Not sure how practical this is...then again, that's why its in the half-bakery, right? The way my invisiblity suit works is this: On the front of the suit there are thousands (hundreds of thousands?) of tiny video cameras all linked inidividually to tiny monitors on the back of the suit. THEREFORE...people behind you would be seeing what is in front of you, rendering you somewhat invisible. Unfortunately, people in front of you would see a guy wearing a suit covered in thousands (hundreds of thousands) of tiny video cameras. And I think moving would cause the screens to "jump" and be a bit obvious. Any ideas?-- WRDRMR, Jun 29 2000 A nugget from the half bakery http://www.halfbakery.com/idea/Gold_20hatWith maybe a buckyball-shaped gold nugget and good lighting, fashion could be made to flatter. [reensure, Jun 29 2000] chameleon clothing http://www.halfbake...hameleon_20clothingconvergent annotations... [egnor, Jun 29 2000, last modified Oct 04 2004] 'Invisibility' technology under development in Japan http://www.usatoday...7-see-through_x.htmUSA Today, Feb 7 2003. Uses a single camera and a projected image onto a reflective cloak. Pictures included. [krelnik, Oct 04 2004] (???) Japanese invisibility cloak http://www.eightbal...-41/diatribes39.htm [FloridaManatee, Oct 04 2004] [FloridaManatee]'s link... I think. http://starcraft-ve...isibility-cloak.htm [2 fries shy of a happy meal, May 28 2011] using a lot of cameras seems pretty unwieldy and challenging. why not find a simpler means to this end?
i'm thinking about fibre optic cables bending light/color around from the front of you to the back side - the effect wouldn't be perfect by any means. but you know where it might be passable? in the dappled light and colours in the woods.
what a weird looking camoflauge suit that would be...-- pixelswisher, Jun 29 2000 I read somewhere that if you are real ugly people will not look at you anyway.-- Alcin, Aug 12 2000 This is a great idea! Surely someone could make one at what-ever cost as there must be many scenarios that could make do with invisibility. I'd imagine the army would be interested in a few even if they were very expensive.-- ccaamgw, Aug 12 2000 the millitary has had for quite some years a suit coated with hundreds of thousands of small octogon shaped (octogoganol? hehe) highly reflective mirrors...in the "bush" (forest) this is just as good as being invisable....except for glare, which is why you go low and through the bushes, not stand up and walk around :-).....mirrors are much more economicly feasable then cameras and what would have to be *extremely* high definition lcd coating.-- cybercyph, Aug 14 2000 Mirrors, video cameras, it doesn't really matter. I think this would sell well in the market of people with larger-than-desirable back ends. At least people would be so confused as to not notice a large booty.-- Caroline Rose, Aug 15 2000 As previously mentioned, fiberoptic cable starting in the front and terminating in the back would work, but it would require so much cable there wouldn't be room in the suit. What about regular clothes with a circular hole of fiberoptic cables and the edges coated in fake blood and tissue. It'll look like someone shot you and you could see right through the wound! Very cool =)-- lockle, Aug 15 2000 ...Never mind how practical it is -- this sounds like a stand up routine for Steve Wright! I, for one, laughed my ass off...-- Crrash4, Aug 17 2000 It seem one would co-locate the ccd chip, with a bucky-ball the lens attachments (very cheap and small), and a series of tiny LED emitters positioned in a circle inside a bucky ball pointing to the each of the surfaces. The ccd would record level level and color coming into the ball len's respective surfaces and transmit the right combonation to the LED cooresponding to the direction of the incoming light. Instead of sending a video signal to the other side of the suit, the LED would ulliminate the bucky ball surfces (on the inside) to "mimic" the other side's light characterstics.-- jefdad, Apr 20 2001 This seems to assume invisibility in only certain directions. I like the camoflauge idea though -- it the suit could reflect the surround environment so that you blend in ;-)-- breadlover, Sep 18 2002 I think this could be done reasonably effectively (i.e. wouldn't withstand scrutiny from a close distance) using maybe 200 or 300 "pixels" rather than the thousands proposed. The pixel (display) to camera ratio would not need to be 1:1 either; the displays could well outnumber the cameras.
