The initial applications of this are interesting, but it's what comes AFTER that will be really cool.
This is the capture part of the capture and display of true 3D images.
What do I mean by 'true'? Imagine a screen that works like a window.
If you think about a window or a mirror as a display screen, you can imagine that every point on the screen is a tiny hemispherical lens, light exits the screen in all directions due to these lenses. By producing light in every direction (as opposed to just perpendicular to the screen + diffusion) you could let your eye decide on what to focus. Additionally such a system would be view-angle agnostic, so you could look from the side and see a wider 'view' into the scene (again noting this works for n viewers).
Such a display would be complex to implement, but even if you had one you'd need image capture such as Lytro is providing to make it work.
This is the capture part of the capture and display of true 3D images.
What do I mean by 'true'? Imagine a screen that works like a window.
If you think about a window or a mirror as a display screen, you can imagine that every point on the screen is a tiny hemispherical lens, light exits the screen in all directions due to these lenses. By producing light in every direction (as opposed to just perpendicular to the screen + diffusion) you could let your eye decide on what to focus. Additionally such a system would be view-angle agnostic, so you could look from the side and see a wider 'view' into the scene (again noting this works for n viewers).
Such a display would be complex to implement, but even if you had one you'd need image capture such as Lytro is providing to make it work.
Exciting times!