Scientists are one step closer to turning science fiction into reality. A new 3-D display system developed by researchers in Canada, is able to transmit a full-size, 360-degree image of a human that can be seen without any special gadgets like headsets or fast-moving mirrors.

The futuristic technology could usher in a new era of ultra-realistic "telepresence," ranging from remote participation in meetings and conferences to virtual on-stage appearances at concerts.

The projected 3-D image looks real from any angle, and to multiple viewers from different angles, said Roel Vertegaal, a professor of human-computer interaction at Queen’s University in Ontario, Canada, and lead researcher of a new study about the technology. If you walk around to the side or back of the cylindrical screen, he added, you’ll see a side view or back view of the person “inside” it.

“It is quite beautiful,” Vertegaal said. “The screen is not perfect, but the human appears to be standing in the cylinder”

Vertegaal explained that the display system, dubbed “TeleHuman 2,” uses three stereoscopic cameras — which record information about the physical shape of a subject, as well as what it looks like — to take live video of the front, back and sides of a human subject. The information about the image and its 3-D shape, known as a “lightfield,” is then transmitted as data over a network or Internet connection to the 6-foot-high cylindrical screen, or “telepod,” where the virtual human is displayed.

A long time coming

Researchers have been trying for decades to create the sort of 3-D holographic images seen in many sci-fi movies, such as when Princess Leia makes a holographic plea for help to Obi-Wan Kenobi in the original "Star Wars" film, or the fictional "Holodeck" used to create virtual environments on the "Star Trek" TV series. But 3-D projections have been difficult to create in real life because they typically need to be projected onto a surface and can’t just be seen in thin air.