“Ars Technica’s Infinite Loop blog has, in my opinion, unraveled one of the top secret ingredients in Apple’s upcoming Mac OS X 10.5 release, aka Leopard: complete 3D graphics and animations. Given what we know and have seen of Leopard features such as Time Machine and the new iChat and in existing apps like FrontRow, this would make perfect sense, especially if it were implemented in OpenGL. Applications get their own canvases in a 3D world, and the OS is responsible for keeping those canvases updated and visible in various orientations. One visual 3D imaging model for all apps that the OS manages and keeps sorted. Sweet,” Carl Howe writes for Blackfriars’ Marketing.
Howe writes, “What this means for Apple users is that we can expect a new Finder in Leopard. I’ve written before that I believe that Leopard will also support Multi-touch gestures and new sensors to take the user interface the next step for users. From a competitive point of view, this 3D Finder will probably be the biggest shot across the bow for rival Microsoft. Why? Because the Aero 3D interface is the major differentiator today for Vista over Windows XP; most of the other features of Vista are significantly less visible to average users. But on Vista, these features are usable only on the highest end PCs, while I believe that Apple intends its 3D features to become a part of every device it builds. That means we’ll see 3D features on iPods, iPhones, Apple TV boxes, and of course in Leopard.”
Full article here.
Iljitsch van Beijnum writes for Ars Technica, “Obviously the OS can simply move windows to the front and to the the back without support from the application itself, much like how Exposé works, but to really flabbergast us, applications would have to support the new 3D user interface and have different windows, inspectors, and requesters move around through Leopard’s three dimensional space. Core Animation takes care of the movement, and resolution independence makes sure text and UI elements align and look good at different zoom levels. The only thing missing is an easy way to manipulate virtual objects in three dimensions. Or do we just pinch them?”
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Readers “Number 5” and “LinuxGuy and Mac Prodigal Son” for the heads up.]
Related articles:
RUMOR: Some Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard ‘top secret’ features leak out – January 26, 2007
RUMOR: Apple Mac OS X Leopard to replace ‘Aqua’ with ‘Illuminous’ – December 11, 2006
Apple confirms ‘resolution independence’ and more coming in Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard – October 23, 2006
Now THIS I beleive!
ahhh being first is good.
Thisis starting to sound like the interface in “Minority Report”. Amazing!
And second post too.
Am I special or what?
Sloppy seconds
What a lame article.
*shucks*
Well it has been well known for years that Mac OS X was supposed to evolve into 3D, the icons, the desktop and everything,
The horsepower is there with these new processors.
wow (if it turns out to be true)
we’d be talking about the biggest advancement of UI design since the original macintosh.
This I don’t believe. A 3D interface is quite simply counterproductive in most common applications. It might be usable in the Finder to some extent but it would have to be miles ahead of current 3D interfaces to be really usable.
Very cool!
Jeff? Is your last name Peterson by any chance?
Sucks to have a PowerPC chip
Now they have gone and done it. If apple releases leopard with just a few tweeks to the finder, we will all be furious.
Pinch? Like what one does with those extra buttons on the side of the “Mighty Mouse”?
This is easy… You just take the mouse from the tail and then throw it to some direction and pinch the mouse by the tail. Instant 3D mighty mouse. That is how you get cheese.
Have anyone seen the Spielbergs AI?
All I want are tabbed Finder windows.
I hope Apple does something with Finder. It’s the single, ugliest, clunky piece of the OS. Aside from Spotlight, Windows Explorer is more useful and usable.
This I don’t believe. A 3D interface is quite simply counterproductive in most common applications. It might be usable in the Finder to some extent but it would have to be miles ahead of current 3D interfaces to be really usable.
No, I understand what you’re saying, but this makes sense to me. At first, it’s just a few neat tricks to strengthen visual feedback of used actions — windows zoom backwards in 3d space when deselected, and forwards when selected, etc.
But putting the Finder in a 3D space opens up a new way of thinking about the virtual locations of files and folders — much in the same way the desktop metaphor changed the command-line way of thinking. The more the new paradigm is out there, the more there will be uses discovered for this space.
Talk about pie in the sky! I’m not convinced, but if this is true, it could be really cool.
This article was based on this blog entry from Mac developer Huibert Aalbers. I think that the author totally misunderstood the original article. What Huibert said (among other things) was that the delay in releasing iWork/iLife was probably due to the fact that these apps would use the new APIs available in Leopard (in order to bootstrap their use by other developers) and that the new “secret” features would probably not be new APIs but instead new end-user oriented “applications” like time machine that have no impact whatsoever over third party applications. Nice read.
