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January 27, 2023

Digital Twins – the concept of taking something from the real world and emulating its twin in the digital world is not new – but the levels of realism that can be hit now are uncanny. Then, when you couple that concept with a 3D screen like what’s on offer in Leia devices, it extends that digital twinning vision to new levels.

Need an example? Get in your car. You know how it responds to the road, how it’ll accelerate, how it  handles turns. When you fire up a racing game that just so happens to have your car in it, how does it feel? Depending upon the game, it could feel close to the real thing. Minus the gas consumption and wind in your face.

Now take that concept to a 3D screen. Imagine extending that realism into the simulation where the steering wheel is almost in your grasp, on-screen. Where you’re seeing roadside objects popping out from the landscape. [quote about how gaming on a 3D screen extends the view / feel of realism / twinning]

That’s just one gamified example, but so many others exist. Avatars that exist in everything from games to VR meeting rooms can be kitted out with real world equivalent gear. But, by far the biggest benefit is allowing others to truly experience a place they’ve never been to physically and potentially run simulations that factor in what you’d see in 3-dimensional space.. 

Never walked up to the fountains in Central Park?  Never crossed the Hohenzollern Bridge in Cologne? You can look up images online, of course. When you look at 3D models captured in various formats, though, its digital twin takes on new life, showing more properties and makes it so much more than just a detailed picture.

Over on the Unity blog, while discussing the concept of digital twins, they dig deeper into the origins of the concept going all the way back to NASA in the 1960s. It's a great read, we highly recommend. 

“Digital twins are created by importing conceptual models (via BIM, CAD, or GIS) or scanning physical entities in the real world to visualize and analyze them in combination with enterprise and Internet of Things (IoT) data,” according to the Unity blog post. “A digital twin that is powered by real-time 3D, a computer graphics technology that generates interactive content faster than human perception, can also curate, organize and present multiple sources of data (both information and models) as lifelike, interactive visualizations.”

The exciting part of all this is the ability to bring this level of simulation interactivity to a variety of mixed-reality environments: AR, VR, mobile devices – the possibilities are out there. And we’re excited to be a part of it.

[aspirational quote about how 3D screens can elevate art]At CES 2023, we were awarded with four distinct awards for our work with 3D display technology and we’re going to have a lot more to share with you all in the coming months. We have a vision for the future of 3D and can’t wait to share more.