[VIRAL] Giant 3D Cat Appears in Shinjuku, Tokyo Billboard

RJ Pierce, Tech Times 07 July 2021, 12:07 pm

A giant 3D cat just popped up on a billboard in Tokyo's Shinjuku district, and it's got a lot of people talking.

Called "Shinjuku Cross Vision," the giant 3D cat looks down on humans (as a cat should) from atop the east exit of the Shinjuku Metro station, reports DesignBoom. It is projected on a massive 4K LED screen that works for around 18 hours a day, which can project the 3D image of the cat from a certain viewing point.

今日の15時半ごろに現地で撮られた映像です。雑踏が思いのほかうるさいので、声の大きさは調整しなきゃ。再生時、音量注意です！⚠️ pic.twitter.com/8OsmcyyVOo
— 新宿東口の猫 (@cross_s_vision) July 5, 2021

Apparently, the billboard also makes it seem like the giant 3D cat is "waking up" at the start of the billboard's workday and "going to sleep" at the end of it. To see how that works, you can watch a live stream of the billboard on YouTube right now:

According to CNN, the billboard with the giant 3D cat was the brainchild of the company Cross Space. But since the 3D effect can only be viewed the right way from a certain angle, Cross Space warns everybody who wants to see the cat look at it from there, or the 3D effect will look awkward.

Cross Space further says that the billboard's purpose is to bring "surprise, laughter, and healing to nearby users." By that, they likely mean the average of 190,000 people passing through the Shinjuku Metro station every day.

Giant 3D Cat: The Future of Advertising?

Frankly, who wouldn't be surprised and forced to stare at a giant 3D cat looking at you from high atop a building? And if you were interested enough to stare at it, then the billboard would've done its job as an advertisement should.

(Photo : Gao Han/VCG via Getty Images)
CHENGDU, CHINA - OCTOBER 08: People watch a 3D advertising screen at Chunxi Road on October 8, 2020 in Chengdu, Sichuan Province of China.

As such, is the tech behind the giant 3D cat the future of advertising? Possibly. Just look at many futuristic settings in popular media, and you can see that huge billboards projecting 3D images to an almost holographic level of quality are everywhere.

Furthermore, the technology to make the likes of the giant 3D cat more widespread is already here. And you can trace the development of the said tech as recently as seven years ago. You see, the 3D projection used to only be possible if you view it through specialized 3D glasses. But as far back as 2014, 3D without the glasses is already achievable.

And if the tech does find its footing, maybe the coming years will see major cities sporting billboards with 3D imaging that you can view from any angle. For now, the tech only allows for a limited type of view because it's taking advantage of an optical illusion. It's also worth noting that holographic projection, a relatively similar type of tech, is still in its rough early stages and not quite made for advertising just yet.

What's Next for Giant 3D Cat?

For now, there's not a lot of comments from Cross Space as to how long the billboard stays there. If you want to see it but can't go to Shinjuku in person, then you can stick with the YouTube live stream mentioned beforehand.

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Written by RJ Pierce