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The Future of Holograms
D3 writes "A Slate article talks about the failure of holograms to really catch on and the future of using computers to create true holographic video ala Princess Leia. The article covers some history such as the fact that holograms have been around since 1947. Lots of great geek-pop references as well."
I guarantee if you can duplicate R2's projector, they will catch on.
The problem is, that's hard to accomplish. I would really love to see the same thing (i.e., a real holographic projector, just like in Sci-fi), but the problem is this: how do you tell the light when to stop?
If you'll remember, R2's style actually projected the image in mid-air. So in order for a viewer to see that image, it meant that the light from the projector had to be sent to the viewer's eyes. Now a normal stream of photons from a projector would hit the floor, then bounce every which way. But no, what happened with the projector is that the photon stream somehow STOPPED in midair and then started radiating everywhich way so that your eye could see it. Not only that, but the light from the OTHER side of the image (relative to the viewer) somehow didn't interfere with the light on this side (or else you could see, for example, both sides of her face at once).
Now as soon as you can figure out how to make THAT happen (not counting cheating by using fog or spinning mirrors), then you've got something.