Can holographic projections change your appearance?

AI Thread Summary
Holographic projections could theoretically be used to alter one's appearance, but significant challenges exist. Holograms are transparent, meaning they require a non-visible background to effectively project an image without interference. Achieving this would necessitate a powerful handheld holographic projector and potentially a person dressed in black to obscure the background. However, creating realistic holograms involves complex technology, including high computational power and expensive equipment, making it a major undertaking likely only feasible for large organizations or government projects. Current developments in military technology include coats that blend with surroundings, but these do not utilize projection; instead, they rely on cameras and screens to create the effect. Overall, while the concept is intriguing, practical implementation faces numerous obstacles and high costs.
dreamingofouterspace
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Would it be possible to use holographic projections to make you look like something else? I mean, for example, could you project an image onto your body (With like a hand-held projector) to make you look like a different thing?
 
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I reckon you'd have to be coated in or wearing something that would bend light around your body so it looked like there was nothing there to start with before you could project anything else on to it...

hmmm... what are the implications for a universe that bends light around so it looks like there is nothing there and then projecting holograms on to it in glorious 4d technicolour using the patented black hole system ?

I dunno...eh ?
 
So how could I do this? What could I wear that would bend light around my body? lol could this stuff that I wear to bend light around me be waterproof? How could I get a hand-held projector to project what I want projected on me? How realistic could this holgoraphic projection look?
 
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Unlikely!

The basic answer to your original question is "No!" This is because holograms are essentially transparent, that is, light coming from anything behind them will pass right through (remember, there's nothing there to stop it). You'd have two images in the same space. Thus to use a hologram in the manner you suggest you'd have to make everything behind it essentially non-visible (I don't use the word invisible). "Black" would probably be the best approach, but that would probably pertain to the entire background, unless you had a hologram that could follow the body exactly. Also the light from the hologram would have to be much brighter than the items that it superimposes.

With all this, I'd have to ask "What's the point"? How would you even create such a hologram?

KM
 
Well if I wanted to look like how I wanted to look via hologram...could I do that if I always had someone behind me (Exactly behind me. Covering the entire space directly behind me) wearing all black? (Well if they were shorter me theyd only have to wear black clothes I guess) then? Could I look the way I wanted to look (Via hologram) if I always had someone behind me (covering the entire space behind me) wearing black?

The hologram would have to be (I guess) created and maintained with a powerful hand-held holographic projector. Could it be created and maintained via a powerful hand held holographic projector?

the point would be to create a realistic looking hologram so you could look like whatever you wanted
 
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I'm not sure I read you correctly, but if so, it sounds as if you'd need someone in front of you. Otherwise your image would interfere with the projection. (It would be simpler if you were covered with black. Then the second person could be left out.) The projection would then have to come from in front of you (or him). It all just sounds too complicated to make it work.

KM
 
oh well I was going to say I could just wear all black, including like a black face mask and stuff lol
(to get this to work)
and then I could just use like a handheld holographic projector to get this to work right?
(I could get someone else to use the handheld holographic projector to project the image onto me...)
Does anyone know where I could get the type of handheld holographic projector Id need/want to do this with?
(I really do what the hologram to look realistic)
 
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Does anyone know where I could get the type of handheld holographic projector Id need/want to do this with?
 
dreamingofouterspace said:
Does anyone know where I could get the type of handheld holographic projector Id need/want to do this with?
ace hardware :smile:
 
  • #10
I think that what I and the others have been trying to say to you is - - that this is a major undertaking (like designing and building a building or airliner). If you are a large company or a government, given ample time money and personnel, you can probably do what you want to do, but if you have fewer resources available, I'd suggest that you forget it. There are too many obstacles to overcome. I see no reason that it cannot be done, but the cost will be high (millions?). Also, why would you waste the effort for some trivial aim? If you can get what you are apparently looking for, you could just as easily use that effort to design a system for someone like the movie industry. (They'd pay multiples of millions for such a capability.) Thus I say, "forget the trivial stuff and devote your effort to something that might be well worth the gamble".

As an example, where are you going to get your hologram in the first place? Is it a full spectrum color image? It will not be cheap or easy to produce a quality full-color image set. Will it have full motion? How will you sync it to the subject? If it is to be computer generated, it will take enormous compute power (supercomputer?). Can you pay large amounts (millions?) for large and complex projection equipment? Are you really up for that much effort and expense? If so, I'd suggest that you use the effort for something with payback potential (like movie capability).

KM
 
  • #11
invisible coat

dreamingofouterspace said:
So how could I do this? What could I wear that would bend light around my body? lol could this stuff that I wear to bend light around me be waterproof? How could I get a hand-held projector to project what I want projected on me? How realistic could this holgoraphic projection look?
The Military is working on a coat that will blend your body in with your surroundings. check out the link http://www.popsci.com/popsci/fyi/article/0,20967,712866,00.html

and i also read in popsci but can't find the link that Japan has developed a coat that is like 30% opaque

http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/02/07/japan.invisible.ap/
here is an article on cnn.com about the Japanese coat
 
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  • #12
Ya, but that isn't done by projection. It's done by having a lot of small cameras on one side of you that transmit the images they see to a lot of tiny screens on your other side.
 

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