
Show HN: Moving from a desktop hologram lab to a 3D hologram printer - hologram-paul
https://www.litiholo.com/hologram-kits.html
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hologram-paul
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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zalo
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.

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hologram-paul
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!

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ben_w
Your full-colour example is very impressive! I see several opportunities for
currently impossible costume designs.

Personally, I’ve wanted something similar — but larger — for a long time. How
big can these go? Could I, for example, take a poster-sized holographic photo
of some woodland for my wall?

Or, for digital content, a wall-sized holographic galaxy image?

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jazzyjackson
If you're in NYC you can visit the holography lab -- Jason has created some
truly life size stuff, the biggest I saw was about poster board sized, maybe 3
x 4 feet. They were not for sale, but he does commissions...

[https://www.holographer.com/](https://www.holographer.com/)

EDIT This place advertises "analogue holograms in size of up to 1.2×0.8
meters"

[http://geola.com/](http://geola.com/)

~~~
hologram-paul
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!

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drazvan
[http://geola.com/](http://geola.com/) in Lithuania have a "hologram printing
as a service" that works quite well, check them out.

~~~
hologram-paul
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.

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noyesno
One of my bucket list items is a visit to Holographic Studios [1] in NYC to
get a custom portrait.

[1] [https://www.holographer.com/](https://www.holographer.com/)

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hologram-paul
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!

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myself248
Given the early Makerbots' reputation for quality, I hope the analogy isn't
precise... ;)

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

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matt_the_bass
How many angles/slices/images/whatever you call them can you fit on a single
film? What is the limiting factor? What limits the form factor size?

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hologram-paul
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".

~~~
dTal
This is extremely interesting. What kind of SLM is that? As I'm sure you're
aware 48 angles is unusually small for this kind of thing as most existing
printers use (expensive) SLMs of at least XGA resolution, or 1024 horizontal
angles; the limiting factor for resolution is generally the data pipeline and
lighting setup rather than the printer hardware. But it sounds like you might
be taking a radical approach.

ALso, are you targeting single or double parallax? Again the limiting factor
there is usually software - there really needs to be a "Cura" of holography to
properly democratize this (I am currently working on a Blender plugin, but
that can't cover the entire scope).

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hologram-paul
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.

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kelvin0
Awesome! However I am still awaiting the animated and 'floating' in mid-air
holograms ... as a HUD in my flying car!

~~~
hologram-paul
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.

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19870213
I wonder, is it possible to create 2D holograms? That is, a sprite, or a
hologram that looks the same no matter the angle?

My usecase would be a set of parentheses (as in XKCD #297 "These are your
father's parentheses, elegant weapons for a more... civilized age"), or
perhaps even dragon balls (the star formation are supposed to look the same no
matter the viewing angle).

But I suspect that the interference pattern would in that case interfere with
itself down to nothing.

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hologram-paul
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.

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noyesno
Would it be possible to use light-field cameras like Lytro as source material?

~~~
hologram-paul
Yes, this would work well!

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

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smhinsey
Is it feasible to do landscapes or is this more for macro distances?

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hologram-paul
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.

~~~
smhinsey
Interesting, I will have to keep an eye out for that printer. I'd love to see
something like that used on one of the iconic scenes in Yosemite. I'm
currently riding out the pandemic at my place nearby so I'm thinking a lot
about it.

~~~
hologram-paul
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!

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aliswe
Mildly interesting!

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

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anon012012
You could print many frames from a video, and then if you move them fast,
you'll have the illusion of a holographic video.

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hologram-paul
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!

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enjrolas
to the future!

~~~
hologram-paul
I like where your head's at!

