about Tilt-
| Five? If not, they made a very neat social AR system focused
| on tabletop gaming.
|
| https://www.tiltfive.com/
| dllu wrote:
| I once considered making a spinning persistence of vision similar
| to this one specifically for visualizing lidar data from a
| spinning automotive lidar. The lidar has 128 beams and you could
| make a spinning array of 128 1D LED displays at exactly the same
| beam angles to recreate the point cloud from the lidar.
|
| Anyway, I was too lazy to make it, but it's super neat to see
| that someone actually made something similar.
| tra3 wrote:
| Whoa, the intersection of different skills necessary is
| incredible.
|
| - software
|
| - math
|
| - 3d printing
|
| - electronics
|
| Very impressive.
| qoez wrote:
| Never knew this was possible. I hope some huge company with lots
| of resources jumps on this and drives up the resolution and
| price.
| Night_Thastus wrote:
| Why would they?
|
| I mean, I think it's SUPER cool and would not mind one sitting
| on my desk.
|
| But from a _product_ standpoint...? It doesn 't scale well in
| size, resolution or refresh rate.
|
| VR is pretty much better if you want a the kind of immersion I
| think you'd be looking for, and even selling _that_ is hard.
| _flux wrote:
| Looking Glass displays (not the "hololuminescent" ones) solve
| many of the same things (multiple viewers, no glasses) while
| looking good, and in principle you could build a cube out of
| them, although the display can't be seen from the full 180
| degrees.
| tclancy wrote:
| >drives up the resolution and price.
|
| Uh, I get the former but why the latter?
| qoez wrote:
| meant down :p
| andblac wrote:
| Check out Voxon [1]. From the specs and youtube videos it seems
| like it's working on the same principle (rotating LED screen).
| Fun fact, it was co-founded by none other than Ken Silverman
| (the creator of Build engine) [2]. They've been pushing
| commercialization of this technology for years now.
|
| [1] https://www.voxon.co/ [2]
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Silverman
| nl wrote:
| My son works on this. It's pretty cool tech.
| two_handfuls wrote:
| Also check out the company named "Light Field Displays" for
| stunning displays. Not exactly the same as volumetric. Arguably
| better in some ways. Definitely more expensive though.
|
| https://www.holoxica.com/light-field-displays
| ge96 wrote:
| interesting it is different than these kinds
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nM7wsXcYQFM
|
| which I guess is the "volume" part
| iberator wrote:
| DOES IT RUN DOOM?! seriously
| ZeWaka wrote:
| yes.
| genpfault wrote:
| It was right there[1] in the assembly video.
|
| [1]: https://youtu.be/pcAEqbYwixU?t=1038
| bananananna3654 wrote:
| This one uses a projector on oscillating rubber bands so that you
| can reach in and touch it:
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wwKOXxX9Ck
| mjorgers wrote:
| That's actually really neat. It'll be interesting to see how
| durable these kinds of displays end up being. Rubber bands tend
| to loosen up with use, or when exposed to uv rays.
| limbicsystem wrote:
| This guy's entire output is incredible (from alien tellitubbies
| onwards). Go moose! https://mastodon.social/@ancientjames
| ceejayoz wrote:
| My fav: a two-by-two LEGO block that can run _and show_ Doom.
| https://www.hackster.io/news/james-brown-s-tiny-lego-brick-c...
| eps wrote:
| An earlier iteration of the same block is imo more impressive
| in its creativity -
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wBrOV2FJM8&t=720 - such an
| unexpected and yet completely natural extension of the brick
| set.
| simultsop wrote:
| Amazing, finally a refreshing, motivation source!
| msuniverse2026 wrote:
| I wonder if you could have a vibrating chladni plate with sand on
| it and you match when the sand should jump with the light that's
| meant to be at that spot. You get the interruption of light
| looking like a mid-air pixel and then when it isn't needed it
| drops back down allowing light to pass through. Kind of like one
| of those mist-screens except there isn't mist where you don't
| need it.
| btbuildem wrote:
| Before I watched the video, my brain ran ahead and I imagined it
| would be one of those led "fans", except also rotating around
| it's base. It might be harder to sync the two rotations, but
| you'd have much less mass in motion that way.
|
| The solid state ones are cool! The real mystery there is how the
| pixel volume was manufactured -- it doesn't seem like something
| easily DIY'd
| raphman wrote:
| There are companies that laser-'etch' 3D images into glass. I
| guess it's not that hard to find one that accepts a list of xyz
| coordinates.
| lifty wrote:
| Would be great having one of these hooked up to an LLM agent so
| it can be somehow "embodied". Like a Siri + volumetric display +
| speaker. Waiting for a company to build this.
| kridsdale3 wrote:
| Like the Morpheus character near the end of Deus Ex.
| lifty wrote:
| Exactly, but more friendly
| wowczarek wrote:
| Doom or Quake renderer coming when?
| Terr_ wrote:
| I'm sure I'm not the only one who thought "why not vacuum", so I
| went and found the creator's reasoning [0] for why it's not a
| priority:
|
| > [I]nside the dome the air quickly ends up rotating at the same
| rate as the rest of the mechanism. It's reaching its design speed
| with the motor at less than half duty cycle. Even if it were
| practical to make the whole thing airtight, it doesn't solve a
| problem that I currently have. The sound it makes doesn't come
| from inside the dome but from the motor in the base.
|
| [0]
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcAEqbYwixU&lc=UgygtRUb6XZyu...
| Terr_ wrote:
| [Self-reply with side-topic] Assuming a rectangular display
| rotating in standard air... _what glass enclosure would be
| best_?
|
| My intuition says "change the sphere to a cylinder", because
| then we can minimize how much air could be passing around the
| sides and top of the display-rectangle, potentially curling
| around and causing turbulence and noise.
|
| However, that introduces a new issue of visibility: Big flat
| surfaces have different glare/reflection problems than a
| spheroid does. It may become harder for the user to see
| clearly, whether from external glare or from internal
| reflections in a dark room. What if the top face of the glass
| cylinder was very slightly curved outwards, to avoid the worst-
| case scenario where you just can't look down into the device
| from certain angles? Depending on the refractive index of the
| glass, it could just be a _thicker_ top, so that it doesn 't
| create dead-space on the inside.
| polishdude20 wrote:
| This looks crazy good! I love how you made it easy to see how
| balanced it is.
|
| Shameless plug, I made a similar thing but for bike wheels!
|
| https://youtu.be/o8n-bu2kKnc?si=BPn8tRbFTiQROJg1
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