I think this limitation could be overcome with the right hardware.

For example imagine a spinning display like those of the article but somehow tuned so that they are only visible when exactly head on. In that case, you know where the observer is: right in line with the screen. So you can have backface culling; as the display spins you render all 360 (or however many) viewpoints.

Now granted, this doesn't deal with how high or low the observer is. We'd need to find another solution for that.

> imagine a spinning display like those of the article but somehow tuned so that they are only visible when exactly head on

I don't understand: doesn't defeat the purpose of a volumetric display (seeing what is displayed from multiple point of view) ?

This would be a poor man's "lightfield" display: as you move left or right you see a different perspEctive, just like you would if it were a physical object on the table instead of the spinning screen contraption.

So you would indeed see different points of view.

that's just a flat display with extra steps

It’s different from a flat display in that if you walk around it, you see a different perspective. And it works with any number of viewers.

I can see it making a great "radar" peripheral for 3d space games, think Elite Dangerous or No Mans Sky that both have one in their cockpits.

I think it's worth pointing out that "in operation" here means it's running Doom. Which I was not expected, and somewhat blown away (heh) by. Very very cool.

If only Halolens took off. Now we have to make do with Chinese drone performances at night.