The Great "Hologram" Misdirection
We are in the business of delivering amazing audio visual experiences...But we are not the only people making these productions and the clarity of our industry's offerings in the market is, at best opaque.
We find that one of the first stages of interacting with new customers is initiating them to the different options for creating Holographic Illusions. In this task our biggest obstacle is to first explain why some of the YouTube videos and other marketing images are either misrepresenting what is physically possible or are misappropriating the use of a word e.g. Hologram.
This page is dedicated to explaining some common misdirection's that those new to this field will likely be exposed to. You can scroll down to read these articles or jump straight to one that interests you by using the using the links below: -
The use of the word "Hologram" in Marketing materials.
You will find it hard to consume any media that references the future: either near or distant; that does not include the concept of images floating in mid air... apparently unbound by any physical structure or obvious technology viewable from all directions by all people. The idea is so prevalent that simply taking the word Hologram and adding it to a new display technology will suck interest toward the product like a space ship might be sucked into a nearby black hole.
Consequently, it is very tempting for marketeers to hijack the word and use it in all sorts of divergent ways. If you are confused as to what a hologram really is please click here and see our explanation: -
Want to see the art of the possible? Then book a demo now. Call 0044 1234 241 021 and we can arrange a suitable time.
The 7D Hologram Misrepresentation.
Qu: - So what is a 7D hologram? (This question usually follows on from a new client sending us a video with a title including the phrase "7D Hologram")
Humn!
Ans: - The term seems to us to have evolved from a marketeer's imagination rather than from a scientific background... And unfortunately not really from a technical manufacturers Marketing Dept but more from those wishing to drive traffic to their YouTube channel.
From a Marketeers point of view "Hologram" is already one of those mystical descriptors that draws traffic. The term 7D seems to add some credible scientific assist to the phrase and sort of conveys, that in some way, this is better than 3 D e.g. better than worldly confines of width, depth and height dimensions. Scientifically the forth dimension is of course time.
No doubt some inspiration for this literary dimensional expansion emanates from reports in cutting edge scientific publications. The truncated meaning of which we can all be exposed to in our mainstream media diet. These" String" Theory reports describe there being 10 or even 11 multiverse dimensions... And since; pretty much no-one; outside of the world of Theoretical Physics, can actually tell you what this means. , throwing in an extra dimension can easily slip unchallenged into the next marketing opportunity. Its a bit like the those shampoo adverts that let you know that there is some science here - so you should trust us...we have people in white coats working for us!
To be fair to those dedicated to adding ever more dimensions to their Marketing materials this divergence from a scientific description has been long absorbed into the lexicon of various creative industries, particularly the themed entertainment industry; where this has led to a commonly adopted term of 4D meaning 3D projection with an added sensation and not specifically having a relation to "time" mostly because time is implicit in a video playback.
The term 4D has for many become a shorthand way to convey that the audience experience is not just the perception of a 3D image but that it is augmented by another stimulation to one of our non-visual senses. This might be achieved by the addition of a powered motion acting on the audience members e.g. movement to their seat or as a signal to a motion platform the audience are stood on; or it could be because of the distribution of a scent in the audience space that is timed to coincide with the visual stimulation in the 3D theatre show.
So... with the meaning being stretched outside of its scientific 3D origins already, by the addition of another audience stimulation ,you can see how others might push for descriptors that are superlatively "better" and 7D is an example of this.
If you add Hologram to the descriptor and then film the installation in a manner that conceals the true nature of the experience the audience get you can drive a massive amount of internet traffic to a YouTube video... but at the same time kind of confuse a lot of people particularly those who are interested in the buying an amazing audio visual experience. The technical solution used in these videos is actually a very effective technique and it does genuinely engage the audience in an effective manner, but it is not a holographic illusion and does not work the way you might think it does.
So what are the people present in this Dubai Mall scene actually experiencing? Are they really stood next to a holographic Rhino or a Panda?
The answer is emphatically No! They are seeing themselves in a video wall which is compositing a live feed of the scene including their own image with additional content. In the install above, this being a Rhino and a couple of Pandas. This technique is called augmented reality (AR) and is very much like superimposing images but done in a live manner. this version of AR is "glasses free AR".
A better explanation is offered in the photo below with the gentleman in the centre apparently putting his arms around a lion. Clearly the lion is only appearing in the content of the video wall but the gentleman is pretending, for the sake of the image he is seeing,.. that the lion is actually there.
