Net lets hand-helds view 3D data TRN 050504

via engadget

Some researchers at the Torino Polytechnic in Italy have thought up a way for cellphones and PDAs, with their puny processors, to display complex 3D models: have another computer do all the heavy lifting. The scheme is to have a special server on the network do all the graphics intensive number crunching, and then feed an image back to the handheld (whether the handheld’s screen has the resolution to even make the 3D image intelligible is another matter). Make a change or need to see the image from another angle, and the request gets bounced back to the server, which then spits out what you need. Obviously there are the expected problems with lag time, but eventually the bandwidth will be there to make this a more or less seamless experience. Though given the glacial pace at which 3G is rolling out, we’re not just sure whether that’s gonna happen before cellphones have fast enough processors to simply do all this 3D stuff on their own.