Create 3D Works of Art with the Desktop 3D Hologram Printer

We've all seen holographic stickers, cards, or magazine covers, but no matter how many times we lay eyes on them, they still have that futuristic "wow" factor. A former MIT Media Lab researcher has brought us one step closer to printing our own holograms using the first 3D Hologram Printer. Paul Christie founded his company Litiholo to bring MIT's holographic technology to makers and enthusiasts alike, allowing them to create 3D images from several different sources, including video.

Unlike headsets or glasses, the printer produces true 3D holograms in physical form that can be shared and viewed with others by printing hologram portraits, game and movie scenes, or anything that can be rendered as a 3D model. The printer works by taking multiple perspective images and slices them (much like a CAD image) into unique recordings for each individual pixel on the hologram, known as a "hogel" or "hologram element."

The printer then optically encodes that information and deposits it onto a unique holographic film using laser light. When completed, the hologram recreates the many different perspectives as if the 3D image is genuinely there, giving the ability to look around the image to see different angles similar to those examples mentioned earlier.

While the printer is a great tool to produce some fantastic 3D holographic images, that's all it does, meaning there isn't much use beyond creating 3D holographic renders. That said, Litiholo is currently crowdfunding the desktop 3D Hologram Printer on Kickstarter with pledges starting at $899 and up, which gets you the printer, plus a 20-pack (2 x 3") and six-pack (4x5") self-developing film plates.