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Technology news and Jobs 
Fuzzy Logic Telstra’s 3D hologram – or holoscam?
Fuzzy Logic Telstra’s 3D hologram – or holoscam? | Telstra’s 3D hologram – or holoscam? |
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| by Alex Zaharov-Reutt | |
| Friday, 30 May 2008 | |
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Page 3 of 3 Although we’re always cautioned not to use Wikipedia as a source, in this instance I have. If you’re not happy with that, apologies, but you’ll have to deal with it for now. Wikipedia’s entry continues: “The image changes as the position and orientation of the viewing system changes in exactly the same way is if the object were still present. Holograms can also be made using other types of waves.” The initial description (there is plenty more) concludes: “The technique of holography can also be used to optically store, retrieve, and process information. It is common to confuse volumetric displays with holograms, particularly in science fiction works such as Star Trek, Star Wars, Red Dwarf, and Quantum Leap.” So, I went to Wikipedia’s page on “volumetric displays”, where I found the following information: “A volumetric display device is a graphical display device that forms a visual representation of an object in three physical dimensions, as opposed to the planar image of traditional screens that simulate depth through a number of different visual effects. One definition offered by pioneers in the field is that volumetric displays create 3-D imagery via the emission, scattering, or relaying of illumination from well-defined regions in (x,y,z) space.” This continues with plenty more, but here’s the next sentence: “Though there is no consensus among researchers in the field, it may be reasonable to admit holographic and highly multiview displays to the volumetric display family if they do a reasonable job of projecting a three-dimensional light field within a volume.” Wikipedia’s entry on the Musion Eyeliner system says: “The Musion Eyeliner is a high definition video projection system allowing moving images to appear within a live stage setting using Pepper’s ghost technology. It is described by the company, Musion Systems Ltd. as "3-dimensional" and "holographic", but strict definitions of these terms might discriminate between this simple one camera / one projector illusion and methods requiring two or more light paths as seen in conventional stereoscopic projection or diffraction-based holograms.” Musion Eyeliner themselves say the technology is inspired by Pepper’s Ghost Technology and explain how they developed it. So, is the Musion Eyeliner System a strict hologram? It would appear not. Is iTWire reader “Ghosts in the past” correct in admonishing us all for describing the system as a hologram, when it is not in the strict, traditional sense? It would appear so. Does it detract from the Telstra demonstration being ultra cool? No. Will Musion Eyeliner stop describing their technology as holographic anytime soon? Probably not. It’s clear the terminology is being used for marketing purposes. So, no, it looks like it’s definitely not a real hologram. But unless Musion, Telstra, Ghost or someone does something about it, the Musion “confusion” over what is, and what isn’t, a true hologram, looks like continuing for some time yet.
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