A wonderfully entertaining piece of theatre which has obviously worked at getting the passers-by at this exhibition to stop and engage with the stand...but it is not a hologram nor do people in our industry refer to it as such... most people simply call it AR.
Hopefully, if you have read this far you will be able to better understand why people have misrepresented this effect and at the same time helped you to start to decide whether you want AR or a Holographic Illusion. - we can help with both but understanding the difference is important for us to best help you.
Call 0044 1234 241 021 now and we can help you decide which technique you would prefer for your event or installation.
The Whale in the Basketball Court "Hologram" Video
This popular video gives any YouTube viewer a strong impression that they are seeing an audience in a basketball court looking at a holographic experience happening in real time. And furthermore it suggests that the experience is viewable from two angles. Importantly there is no obvious technology or structure in the camera view.
We are often shown this video and asked by potential clients if we can do this.
The answer is: - We sort of can.... but the video raises some expectations that are not possible to reproduce, this is because it is a composited video rather than recording of an event that actually happened.
The original video was intended to convey the feeling that a wearer of a particular "glasses on" technology might get with that technology and as such, is a marketing video for a hardware manufacturer. Frankly it was a bit of a stretch to even use it to use for the "glasses on " tech promotion as it over plays the size of images possible with that tech. Plus none of the people in the audience are wearing the tech see the green area labelled Area B so how could they see the Whale to react to it... unless they were acting? We are sure you will agree that the photo here of the Augmented Reality glasses (AR sometimes called Mixed reality or MR) is a much more authentic representation of the offering.
So how do we know this is trick photography; rather than a genuine report of a properly staged Holographic illusion in a basketball court?
Firstly, if you consider the red area labelled Area A of the next photo, you can see that the black fin of the whale passes in front of the very bright window behind. When you consider that black is the absence of light you quickly realise that it would not be technically possible to create such a holographic system in this very bright place.
To phase this with more precision something would need to be capable of blocking the light from the window for this to be perceived as black . What could this be if it was momentarily in the middle of the room. .. a momentary fin shaped blackhole? - I think that might be bigger news than a hologram.
Hence, overall we are very confident that this is a composited video of a basketball court including a bank of audience members at the rear then with a video of a whale breaching including the white water splash. The only bit we are not confident about is if the audience in the green foreground area B were acting or part of the same whale video e.g. on a boat nearby to the event and the sky and water were made transparent in a post production process,
Earlier we stated we could almost do this effect and so we offer the following photo and video of HoloNet projections we did between our factory buildings neither of which were composited. Both were accurate recordings of what the audience saw at the time . Call us on 0044 1234 241 021 or email hello@interestingav.com to discuss how we could do the same for you.
This is image is not messed with. i.e. there is no post-production trickery used to make this image. We actually can make it look like a shark is swimming between our buildings. But it only works at night and the image needs to be aligned with a black or dull background that does not over power the image we create.
Again there is no compositing or post production in this video . what you see here is what you can get from us. Not we are not using glasses on technology to achieve this.
Still need more convincing Call 0044 1234 241 021 now and book a demo and start planning your holographic project with us
Bleen - The fake "hologram" product misdirection
From time to time our industry has new entrants and these are not always reliable. The current gap created by the mainstream popular media's ever advancing promotion of a technology that allows aerial imagery, is not properly bound to "the state of the art". I.e. practically new every movie base in the future, even the near future has a holographic aerial projection display at some point to convey a feel for life in the future. So the demand is there but there are some things that are not currently possible and the uninitiated can easily be drawn in to the gap. One example is the investor scam involving a device called Bleen.
The advert on the popular Indiegogo peer to peer funding website promised a new affordable display see product images above. The promise was that this startup company would be able to create a funky looking portable device that could finally do what the world seems to think is already possible i.e. project images directly into the air and make them visible to people viewing from all directions. Sounds good... Yeah! ...Shame the project only got as far as producing marketing assets like the ones above. You can see the source of the promotional footage in the inset of the living room scene. It is obvious now that this was all a simple fake advert made from superimposing images. There was an accompanying video of a Hungarian lab technician in a white coat added to the campaign to give a feel of authenticity. (Interestingly the inventor of the original true holograms was Hungarian).
At the time Indiegogo funding policy was to make investments non refundable even when the target was not reached. Making this a great formula for ripping off unsuspecting overly optimistic investors. The campaign results are shown below. We are unsure whether the investors ever got their money back.
Maybe the hard lesson here is "investor beware" and the only way to lower the risk is to increase your knowledge.
In this respect we are always keen to help. There is a lot that can be done but some fundamental limitations that we can here explain.