The Whole Message: Research into holograms and 3d visualization techniques.
Abstract
Ever since I was young, watching science fiction shows such as Star Trek, I had always wondered whether it was possible to produce holograms like the doctor in Star Trek Voyager (1). I will be looking at some of the advancements in this technology but first we should explore what a hologram is. The word finds its origins in Greek where “holo” means “whole” and “gram” means “message” (2). Therefore, the goal of a hologram is to represent the entirety of an object.
Conventional Holograms:
An analogue photograph stores amplitude and wavelength but a hologram additionally stores phase information which allows it to represent the captured image in 3D from multiple perspectives (3). The materials used to store this information are photographic emulsion, thermoplastics, or embossed foils. (4) Two beams from a single laser get cast onto the material. A “reference beam” strikes the material directly while an “object beam” is reflected off of the object of interest first. (2)
Wikipedia can help us with a diagram:
Another interesting approach was developed by William Beaty in 1995 (5). It is actually possible to etch 3d holograms by hand onto a variety of surfaces:
Video: Beaty explains his approach
But, although these methods allow for full representation of objects, they are still limited to a single projection plane and also limited in color. If we are dealing with this “through the window” approach, it is possible to instead get the viewing position of the user and project a 3d image angled appropriately to simulate the same effect:
Or to get the angle of a reference plane in the real world and generate content based on it:
This presents interesting possibilities for representation of 3d on a screen, Kramer identifies that holograms could be a possible aid for 3d modeling (6) (and from experience in this class as a 3d modeler it would indeed be interesting but perhaps disorienting). Regardless, it is still not close enough to my dream science-fiction hologram so let’s go further.
Spinning LED Displays:
Video Example of one such display
This is one of many examples. It’s really interesting how so many hobbyists and students have explored this technique. Although these do produce interesting 3d visualizations, their main issue is being constrained to circular shapes such as globes or cylinders.
Laser Displays:
A small team of researchers in 2006 managed to develop a 3d laser technology that visualizes a series of points floating in space. The technique focuses lasers through galvanic mirrors to induce air plasma emission at the focal points between beams (7). The image might make more sense than words:
Other Promising Work:
Video: 360 degree holographic display
Works Cited
1. (2006) Star Fleet Bio File: “Doctor”. Star Trek Website. http://www.startrek.com/startrek/view/series/VOY/character/1112409.html
2. Johnston, S. (2007). Hologram. In M. R. Peres (Ed.)Focal Encyclopedia of Photography: Digital Imaging, Theory and Applications, History, and Science, (4th ed., pp. 550-551) Amsterdam: Elsevier Retrieved March 13, 2010, from Gale Virtual Reference Library via Gale:http://go.galegroup.com.proxy.lib.sfu.ca/ps/start.do?p=GVRL&u=sfu_z39
3. Bimber, O. 2005. Combining optical holograms with interactive computer graphics. In ACM SIGGRAPH 2005 Courses (Los Angeles, California, July 31 - August 04, 2005). J. Fujii, Ed. SIGGRAPH '05. ACM, New York, NY, 4. DOI= http://doi.acm.org.proxy.lib.sfu.ca/10.1145/1198555.1198714
4. Johnston, S. (2007). Holography. In M. R. Peres (Ed.)Focal Encyclopedia of Photography: Digital Imaging, Theory and Applications, History, and Science, (4th ed., pp. 551-554) Amsterdam: Elsevier Retrieved March 13, 2010, from Gale Virtual Reference Library via Gale: http://go.galegroup.com.proxy.lib.sfu.ca/ps/start.do?p=GVRL&u=sfu_z39
5. W. Beaty, "Drawing Holograms by Hand", Proc. SPIE-IS&T Electronic Imaging, Tung H. Jeong, ed., SPIE Vol. 5005, 156-167, 2003. http://amasci.com/amateur/hand1.html
6. Kramer, J. (2008). Hologram and Holography. In K. L. Lerner & B. W. Lerner (Eds.) The Gale Encyclopedia of Science, (Vol. 3). (4th ed., pp. 2144-2146) Detroit: Gale Retrieved March 13, 2010, from Gale Virtual Reference Library via Gale: http://go.galegroup.com.proxy.lib.sfu.ca/ps/start.do?p=GVRL&u=sfu_z39
7. Kimura, H., Uchiyama, T., and Yoshikawa, H. 2006. Laser produced 3D display in the air. In ACM SIGGRAPH 2006 Emerging Technologies (Boston, Massachusetts, July 30 - August 03, 2006). SIGGRAPH '06. ACM, New York, NY, 20. DOI= http://doi.acm.org.proxy.lib.sfu.ca/10.1145/1179133.1179154/