Fun With Transparent Screen Backgrounds 450
herberts writes "Looks like the amusement factor of 'transparent' screen background is getting bigger and bigger. The french Mac fan site Mac Bidouille opened up a dedicated part of their web site where fans can post shots of their transparent backgrounds." Other great transparent background shots can be found at Flickr.
This just a digicam pic then a creative lineup? (Score:1, Interesting)
Looks like fun (Score:2, Interesting)
How about partial transparency? (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Very cool (Score:1, Interesting)
Built-in Webcam (Score:3, Interesting)
Then you'll be able to move the laptop to anywhere and the screen will still look transparent.
Not just for macs. (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Live, with a webcam? (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:how ? (Score:1, Interesting)
Re:Oh gesh... (Score:2, Interesting)
Before the corporate buyout, Slashdot would have posted cool stories all the time no matter the day. But since OSTG took over, they save the good stories for weekdays just because they know they'll get more adviews on a Monday. Blah!
I did it (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:how ? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:This just a digicam pic then a creative lineup? (Score:3, Interesting)
Being a eye-candy-whore my self, I must agree this is really cool. At first, I saw the laptop and though they actually disassembled the LCD it self and the lights.
I have yet to see someone who will really take apart the whole LCD installation to where its truely tranparent. I would do it without a doubt if I wasnt some poor engineering student who doesnt know what the fuck.
Re:Live, with a webcam? (Score:5, Interesting)
Usually I'm just happy to play the movie I'm watching on my desktop though. A DVD Jukebox effect that plays nonstop is a great root window IMO.
Re:how ? (Score:5, Interesting)
A) Take a picture, and move the screen where the picture was.
The problem with this is perspective. lenses are not flat scans of the world, and you'll see (in fact in some of the shots you do see) some perspective distortion, especially with stuff like vertical lines.
B)Take picture with and without screen and photochop it.
Actually, the best non-cheating way to do this is:
C)
1) Set your camera up on a tripod, at the scene where you want your monitor.
2) Remove monitor.
3) Take picture.
4) replace montor.
5) Take another picture.
up to here this is the same as method B), the photochopping. But instead of pasting the background (And cheating), you crop the first photo to the dimensions of the monitor in the second photo.
6) Set the cropped picture as background.
7) Take the money shot.
8) Wait for the pulitzer folks to get back to you.
People who love taking phot (Score:3, Interesting)
Infinite Cat Project [infinitecat.com]
Some people have way to much time on their hands!
Re:Very cool (Score:4, Interesting)
What if Apple embedded an actual webcam in the back of their laptops, and allowed a live background? Then you'd really have a truly transparent background
Inside of a monitor? (Score:5, Interesting)
2am? Which 2am? We ain't got no 2am here. (Score:4, Interesting)
Hell, it's not even like in the UK we had a 2am last night. My clock went straight from 1.59am GMT to 3am BST
TP 755CV: A real transparent screen (Score:5, Interesting)
The removable back was also useful for working outdoors. You could put a white reflective surface behind the screen and backlight with sunlight, making it usable no matter how bright it was.
Or so it looks like your doing work (Score:3, Interesting)
Apparently he does it so people think he's working. Fooled me.
Re:Wow... (Score:2, Interesting)
Used in our church (Score:4, Interesting)
It was built before overhead projectors were commonly used for showing the words of songs, so they didn't leave anywhere for a screen. Covering the back wall is a big wooden cross -- we used to project words onto the wall on one side of this, but it was cramped and could only be seen from one side.
But recently, someone had a bright idea. We now have a video projector, and a large screen which descends to cover the cross and surrounding design -- when it's not being used for words, they project a picture of what's underneath it. It's not perfect (the alignment and colour are very slightly out), but it's a good solution which allows everyone to see the words without getting rid of the focal point.
SGI used to sell something like that too. (Score:2, Interesting)
More here (Score:3, Interesting)
This seems strangely surreal and Belgian: (Score:1, Interesting)
Re:This just a digicam pic then a creative lineup? (Score:3, Interesting)
Though you never know what technologys around the corner and how it will work, I think LEP/OLEDs achieve significantly higher density than LCDs and if there power output increased and the clusters of 3 colors had enough gap between each cluster to let light though something might be workable.
Or a static effect... (Score:5, Interesting)
If you know the distance to the object, you can do a distortion effect (I think a "punch" effect would be right, squeeze the center out towards the sides). That'd only work if the objects stays at a fairly fixed distance, if you have a glass window to the hallway you should be able to see people walking by just as if it was transparent.
If you wanted to make a really advanced variety, you could measure the distance by e.g. IR pulses or something and dynamicly apply the effect with different settings. That should work until you get as close as the camera can see (the camera must see what you would've seen in the upper left corner).
Kjella
Making a real one. (Score:2, Interesting)
Is there anything preventing one from relocating the hardware at the back of an LCD monitor for the same effect?
These are transparent monitors, not screens (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:How do I... (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:TP 755CV: A real transparent screen (Score:5, Interesting)
http://www.techfreakz.org/fishmon/fishmonscreen1.
other misc pics:
http://www.techfreakz.org/fishmon/ [techfreakz.org]
The Betta fish kept attacking dark parts of the screen where it saw a reflection.
~kyoorius
Re:how ? (Score:2, Interesting)
The process is soooo much easier than you just described.
- Position the camera (preferably using a tripod) so that the orthoganal line extending from the center of the screen intersects the lens of the camera.
- Zoom in so that the laptop screen fills the picture frame.
- Fold the laptop screen down.
- Take a picture.
- Open the laptop screen back up.
- Set that picture as your desktop background.
- Zoom out.
- Take another picture.
No photo editing required.Rene Magritte did this long ago... (Score:5, Interesting)
Don't you guys ever look through those big books of surrealistic art in bookstores and libraries? Much of the imagery that we consider 'weird' and 'futuristic' now was first conceived and painted back in the 1920s and 30s. Guys like Salvadore Dali, Yves Tanguy, Joan ('Ho-ahn') Miro, Max Ernst, and Rene Magritte created the modern fantasy landscape look.
Their work was a step beyond the inflamed, blood-soaked, passionate, and sex-obsessed imagery of the 19th century Decadent Romanticists like Gustave Moreau, Klimt, and DeVille. It was this over-stimulated buffoonery led to the disaster of the Great War. Surrealism was an attempt to invoke the primal mental forces that lay beneath duty, religion, and even consciousness.
Since you'all have broadband you can find this images and paintings easily on the web. They are definitely worth the trouble to find and view them.