Touch the Third Dimension: Introducing the syGlass 3D Stylus

When we first brought syGlass to Sony’s Spatial Reality Display, the reaction was immediate: people leaned in, smiled, and reached for the data.

That was the magic of it. Datasets that usually live behind a flat screen suddenly looked like real 3D objects floating in space. But that also revealed the obvious next problem: once the data looks like something you can touch, a normal mouse and keyboard starts to feel pretty limiting.

So we asked a simple question: “How should scientists actually interact with 3D data on a desktop?”

Today, we’re excited to share our answer: a six degrees-of-freedom (6DoF) 3D stylus system for syGlass on the Sony Spatial Reality Display, developed through a hardware partnership with Antilatency. 

syGlass is currently the only provider of this advanced tracking stylus + marker bar kit for the Spatial Reality Display (SRD). By marrying Antilatency’s sub-millimeter tracking with our visualization engine, we have successfully ported the true 6DoF control of VR controllers directly to a desktop monitor environment.

Below, I’ve broken down exactly what this looks like in action across a series of showcase videos.

Bridging the Gap: VR Control Meets the Desktop

Traditional 3D monitors often feel like look-but-don't-touch experiences because traditional input devices fail in spatial environments. By mapping 6DoF positioning, you can perform almost every native syGlass feature seamlessly.

• Intuitive Interaction: Move, rotate, and scale massive volumetric datasets instantly just by moving your hand in front of the screen.

• Near-Zero Learning Curve: If you know how to pick up a pen, you know how to use this system.

Advanced Volumetric Manipulation & Slicing

In microscopy and radiology, isolating the exact plane or region of interest is critical. With standard tools, slicing through a 3D volume requires tedious slider adjustments. With our 3D stylus, your hand controls the cutting plane.

• Dynamic Slicing: Angle the stylus to pass a virtual clipping plane through a dataset (like a light-sheet image of a mouse brain) in any orientation to reveal internal cellular structures instantly.

• Precision Targeting: Seamlessly dive into dense neural pathways without losing your spatial orientation.

Volumetric Painting and Segmentation in syGlass

With our intuitive volumetric segmentation tools, scientists can effortlessly label, carve, and segment dense 3D data directly in virtual space. This core workflow—alongside cell counting and tracking-over-time—is now completely unlocked on the Sony SRD thanks to the high-fidelity precision of the stylus.

• Volumetric Painting: Literally "paint" directly onto 3D voxels in mid-air to isolate dense neural networks, complex cellular structures, or blood vessels.

• Precision Segmentation & Export: Combine the comfort of an interactive workspace with the spatial accuracy required to refine boundaries and export pristine, segmented volume datasets.

Maximizing Productivity Without Headset Fatigue

Virtual reality will always be a cornerstone of immersive science, but daily laboratory workflows require a balance. Researchers need to look at data, take notes, talk to colleagues, and check their physical monitors without constantly taking a headset on and off.

This tracking stylus transforms the Sony SRD from an awesome display piece into a high-throughput, everyday scientific workstation.

Unlocking the Future of Scientific Discovery

We built syGlass to make sure that the complexity of biological and volumetric data could be navigated intuitively. The Sony Spatial Reality Display already makes that data feel present. The 3D stylus adds the missing piece: a way to interact with it that feels natural. Together, syGlass, the Sony SRD, and the Antilatency-powered stylus bring spatial computing into a form factor that works at a desk, in a lab, at a microscope workstation, or in a shared demo space. 

We are incredibly proud of this collaboration, and we can’t wait to see how it accelerates discoveries in your lab.

Ready to elevate your workflow?

If you want to bring the Sony SRD and our exclusive 6DoF tracking stylus to your institution, contact our team today to get a quote and set up a custom demonstration.