After viewing the latest incredible panorama from the Mars rover <link>, I bemoaned about not being able to see it in its true perspective.
Short of printing out the picture and pasting it to the inside of a cardboard tube, I thought it would be wonderful to have a tubular CRT with a 360° field of view. The viewer would stick their head into the tube and be able to turn and see the view as the camera took the images, shown on the inside of the tube.
This would also work for the myriad 360° views available at some QuickTime® sites.-- Klaatu, Mar 24 2004 Intriguing Dimples Near Eagle Crater on Mars http://antwrp.gsfc....opportunity_big.jpg [Klaatu, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 05 2004] Circarama (later known as Circle-Vision) http://cinerama.top...s.com/circarama.htmThis nine projector system was developed for Walt Disney and opened at Disneyland California in July, 1955, with the 360 degree color movie "America The Beautiful". It wowed several generations of Californians and went on to several World's Fairs/Expositions in the '60s. [jurist, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 05 2004] (?) This works, too. http://www.brcweb.c...360-degree-film.htm [jurist, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 05 2004] Floating Clock http://www.brooksto...?image_file=360305ATo illustrate [Ling]'s idea [kbecker, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 05 2004] 360° x 360° Spherical LED Monitor http://www.halfbake...cal_20LED_20Monitor [Worldgineer, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 05 2004] cornell student's link as a link http://www.museum.cornell.edu/no charge for this service. [po, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 05 2004] America Hurrah http://www.americahurrah.com[elgy]'s link as a link [Worldgineer, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 05 2004] This would be good for so many things. Number of annotations until someone mentions...-- Detly, Mar 24 2004 I'm guessing [Detly] was counting down to the word "IMAX", but I decided to go with the 1955 Circarama (or Circle-Vision Theater) instead. Link.-- jurist, Mar 24 2004 A "tubular CRT" presents some physics problems, unless I'm missing something. Plenty of other technologies should be up to an annular screen, however.-- DrCurry, Mar 24 2004 Great for viewing your colonoscopy video.-- FarmerJohn, Mar 24 2004 It would be better to use an LCD because the crt would be humongous and combersome to make it that big.-- JoeLounsbury2004, Mar 24 2004 How about this: A vertical array of super-bright red/blue/green LED's spins around your head. There is a counterbalance on the opposite side. As the LED's rotate, they are lit at the right time so that the image is drawn out. Another way to have virtual reality?-- Ling, Mar 24 2004 How about the video glasses they have been promising us for years. They sense when you are turning and change the image you are viewing to match.-- Nitehawk, Mar 24 2004 [Ling] you may have a problem with rotational speed since the array may have to spin at around 1600RPM (27 frames/sec all around) but for starters who don't care too much about image quality it may work (see floating clock link).-- kbecker, Mar 24 2004 I'd add more arrays. Offset each one vertically and you'll get higher resolution as well.
I thought [Ling]'s concept deserved it's own idea page (really so I could post a picture of how I think it would look). [Ling], feel free to create your own and I'll delete mine.-- Worldgineer, Mar 24 2004 Of course, some would use it as a high tech bong. Or is that hookah?-- lintkeeper2, Mar 24 2004 One can only imagine the pornographic possiblities. Actually, as soon as the technology came about someone would put it to that use, I'm sure.-- Eugene, Mar 24 2004 This has been baked, by an Artist who had an exhibit up at the Art Museum at Cornell University. However, it wasn't a moniter, per-se, but screens that had images projected onto them from behind, in a rough circle. You could walk into the circle, take a seat, and be able to watch whatever was in your field of vision, just as if you were in the actual location.
The exhibit has been taken down, and I don't recall the name of the exhibit or artist... so.. I'm not much help. Sorry.
www.museum.cornell.edu if you think you can find anything-- Cornell_Student, Mar 25 2004 link added-- po, Mar 25 2004 One of my favorite panoramas is probably the oldest one: in 1878, Edweard Muybridge took several shots of San Francisco building a panorama. The web site http://www.americahurrah.com has this pasted together and made into a screen saver. It would look neat on the suggested device, too, since none of us lived in that time.-- elegyjay, Mar 25 2004 ... porn: eleven.-- Detly, Mar 25 2004 [elgy] I can't find the screensaver.-- Worldgineer, Mar 25 2004 Tubular dude. +-- sartep, Mar 25 2004 random, halfbakery