Welalthie Industrialite:
Sucks to have a Power PC inside?
Well…now that i think, the trend is, nowadays, to have an intel inside (please, sing that intel music here, when reading the name of the brand)…yeah, that intel everybody despised before….yawn.
What would be the benefits of a 3-D finder? I so don’t get it.
This is the future. Bet on it.
MW: ‘know’
All I ask for is the return of HotSauce/Project X (or something like it), if anyone can remember that far back.
Since HotSauce was originally developed, we now have a combination of OS, CPUs and GPUs that makes the concept practicable in the real world and being able to fly through the filesystem based on Spotlight metadata would be truly extraordinary.
For instance, you could fly through iTunes based on multiple sort classifications such as artist within genre within year or you could fly through iPhoto or Aperture using the various metadata parameters like keywords or film speed/sensitivity data.
True 3D interfaces are confusing.
My G4 Mac Mini is jealous!
MDN word= planning
As in “I wasn’t planning on needing CoreImage to do basic navigation!”
I agree with Dutch. A totally new user interface cannot be rolled out without involving third party developers well in advance, since they would need to modify their apps in order to support the new capabilities.
This is just wishful thinking. Leopard APIs have been frozen long ago. What we have seen in AppleInsider and ThinkSecret is what will make it into the final release (with additional goodies, small apps like iSync or iChat).
Hey Ballmer;
No, it’s not “that intel everybody despised before”. Just in case you missed the memo, things have changed.
And Intel’s architecture and implementation processes have changed a lot since back then.
My PB 550 just became obsolete….
TRUE 3d interfaces are LESS confusing. However, this is impossible on a screen… which is always 2d.
Unless there’s a holographic screen.
Late-breaking news from Microsoft: Anyone who upgrades to Vista by July 31 will receive the Microsoft Vista 3-D Power Upgrade free of charge! Illustration here:
Another Microsoft innovation⁄!
Perhaps the confusion factor is a matter of preference. To me, it’s a real-world comparison between a shelf and a drawer. Both hold thing, but when you have to “go deep” to seek something out, it creates an added thought/step/effort. Spacial thinking is far more cognitive intensive than 2D scanning.
Or, maybe I’m evolutionarily stunted. Peterson, I guess I know how it feels.
It would be cool if the next Macs shot out real Pez.. in 3D.
This sounds like the ‘Piles’ and ‘Minimize in Place’ patents Apple filed years ago. Although ‘Minimize in Place’ could have been meant for Exposé.
Apple is going to have a fully 3d touch interface since it is the way of the future. But they’re not going to have it in 10.5 Leopard. It’s too soon, software technology is almost there, but still needs a little bit more time. I expect to see this stuff in 10.6, but at that point they might as well call it Mac OS 11
I just hope I can upgrade my Mac SE.
re: HotSauce – I remember Project X! Pretty cool at the time. But then, I have clothes older than some of the posters here.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HotSauce
Check out the screenshot.
A 3D interface would probably be construed as Apple copying Vista.
“‘Piles’ and ‘Minimize in Place'”
That sounds like Ballmer’s wedding night.
Perhaps this advance, if it comes, is a conceptual shift like the discovery of perspective in the Renaissance. Once unveiled, the only way to go would have to be to adopt it completely.
And as far as being evolutionarily stunted, bulls**t! It’s our cognitive ability to comprehend the world in three (four with time) dimensions that allowed these human animals with poor claws and fangs to survive.
As the saying goes, don’t aim for the target, aim for where iti’s going to be!
Some days I wake up feeling happy. Then I remember that people are gullible and dumb. Then I feel sad.
If this is true
shouldn’t this be OS11
“Then I remember that people are gullible and dumb.”
I firmly believe that but what does it mean?
I think this will be in Leopard, however, I think Apple will enable this “3D” interface for anyone who has a Mac that currently supports 2D extreme (ex. the ripple effect when adding widgets). Try that with your Aero Micro$haft.
Oh, yeah. Multitouch won’t be coming to our desktops and laptops until OS 11.
Too early, not enough good uses, and awkward interface for a computer currently.
“It’s our cognitive ability to comprehend the world in three (four with time) dimensions . . .”
Or five, if you want to add some snappy and timeless R & B / soul music to the mix. This is the dawning, after all.
These guys have their heads in the clouds.
“Aero 3D interface is the major differentiator today for Vista over Windows XP”
The only thing really 3D about Aero is Flip3D. Otherwise it’s just a lot of transparency and glossiness.