Laterally, maybe 6 cameras oriented in a 360° ring, each with a field of view of 60°. Views from each camera would be shown on the displays arranged on the "other side," at the reciprocal.
Vertically, maybe 4 or 6 rings for a total of 24 to 36 cameras and perhaps 10 or so small LCD displays per camera. I think that, at distance the LCDs wouldn't even have to display an articulate image but rather just an averaged color.-- bristolz, Sep 18 2002 Hi everyone..... this is actually a very old idea from DARPA - US Military research, and you can actually find online from the British Parliament online repository of transcripts form the house of lords, a Defence statement debating whether or not to fund this adaptice camoflauge research for main battletanks.. this was dated back in 1998, but further research was turned down.
Similar idea, fiber optics, etc...
It would only require a single camera on the front to capture the image, and software could determine the placement of pixels on the opposite side.
A better way would be following technologies like electronic ink, and spray paint LCD displays..
Search on how electronic ink, electonic paper works, and also spray lcd displays, this could be used for adaptive camoflauge.
Obviously, this kind of camoflauge would be easier to implement on vehicles due to its rigid, uniform structure.
Also check out Boeings "Bird of Prey" a "black" plane, recently released into the public.
The latest breed of Stealth plane.. it says "designed to suppress acoustic, infra-red, radar and even visual signatures (cannot be seen by the naked eye..... basically invisible)"
~Liberator-- liberator, Oct 31 2002 A University of Tokyo professor has developed a working prototype of something like this, see link.-- krelnik, Apr 29 2003 baked! And in a much simpler format. I think the BBC had a report about a Japanese development of this. The article contains a picture of a person wearing a shirt made out of a special plastic with interesting refaractory properties, and you can see everything that is behind them on the front of the shirt.-- belg4mit, Apr 30 2003 Its amazing to me how many people on this site post without reading what is already there.-- krelnik, Apr 30 2003 Yup, this invisibility thing is baked in reality by a Japanese; it was inevitable after Masamune Shirow's Ghost in the Shell anime movie. The problem is, it works only from one perspective, when seen through a pinhole camera. Looking at the photo, and the way the suit's wrinkles don't create distortion, it looks as though it works with a projector and that's a cop-out.
The only advance not already covered in the basic technology is the combination with lenticular cells (not strips) to give a see-through effect that works from many perspectives.
I don't think this is necessarily the way to go, though. Cuttlefish, octopi and chameleons process the images seen by the eye into general color shades and patterns which are displayed by chromophores in the skin. This is not a perfect image of what's under the creature's belly, but it is enough to blend in with the surroundings.
In camoflage, it is often more important to break up the outline than reproduce the detail of the background. BDM/DPM, etc. are woodland patterns designed for a cold-war European battlefield. They work surprisingly well in snow, sand and urban environments, because they do just that. I have the dubious honor of tripping over a person I was looking for, despite his wearing only basic British DPM and no Gilli suit.-- FloridaManatee, Apr 30 2003 What a cool idea in a more funny than serious way.-- thepowerofone, Apr 30 2006 It would be a good costume idea as is. Also, it reminds me a bit of a friend's "doppleganger" costume, where he wore a mirror on his face that had a title above it "I Am You."
For a functional suit it must be made with a breathable sports style latex with pigment sensors (simple fibor optic cameras that would borrow coloration from the opposite side of the suit). I'm not sure about the color generation apect, but it seems feasable.
I had this idea for a gadget hero "Chameleon" who also had a backpack holding dual grabber tentacles, temporary adhesive patches for climbing, and a 360 view visor (a combo Spider Man and Doctor Octopus).-- Whirligig, May 01 2006 How about nano-tech cameras. also it could be done with bacteria like at University of California in San Francisco. They are using ecloi to make pictures.-- RefLibrarian, May 23 2006 Two points (apart from the one pointing out that this idea is thoroughly baked in fiction and popular imagination, if not in reality).
First - why do the cameras need to be at all bulky? Good modern cameras can be no larger than a pea, and the lens aperture can be a couple of millimetres. This means you could have cameras looking through pinholes in displays, allowing for all-over coverage.
Second - LEDs also act as photodiodes. Which prompts a fortcoming idea...-- MaxwellBuchanan, May 28 2011 random, halfbakery