hologram-paul

Yes, this is the same film we use for the printers as well. It is full-color sensitive, so you can see where this could go for the printers after we get the initial concept off the ground.

The different perspective images can encode a certain amount of movement, like the one of the girl blowing a kiss.

We see this as the building blocks for eventual holograms with full-motion. There has been a lot of research and ideas in that area, but still needs development.

Definitely could be part of R&D for novel holographic optical elements for VR and AR headsets, and even solar cells and how they more efficiently use light to create electricity.

One of the big industrial applications is for Holographic Optical Elements (HOE). Holograms can direct light like a mirrors, color filters, or act as several optical lenses combined into one thin holographic version.

Our LitiHolo hologram film is full-color sensitive, and the finished holograms are transparent, so layer is possible.

We've started with a printer that is single-color initially to get this off the ground, but eventually we would like to have a full-color version of the printer in the future with RGB recording directly in one layer.

Good idea! And I'm also expecting that some of the people who do get the 3D Hologram Printer will be selling holograms of their 3D holograms as art, portraits, etc.

Thanks! The film plates are on 2mm thick glass, and the actual holographic recording layer is 16 microns, with a coversheet material over that.

Haas! I like it.

Tiling of the holograms (making smaller holograms that can be tiled to make a larger one) is something we've definitely thought about, and even contemplated for a Kickstarter stretch goal. Wall size holograms would be fun!

Currently a 45 degree view zone with 23 separate view zone images, so about every 2 degrees. Very little crosstalk.

Full-parallax is currently a stretch goal for our Kickstarter.

I was there before any of that and was working under Steve Benton, who was kind of a demi-God in holography (inventor of the rainbow hologram on credit cards today). It was a special place because of the kind of work we were doing, and I hope that memory survives.

And also the subject of the ideas like the holographic universe.

This is definitely possible and is the basis for some computational holography.

And a holographic interference pattern is definitely a way to store a 3D image in a 2D plane, and I think a part of what won the Nobel prize in physics when holography was invented.

Yes, we currently have full-parallax as a stretch goal, so it is definitely in the works and one of the things that lets holograms go beyond just lenticular. Thanks!

I feel like anywhere you see a flat 2D image could be a 3D hologram eventually. And holograms give the "whole message", so more information, better information, clearer information. That's the potential. So portraits, some day hologram cameras, CAD output, advertising, and yes eventually hologram television/displays.

But we are starting with something more simple, and not trying to promise everything to everyone. That does mean looking for initial use cases that will take off early.

I guess holograms could be considered a sub-set of light field displays, but not all light field displays are holograms.

I could not have said it better. Real holograms also still have a lot of development yet to come and improvements that can be made, whereas many other 3D techniques out there are limited quite significantly, or are quite old and don't have the head room to improve much.

Hogels record the intensity and direction of the light (giving the ability to "look around" the hologram object).

Yes, this hogel information is permanently exposed onto the hologram film.

Definitely might be part of where things could go! And I'm sure there will be people who get one of the 3D Hologram Printers for doing just that. Holograms-as-a-Service?

Actually, recording the laser light is easier currently than trying to compute out the full fringe pattern and print. In essence the light and interference pattern captured are doing real time Fourier computation at the speed of light.

3D computational advances certainly have helped, and we expect even more as our hologram printers get more advanced with time. Thanks.

The artifact you are seeing is a test alignment hogel on these early holograms. Do not expect that in the final system. Likewise, the demo holograms had different border areas, and some with fingerprints (definitely cleanable). The film plate will need some border area. Still working on where we will be with ease of hackability.

Thanks for the compliments! Hope to see you as a backer and please recommend to the maker spaces you know.

Where the 3DS is lenticular, these are real laser-formed holograms, and can be seen by multiple viewers without any headset or other gear. Right now view zone is 45 degrees.

Each hogel is actually a real laser-encoded holograms. So trying to make the distinction between lenticulars, Pepper's Ghost, etc. that use the name "hologram", but are not.

This hogel approach to recording the hologram in segments allows of capturing people, computer graphics, and much more than analog holograms that can only capture inanimate object. However our LitiHolo film can do analog holograms as well, if interested.

I definitely want holograms of my kids! (part of why I wanted to build this all along)

I have often used the comparison to early personal computers. The things were mainly switched and lights, but there was potential for where it could go.

I heard that even early Apple people would say "A computer in every household", and people would ask, "What would I do with a computer?" and their best answer was "It's a great way to store and file your recipes."

Roger that! Will get on that, and thanks for the heads up.

Holograms have a way of doing that to people! Thanks.

Thanks! The hogel size is physically determined by things like the aperture size (in our case 1x1mm to start, with a stretch goal for 0.5x0.5mm), but also laser power, and just how long it takes to print each hogel and as a result the full hologram. Double the resolution is 4X the number of hogels.

Hello again HN! 12 months ago I told you LitiHolo (I’m the founder) was working to create a 3D Hologram Printer, and asked for your input. Well, we built it!

I've been involved with hologram printers all the way back to my grad school days (MIT Media Lab), and have built custom industrial versions for in-house commercial hologram work. But more recently LitiHolo has been focused on simple educational holograms kits. With this 3D Hologram Printer, we are kind of bringing the two together -- a simple hologram printer that makes the technology more affordable and accessible.

These are true laser-recorded holograms, and we are starting small and simple to get things off the ground (think Makerbot for holograms). Would love your feedback on how we can continue to make hologram technology like this more accessible, as well as ideas for possible killer apps and use cases.

Here's our previous HN post from 12 months ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22616010

And full disclosure: we have launched a Kickstarter project for this, but would appreciate your input whether you back the project or not.

Previous HN post from 11 months ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22616010