hologram-paul

Hello again HN! 11 months ago I told you LitiHolo (I’m the founder) was working to create a 3D Hologram Printer, and asked for your input. It’s now live on Kickstarter!

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.

Yes, this would work well!

Might have a more narrow viewzone, because the light field from those is fairly narrow as I recall.

Yes, we're taking a radical approach to make it something that can be more accessible. Kind of like the first Makerbot, but for holograms.

The SLM choice will be part of trying to get the right performance/cost mix.

The printer will probably be full-parallax capable, but we might lean more toward horizontal-parallax-only for most user cases, to simplify the image input requirements.

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".

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!

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

Met Jason many years ago when the Museum of Holography was shutting down. Amazing that he is still there, although I think he was in a different location when we met.

Our 3D Hologram Printer is working to bring hologram-making like this to everyone!

That would be cool! Personal favorites would be Big Sur or NYC skyline.

Stay tuned on the LitiHolo site for hologram printer details as we get closer!

The 3D Hologram Printer we are building does exactly that!

Depending on the way the hologram is printed or created, the hologram recreates the full wavefront, so the hologram replays the image without needing to know how your head is oriented.

Will need to look up beer pump logos. Interesting.

Roger that! Trying to convey the concept, but the goal is certainly to outperform.

For the current kits, you are correct. For the 3D Hologram Printer, we will be able to open it up a lot more.

Thanks! The holograms are pretty cool too!

Our current kits would not work for that, but the 3D Hologram Printer that we are building could make those.

The printer takes multiple images, each from a slightly different perspective (maybe 1 degree apart each), and then synthesizes them into the final hologram as a full 3D hologram image.

So could do landscapes, portraits, 3D computer graphics, etc.

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.

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!

I like where your head's at!

Right now targeting 48 angles/slices/images per hologram. Want to give a smooth "look around" feel.

Limited by the hardware/cost choices that get us good quality vs. reasonable cost.

Size of the holograms initially based on the hologram film that we already produce, which currently is 2"x3", 4"x5", and most recently 6"x8".

Should work, I think.

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!

We are building a 3D Hologram Printer so that you can have that kind of technology right at home!

Or entrepreneurs could set up new businesses so that this is available easily and as common as a print shop.

Yes, agreed!

Although I tell people that what we are doing currently with the Hologram Kits is helping to create the next generation of hologram engineers. So they can build what we dreamed of!

And a 3D Hologram Printer will get us one step closer.

Possible! If you make a 3D hologram of a 2D plane, it will still be 2D, but at a particular depth location.

This makes my head hurt to think about, though.

Yes, I lived in NYC for many years, and actually made hologram portraits in the basement of the old Museum of Holography off Canal Street.

One of our big pushes for the 3D Hologram Printer is to put this kind of technology into the hands of anyone.

Kind of like Makerbot did for 3D printing. We want to be the Makerbot of holograms!

That is very much how the hologram printer works! You take many images, each from a slightly different perspective (maybe every 1 degree), and the hologram synthesizes them into the full 3D image.

The other cool part is the holograms can have motion as a result.

So as you move the hologram back and forth is will move!

Our current hologram film size is 2"x3", 4"x5", and we just introduced 6"x8". So planning to start in those sizes, but it is theoretically possible you could tile them to get larger area.

Ultimately, it could be as large as you could make the film.

I've always liked the idea of "holographic windows" onto whatever you wanted. NYC skyline or woodlands.

Thanks. I think hologram portraits are the next direction, but any ideas on what else would make it more interesting?

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!