Invisible suit
 

http://www.time.com/time/2003/invent...invisible.html

I just saw this really cool invention. When people think of superpowers, invisibility is usually among the first 3 spots so no wonder it got chosen as one of the coolest invention of 2003.

http://i.timeinc.net/time/2003/inven...vinvisible.jpg

Now, the thing doesnt make you go invisible, but it does make you look transparent. Thats a good start. I believe that sometime in the future, itll be possible to go completely invisible. Its a long way before technology actually allows us so, but of all the problems with the current model, none of them are impossible to solve. If only they can improve the resolution of the image projected, project the image in such a way that the deformations of the suit are cancelled, project the image as an hologram so that it can make you look invisible from any angle and project the image from within the coat so that you dont have to constantly carry a projector around, youll have your fully working invisible coat!

That's pretty freakin' cool. I saw on Discovery or TLC (can't remember which) a similar technology used on tanks. How much longer until I can get one? Just a suit... I don't really need a tank.

Um...I don't really want to be a nay-sayer here,
but it "looks" like someone standing in front of a projector screen.

That's not invisibility,
that's just someone in a highly reflective jacket, in front of a projected picture.

That's more like camouflage.
There's a difference.

I don't quite understand how holographic technology can make you seem transparent from all angles. That seems like it would be the greatest challenge, because you could see something as invisible using cameras and high resolution screens, but if you just change your height it will just seem odd and out of place.

Well, IT IS someone standing in front of a projector. Only this time, the image projected is the image on the back of the guy is the image in front of the guy. The idea is simple but the execution is tricker. The image has to be adapted to that only the portion you cant see is projected. I also think its projected in such a way that the irregularities of the coat are somewhat cancelled.

I guess it works better with simple objects without too many irregularities.

http://www.star.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/proj...ges/mirror.mpg

IIRC, the military has been working on such a system for some time now, but nothing really working has been achieved. For the moment, it seems more sci-fi than fact, but sometime in the relatively near future, absolutely.

It probably isn't, I saw a video of a guy who used similar technology. It was about as decent as this is, doesn't quite look the same though.

What I mean is right now, the projected image is in 2d. Thus, if you see the projected image from an angle, itll seem disorted and out of place.

Thats just what Im saying. Thats why there needs to be a way to correct the image so that it can work from any angle. Yeah, projecting holographic images does seem like the greatest challenge right now. But if somehow you can project the image from within the coat, I guess, it could be possible. Like the coat could act like a foldable screen. Or it could be divised so that each pixel is actually an independant screen in itself projecting a very small holographic image of the whats on the other side.

That video is freakin cool!

Thx for the vid.

Combine that with this and you've got a wicked ass suit.

maybe it should be called hi tech camoflauge suit or projector suit because that's not invisible at all.

Your right Holo -- That's one hell of a suit...

http://www.nfb.ca/grizzly/suit1.gif

that's the URL for that fake time site. anyone can make a page that looks like a real TIME page. hate to burst the bubble here.

the picture shows a neat trick in photoshop, and the "mirror" is a great demonstration in basic key chromatography, which is the technical word for "blue-" or "green-screening" used on tv and movies. In high school I did the same thing with a black jacket, touting it as "invisible" by dialing up the black chroma key (the only color I could use, our blue didn't work) which basically changes the opacity of anything with that color on the first video input, allowing the secondary (background) to show through.

I dunno bout you guys but I see myself in ladies change room in one of those suits...

-Pervert

that's way cool, I'm sure it's impossible t be totally invisible though

in that same time article you linked, that "Super black" stuff, absorbing 99.7% of light, sounds really cool! I wonder what it looks like? I wonder what other practical applications there are to the blackest black ever....

i remember seeing videos of a guy wearing the sweatshirt on the street, with cars and bicycles going by. It's impressive, but still a projected camoflauge.

that's tight

it's probably expensive tho, and none of us will get to play with it :p

There was an article in Wired about this when it first hit. They pointed out the fact that yes, it's a mediocre image, and yes, there's distortion if the viewer isn't at the angle that the camera was at.

To create a truly "invisible" suit, they said, would take:

• at least six cameras, one for "every" 3D POV
• a fabric actually made of tiny, tiny LCDs
• an astounding processor/graphics/cooling system to take input from the cameras, decide which output LCD it should go to, adjust light output so that the wearer wasn't a bright or a dark spot, and send the output to the screens

We're JUST not there yet, folks.