Holograms: Extra dimension Features 23/12/2019 There are multiple ways to create holograms and a range of applications, from politics to music parties, that they can be used for. Tim Kridel explores the technologies and their benefits.Holograms arguably entered into the public consciousness in 1977 when Princess Leia received a hologram message from Obi-Wan Kenobi in Star Wars: A New Hope. Jump to 2012 and we had life imitating art as a hologram of the late rapper Tupac Shakur performed live at the Coachella Music Festival. Today, holograms seem to be most popular among politicians and professors. In the US, presidential candidate Andrew Yang plans to use holograms to hold campaign rallies in multiple states simultaneously. Holograms also played a major role during the run-up to the 2018 Pakistani general election, where mobile systems were driven around to remote towns for one candidate’s nightly rallies. That was cheaper and more secure than the candidate making those visits in person. Rory Elliot, head of EMEA at ARHT Media, which provided the display technology, says: “They reckoned that with 20 trucks, they reached 20 million people in a month.” Euclideon Holographics is an example of how some vendors are marketing holography systems as an alternative to traditional cave automatic virtual environment (CAVE) systems. The company is also set to launch hologram walls. Bruce Dell, CEO and founder of Euclideon Holographics, explains: “The holograms will be 3.6m(l) by 2m(h). They will project out of the wall by up to a metre, and project into the wall by up to a kilometre, which would be as if you were looking out of a window.” One example for this kind of technology’s application could be a car manufacturer that wants to use its existing computer-assisted design (CAD) or Revit data as the foundation for holograms. Dell adds: “We would export it as an OBJ Polygon file and then it would immediately load into the hologram wall. You then would be able to see it as a hologram, and in this case, poke your head inside the car and look around.” In the UK, Imperial College Business School is using holography for a variety of applications. One example is bringing in guest speakers from Los Angeles and New York with the display technology. Dr. David Lefevre, director of the school’s Edtech Lab, says: “It will break down the limitations of traditional teaching by creating an interactive experience that benefits both students and academics. Rather than replacing or reducing reallife lectures, the hologram technology will provide greater flexibility for academics by enabling them to continue teaching whilst travelling, ensuring consistency and quality for students. The technology will also widen the scope for Imperial to invite global leaders and influencers from industry to give talks to students, therefore enriching the learning experience.” For decades, higher education has used everything from Skype to enterprise-grade videoconferencing systems to bring guest lecturers into classrooms. Inevitably, guest speakers are in high demand, and video is the only way they can accommodate all the requests for appearances and engagements. Elliot from ARHT says: “Education probably is going to be our biggest client. They send their professors all over the world for a half-hour conference [presentation]. It costs a fortune. Everyone is tired of it.” The same lament is heard in the business world where videoconferencing has been widely used for decades. This begs the question: in both education and business, what do holograms do that traditional video doesn’t? For starters, there’s the wow factor. Although most consumers have seen holograms once or twice, they’re still relatively rare. In the case of advertising on digital signage, for example, their novelty is a major benefit because they increase the likelihood that passers-by will stop to watch. In a classroom, the novelty of seeing a guest lecturer appear by hologram could help students pay more attention to what they are saying. Imperial uses technology from ARHT, which is heavily focused on the education market. But the company is also getting a lot of traction in the enterprise market. According to O’Reilly, it is not about having a one-off ‘wow’ moment: “The real application is when we overcome a business issue that they have, so they want to use it again and again and again.” For integrators and other AV firms that want to add holography to their portfolio, one obvious consideration is how each vendor achieves the effect. Andrew Parry, Imperial College Business School online learning video producer, says: “The hologram technology we have requires a very different and more precise setup compared with traditional methods of videoconferencing or remote presentation systems. The capture space itself needs a minimum distance of about 8m between camera and subject so that lens distortion can be minimised or eliminated altogether. “The height of the camera is also important. The camera needs to be positioned close to the floor tilting slightly up at the subject. These two things ensure that the final result at the display end is an accurate representation in terms of body shape and dimensions.” Parry adds: “You’re trying to create a clear outline around the subject so that they stand out from the black drapes arranged behind— and therefore produce a clearly defined image on the display screen. There are four lights placed behind the subject which backlight everything, including shoes. There are also two lights arranged in front of the subject. There’s an optional light that can be used above the head if you want to enhance the effect further. “It should be noted that the speaker should be instructed to avoid wearing dark clothes as this will be more difficult to light. Much like the way a green screen works, any areas of pure black will become invisible once projected onto the display screen. Although not as straightforward as a Skype or Zoom call, I’d expect the technology to one day find a way of miniaturising so that it becomes a more commonplace method of communication.” Another approach is Euclideon’s Arcade Table, which uses lasers to create the holograms. Users wear sunglasses that filter the light in a way that makes the holograms appear to float about 90cm off the table’s surface. Dell says: “The darker the space, the better the hologram. Holograms are still projected, like your normal light-based projectors. The only difference is that we use lasers, but the same principles apply. If you project in a darker room, it will result in the picture having more clarity and being more attractive; whereas if you project in a lighter room, it will result in the picture appearing more faded.” As with many technologies, customers sometimes surprise vendors with use cases they didn’t expect being a particularly good fit for holograms. Dell comments: “When it comes to our business tables, we have had customers that have wanted to track certain things live, such as cars or aeroplanes flying in. We didn’t overly anticipate that this was going to be one of the intended uses. “Another surprise was food. It was a very interesting use case. Personally, it frustrates me when I visit a new restaurant, I look at a menu and have no idea what the description entails or what the food looks like. It would be great if I could see my food before I order it. With the technology that we have, we are able to do this.”