Transparent Monitors!

[6749974]

Let there be clarity

So, lets just clear things up people (the very confused type):

The images, or 'transparent screens' are a fun illusion that anyone can create, using a digital camera, a computer monitor/screen, and photo-editing software.

The process is quite simple:
1. Stand infront of your monitor.
2. Remove monitor.
3. Take picture (as if monitor was there)
4. Replace Monitor
5. Load picture as desktop wallpaper

Bam! You got a transparent screen. Its not a 'REAL' transparent screen. No one suggested that it was. Its an optical illusion created with minimal brain cells. Everybodies got em, so stop questioning whether its fake or not.

 

[neut]

...

one of the guys at work tried one ... not too shabby for 15 min. his desk is a tight spot to work in; let alone taking a picture of it straight on. im surprised he was able to get back far enough to pull it off.

peace | neut

 

[Les Kern]

5 minutes in Photoshop. Layers, dude

 

[Timelessblur]

Have you even read the thread?

*sigh*

I read the tread. i was just stating how it could be dont for real.

LCD panal are clear. what you need is a polizied filter and a LCD panal. That a simple verson of what an LCD monitor is. All it is a back light, polized filter and the pannal.

I not stating if it is real or not. I was stating how it could be done for real

 

[minesgeek]

Aha! So these effects are fake then!

yep somethin to just pass the time. i am having trouble thinking of any use for a transparent monitor besides looking and admiring...

french people are still cool, eventhough they are fakes...the monitors that is.

 

[homerjward]

one of the guys at work tried one ... not too shabby for 15 min. his desk is a tight spot to work in; let alone taking a picture of it straight on. im surprised he was able to get back far enough to pull it off.

peace | neut

with the way he uses an ergonomic keyboard thing, it looks like it's seeing through water or something

 

[urban1985_]

Some of them look very fishy. You can shoot the PBs with a bluescreen desktop and later composite it in flawlessly. Maybe lighten or darken the monitor screen so it doesn't look too real.

Some of them are fakes.

"Some of them are fakes." It sounds like a damn horror movie. hahahahaha I love how negative your posts are.

 

[Sharewaredemon]

Here is my attempt

 

[Abstract]

Wow, old thread.

Sorry to all burst your bubble, but I don't think you just shoot 2 photos using a tripod, one with the computer, and one without. It CAN be that easy, but sometimes it's not. All the attempts so far have been head-on. Same with the iMac G5 photo in the original post.

Q: Why do I think it's harder than that?

A: Look at the 15" PowerBook photo from the original post. If you took away the 1st/front Powerbook and took a photo and made it your desktop background image, then in order for your background image to match up with the 2nd PowerBook behind it, the 1st PB would have to be facing us directly in the image.
But look at the 1st PB.........it's positioned at an angle. At an angle, the PB in the desktop image wouldn't match up well with the "real-life" PowerBook sitting behind it. The edges wouldn't align.

The sausages in the background also wouldn't align so perfectly.


I'm not saying the technique doesn't work. It does for most shots, as some of you have proven, but only when the PB is facing us directly, and not at an angle. To do it at an angle, another trick is involved.

I think I know how to do it.

So imagine that the 1st photo taken (ie: the photo without the 1st PB being there) was taken 30 degrees to the right of the position used in the photo, and the photo was used as the desktop image. At this point, the 2nd photo needs to be taken, but instead of taking it from that angle, the 2nd photo is taken 30 degrees to the left relative to the position of the first. In other words, the 1st and 2nd photos are taken at 30 degree angles to each other.

If you set it as your background on the 1st/front PB, and you position it so that it's at a 30 degree angle relative to everything else, then all lines will match up.

 

[Bloo Ice]

Showed my sister "what Apple's new product is" and she totally bought it. lol, but this is the girl that I convinced that the USA was held up by metal poles under the ocean...yes, the ENTIRE US. No, shes not retarted or slow...just blonde

 

[jrv3034]

Showed my sister "what Apple's new product is" and she totally bought it. lol, but this is the girl that I convinced that the USA was held up by metal poles under the ocean...yes, the ENTIRE US. No, shes not retarted or slow...just blonde

Q: How many blondes does it take to change a lightbulb?

A: Do I have a hickey?

 

[mdavey]

Exactly. So one shouldn't be so quick to dismiss the possibility of a transparent LCD display...

Might not be as far away as you would think:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8976160/page/2/

These researchers can create light-emitting diodes from carbon-nanotubes (a microscopic, hollow string of carbon that is electrically conductive). Due to the orientation of the carbon-nanotubes (CNTs) in the sheet, the sheet and the LED elements are virtually transparent when not illuminated.

By placing a CNT LED dot-matrix behind the LCD, when a particular LED dot is lit and the correpsonding LCD dots are transparent, the user would see a white pixel. Controlling the LCD dots gives you a choice between 16M colours as usual. Crucially, with both the LED dot off and the corresponding LCD dots off, that particular pixel would be transparent, allowing anything behind the screen to be seen. So, one could have solid GUI window panes but a transparent (or even translucent) backdrop.

Of course, the effect would be somewhat different in a MacBook (assuming a transparent lid), where there isn't anything behind the screen, when compared to an iMac (with circuit boards and other components). People might need to rethink how to hide the computer

When privacy is important, the entire CNT LED matrix could be illuminated so that from behind, the screen would look white.

An added bonus is that the rear of the screen could be used to display information when the lid is closed (either white foreground on any dark coloured background, or any dark coloured foreground on a white background). Information could include dashboard widgets.

One final thought: Imagine a wall-hung TV in your living room where the display is transparent when turned off. You could either have your wallpaper shine through or even place your favourite piece of artwork behind the TV to be displayed when the the TV isn't in use.

 

[maccy-g]

Transparent Mac Desktops

I found these pictures and tried it myself...incredibly tricky and takes some fiddling and adjusting about, but then again they are very cool! anyone else wanna give it a go?

 

[bobfitz14]

hot damn that is awesome! i am jealous.

 

[heron88]

That is sweet!

tutorial?

 

[deggs37]

Holy crap I remember doing this 4 years ago when this thread was first created.
Basically you take a picture of what's behind your laptop and then set it as your desktop background. It will take a few tries to get it lined up correctly but is pretty sweet when you get it right.

 

[Benguitar]

Just make them with x-ray, and I'm sold.

lol

Apple will probably do something like that, as long as they are like a 1 way window, so I can see out but no one else can see my stuff from behind.

 

[Shannighan]

that last one is amazing. It actually looks like there is no screen.

 

[munson]

that last one is amazing. It actually looks like there is no screen.

Beacuse he cheated. THe pic is not his background. He just 'shopped out the screen.

 

[Shannighan]

Beacuse he cheated. THe pic is not his background. He just 'shopped out the screen.

i noticed that after I posted

 

[fireshot91]

How'd you figure he Photoshop'd it?

 

[toolbox]

That looks so awesome

 

[hatehereyes]

How'd you figure he Photoshop'd it?

there's not menu bar on the second one like in the first.