A staple of Star Wars movies, the technology behind holograms has always captured the average Joe’s fascination. Our means of communicating with distant denizens has evolved from the mail system, to radio lashups, to phone calls, to various VOIPs and then to video calling. But now Microsoft has shown us that the possibility of communicating with a hologram of a person may be available to everyone in the space of time far shorter than the one between the pigeon carrier and morse code.
Dubbed Holoporation the technology giant is developing technology that can transmit 3D models of people (and animals and toys) anywhere in the world; but the catch is you need Microsoft HoloLens to be able to view the hologram renditions. According to the Microsoft Research website, when the technology is combined with an augmented reality display, users will be able to see, hear and interact with distant loved ones and friends, though you could use them to send a scathing act to your enemy. The person on the receiving end will be able to view you as if you shared the same physical space.
“Communicating and interacting with remote users becomes as natural as face-to-face communication.”
The technology works by having 3D cameras capture the image or body of a person in the designated space and then transform that image into a temporally consistent model, which can then be composited and reconstructed by another person’s hololens, after being textured and compressed.
Source: Microsoft
