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have to be significantly more expensive and that gives a clearly supe-
rior picture to your standard 2D system," says Dr. Palter.
What's around the corner are 3D systems that don't require glasses
and that operate in such a way that everyone in the room can clearly
see the images, he says.
With 4K, there are still numerous obstacles to overcome, as develop-
ers try to overcome limitations related to light sensitivity, heat
buildup, size, durability and waterproofing, among others. Will they
clear those hurdles? Of course, says Dr. Palter, citing the technology
used in military drones, the Mars rover and the Hubble Space
Telescope. "Those are infinitely higher hurdles and they've been over-
come already. The technology is trickling down. The technologies
exist. It's just a question of delivering it in a cost-effective way."
How quickly can the price come down? In 2007, when Dr. Palter did the
first 4K demonstration, the needed camera cost $200,000. Seven years
later, 4K visualization is available on cell phones.
It's the "inevitable acceleration of processing and visualization," he
says. "We will inevitably have higher resolution, 3D, brighter images
and it will all be wireless. We're also going to be able to record in 4K
and 3D."
Seeing what can't be seen
And then what? There must be an end to this road, a place where visuali-
zation reaches its apex. Well, yes and no. The next wave of innovation will
involve things that are completely invisible to the naked eye.
"The course we're on is reaching a limit where increasing resolution
and having 3D is getting very close to the native ability of the eye,"
says Dr. Palter. "We're working now with wavelengths of light not
visual to the eye, with infrared, with autofluorescence, with cad dyes
— and we're using the computer to process the image, so the surgeon
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