Thoughts on touching the disguise generator...
...or, "why roxanne might not have felt a certain someone's purple fur under her hands or in her face during Minion's Rescue."
We're all pretty familiar with image projection by now - especially those of us who go to movie theaters to see incredibly handsome blue geniuses in 3D - so accepting that Megamind's disguise-generating watch can project an image isn't too far out of the reach of science. We can buy that. But is that all that it does? If so, during the escape from the tower Roxanne probably would have been a bit suspicious when "Megamind" felt furry. But she didn't seem to notice, which seems to indicate either mind-numbing terror (entirely possible) or that the watch made Minion feel like Megamind. It's hard to conceptualize, and I know I'm not alone because I'm sure I've read some fanfic that's based on the projection being image-only! Actually feeling something that isn't there, or maybe even not feeling something that is there, well, we just don't even have the beginnings of that kind of technology. Or if we do, I haven't heard of it. But... that may have just changed.
See, I just read an article about using "haptic feedback" to simulate textures on a smooth, glass capacitive touch screen. The technology uses an extra built-in layer under the screen that uses the Coulomb Effect to do this, and right now they can simulate ridges, sandpaper, and fabric. Basically they're manipulating a static electricity field to repel your fingertips in the right shape to mimic the actual texture. I haven't felt it, so I can't say for sure, but... that sounds pretty damn cool. Would Megamind have used a technology like this to simulate touch in his watch? Maybe somehow tacked it onto a force field or matter manipulator? I certainly have no idea, but I am absolutely thrilled that technology keeps presenting us with little advances that help me make Megamind a little more real in my mind!
Wonderful people, do please advise about any other texture-mimics or other watch-related tech, and/or whether this qualifies as long enough to warrant a cut! That'll teach me to research past bedtime.
We're all pretty familiar with image projection by now - especially those of us who go to movie theaters to see incredibly handsome blue geniuses in 3D - so accepting that Megamind's disguise-generating watch can project an image isn't too far out of the reach of science. We can buy that. But is that all that it does? If so, during the escape from the tower Roxanne probably would have been a bit suspicious when "Megamind" felt furry. But she didn't seem to notice, which seems to indicate either mind-numbing terror (entirely possible) or that the watch made Minion feel like Megamind. It's hard to conceptualize, and I know I'm not alone because I'm sure I've read some fanfic that's based on the projection being image-only! Actually feeling something that isn't there, or maybe even not feeling something that is there, well, we just don't even have the beginnings of that kind of technology. Or if we do, I haven't heard of it. But... that may have just changed.
See, I just read an article about using "haptic feedback" to simulate textures on a smooth, glass capacitive touch screen. The technology uses an extra built-in layer under the screen that uses the Coulomb Effect to do this, and right now they can simulate ridges, sandpaper, and fabric. Basically they're manipulating a static electricity field to repel your fingertips in the right shape to mimic the actual texture. I haven't felt it, so I can't say for sure, but... that sounds pretty damn cool. Would Megamind have used a technology like this to simulate touch in his watch? Maybe somehow tacked it onto a force field or matter manipulator? I certainly have no idea, but I am absolutely thrilled that technology keeps presenting us with little advances that help me make Megamind a little more real in my mind!
Wonderful people, do please advise about any other texture-mimics or other watch-related tech, and/or whether this qualifies as long enough to warrant a cut! That'll teach me to research past bedtime.