3D? I don’t know. Double Ds are plenty big enough for me, and I don’t really require that much. But 3D? No wonder they call it Silicone Valley…
Oh, wait. That’s Los Angeles.
‘I firmly believe that but what does it mean?’
that is a classic. Belongs in the MDN Hall of Fame
This article is very wrong on a number of levels.
Don’t get your hopes up. The “TOP SECRET” features in 10.5 are things we already know about.
Resolution Independence
The Glassy Image viewer.
The New tabbed Terminal
Ect.
We have already seen plenty of new “Top Secret” features that were not disclosed during the Key Note.
Really, if there were features like Multi-touch or 3d interfaces, they would be very complex and would need extensive beta testing. And we would already know about them.
I think this rumor is credible but of limited use for the operating system interface. Simplicity and intuitive elements in the gui is what has made Apple software so successful. The 3d capability in time macine is a great idea because it provides a dramaticaly more intuitive function. Using 3d sparingly as eye candy to supplement eye candy provided by other animation in Leopard would be great. Games and data analysis programs could use 3d to great effect. If apple provides 3d in it’s frameworks, I think it would be a great addition for developers.
You know, I’m actually starting to get excited!!
First off,
I don’t get it :S
What should I expect it to look/act like?
Secondly,
If this is true than I find it very stupid of this guy to say it to the world, because Microsoft will steal and or copy this idea of course.
If he kept his mouth shut. Apple would have gotten Microsoft completely of guard. Now if it’s true or not M$ will of course try to implement this with there next OS
Thanks, TT! And good luck milking those D’s for all they are worth.
I can see how many people see a 3D desktop as disruptive, but that can safely be said to be only for users who cant or dont want to learn to do things in a new and different way. Apple should allow for its users to turn off the 3D UI if the user would be held back the way linux allows for complete customization how the user wants to work. I can imagine that this new UI would be similar to Beryl/compiz. The UI is meant to make life simpler for the user, many people do not take full advantage of the full functionality of their machines. One has to make the effort to learn every way of getting things done and make a conscious effort to use each of them. I think that it would serve customers if Apple included links to how to videos more publicly especially for new users/converts. Anyone who uses Quicksilver will know what Im talking about, the hooks into the OS are great time savers but the user has to make the effort to understand and experiment with actions. I will personally love a new file manager that is light and easy to manage with easy to remember key commands instead of mostly mouse actions.
Will do TMF.
It gets hard occasionally,
but that’s the best time to handle them…
3D interface sounds interesting. Considering what Toyota has been doing with stereo camera on automobiles in Japan, may be Apple will introduce new computer with stereo camera and use it to move files from one folder to folder by detecting the hand motion.
@2Shae,
Microsoft even says their next OS is two years away. And by 2 years, they mean the better half of the next decade away.
Wow, now it will be even easier for Finder to find Bill Gates!
bah, i have been working on a 3D OS for 8 years 🙁
it goes “a bit” further than this, but it makes things just a bit harder for me.
Stereo cameras sound like a very interesting idea! I already thought about how a mac could use its camera to see you, and let you control things with hand gestures, similar to they Eyetoy. But if they had two cameras, it could be much more precise, and 3d. It would be like using a wii controller, except it will recognize your movement without a controller.
If this is more idle speculation, I’m over it.
3D makes sense in Time Machine, it probably doesn’t make sense in most other things.
think the usb port in the ATV is for the addition of a cheap overlay device for your tv screen?
Apple would have gotten Microsoft completely of guard. Now if it’s true or not M$ will of course try to implement this with there next OS
It’ll take until at least 10.9 before MS answers any 10.5 surprises.
MS just barely managed to grunt out Vista. If they don’t New Coke it and go back to XP (won’t happen even if it should), MS will be spending the next couple years just band-aiding Vista.
It’ll be 2010-2012 before MS does anything significantly new with Windows.
TRUE 3d interfaces are LESS confusing. However, this is impossible on a screen… which is always 2d.
Unless there’s a holographic screen.
Well there have been rumors of new displays to go along with Leopard’s debut…
Hey, it’s free to dream.
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Blobert,
My namesake in spirit – welcome to MDN.
Cubert-
I think his real name is ‘Bert’.
Maybe this will happen at some point, but I doubt it’s coming in Leopard. Can you imagine how much testing this would require? They haven’t released this to developers, and they’re shipping in < 3 months. I don’t see how this is possible.
Cool! OS X will finally catch up with Linux and Beryl in this area! And because they’re Apple, we can be reasonably sure that it will be stable.
Seems Vista looks pretty ordinary already.
Perhaps this is insanity but don’t you think they woud allow you to use either finder?