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Comment by hologram-paul | Hacker News Reader

Hey HN! LitiHolo (I'm the founder) already makes the Hologram Kit and Full-Color Hologram Kit. They let you make real laser holograms on an average desktop with self-developing film. But we want to do much more, and are working on a 3D Hologram Printer for making hologram portraits and images from digital 3D content.

I'm looking for feedback on what you would want to do with a 3D hologram printer. The plan is to start small (think Makerbot Cupcake), and incrementally get more advanced, so I'm trying to find early applications that would fit.

Thanks for your help!

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Hi Paul, I'm a big fan of your work democratizing holography, and I love the idea of a small-scale hologram printer.

If you need any assistance with a Unity, Three.js (WebGL), or Shadertoy rendering engine, let me know. I'm the software lead for Project North Star (Open Source AR Headset), and I've done miscellaneous other exotic display integrations and calibrations (ie shadertoys for the Looking Glass Display and a few CAVEs).

My absolute dream would be to print HOEs (but I'm unsure those are within the limitations of digital holography). I imagine holograms bent into a cylinder (that can be viewed from any direction), followed by shiny (metallic) objects and far-field subjects will look the most striking.

Will the printer be "full-color" too? Countering the chromatic distortion effects of the holographic film sounds like a fun challenge.

Yes, might be interested in getting your assistance. Send an e-mail through the info (at) litiholo address, and mention you reached out on HN.

Anticipating the first printer will be single-color, just to keep it simple. Then as quick to color as the market will allow.

The printer holograms will be reflection holograms, so they have almost no chromatic issues. We've made many nice full-color holograms for commercial application. Can't wait to get it into more people's hands!

If I already have a setup for developing film, can I use the setup with bulk rolls of film? It looks like the self-developing plates have a lower premium than I expected (if it's really $4 per 3x5 plate), but if I'm going to make a lot of prints, the difference is still there (and film is cheaper than plates anyways).

We put all of our film on glass plates for the stability. We currently don't have a film-only option, because the success/quality for getting good holograms has not been as good.

Our film plates are pretty competitive when you consider you never need to buy, mix, or bother with chemicals and the whole wet process.

It's pretty sweet to just expose the holograms, and then view them immediately. Maybe get a box of the plates and test them out to see the difference.

Yeah, I was certainly expecting more than the $4 per plate implied by the prices I saw on your site. That's not much more than low quantity 40nm grain plates from hobbyist sites.

How do your plates handle humidity and temperature changes? I have no A/C so when I was last into holography I had to wait for the weather was just right before doing it.

Our plates should be fine, as long as the conditions are consistent during exposure.

Do your large 6x8 plates work with the full color hologram kit or does the latter have the weaker lasers?

Right now our full-color kits only handle 2"x3". We are planning to come out with a full-color 4"x5" upgrade in the near future, with stronger lasers.

However, all of our hologram film is full-color sensitive, including the 6"x8".

This is great, really grat. I’d love to try this with my kids. It’s probably a bit too expensive for me at the moment at 75 plus shipping (also I’m in europe), but at $50 I’d buy one.

As hologram technology gets more wide spread, the price will be able to come down.

Right now a <$100 Hologram Kit replaces what used to cost $1000's. So we're moving in the right direction!

On your site it says:

> These are real holograms, based on the physics that won a Nobel Prize, not some gimmick or reflection.

How does it work? How do you cope with vibration?

The unique self-developing hologram film captures the interference pattern of the laser light, which is the hologram.

The optical layout for our kits reduces the vibration issues by using single-beam setups.

I've actually made a hologram with one of our kits in a Starbucks on one of the tables there!

Holy cow! My hat's doffed to you sir. Good work! (Also your site strikes a nice balance between info and marketing.)

Thanks! The holograms are pretty cool too!

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