At the recent Autodesk University 2009, Zebra Imaging was on hand demonstrating their plastic hologram technology that can, supposedly, take any 3D model and render it as a 3D hologram onto a simple piece of plastic.  Their website gives some basic information on how they do it:

Patented advances in lasers, optics and image processing are incorporated into Zebra’s innovative process to produce holographic imagery from 3D data sets. Raw data sources of any kind, such as CAD models, laser scans and satellite imagery are used to product the final holographic image. Each hardcopy digital hologram is composed of thousands of high fidelity rendered still images. The images are encoded into a “hogel” (the equivalent of a holographic pixel) on photopolymer film with a proprietary optical process. The result is a portable film based hologram that can be viewed in direct sunlight or with a simple halogen or LED light source.

Sounds too good to be true, but the video taken from the conference floor shows amazing results.  While they are not animated, you easily see multiple viewpoints from multiple angles without the need for any special glasses.

via Zebra Imaging – Architecture, Engineering and Construction.

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