Holus Turns Any 2D Video into a 3D Hologram on your Desk

The intense detail of a high definition display is something to behold. It makes outlines crisper, and reveals minute intricacies that would otherwise be lost in a mist of pixelation. But even when viewing content in 8k, a format YouTube has just started to support, you are still just looking at a 2D image. As any sci-fi fan knows, this is no good. The solution is Holus, a tabletop hologram maker that can convert any on-screen content into a perfect three-dimensional image.

You can plug any video source into the Holus, which projects the pictures it receives onto a pyramid of tempered glass within an outer glass box. The four sides of this shape ensure that, from whichever angle you look at the Holus, the image it projects always appears to have depth. The visuals are in full HD, and games built with Unity 3D and Unreal Engine are faithfully reproduced from four different perspectives.

It should make for a captivating view, and if you use it with a tablet or phone (there is a dock on one side of the box), you can manipulate what you see in front of you.

The box can sense motion around it, too. But the Holus, which is currently seeking funds on Kickstarter, is also compatible with an impressive array of third-party sensors. These include the Xbox Kinect motion tracker, Emotiv’s brain activity monitor, and Leap Motion. With an SDK available to Kickstarter backers, more integrations seem likely.

H+, the company behind Holus, sees many possible uses for the technology, ranging from education to conference calling. I can certainly imagine how an interactive 3D solar system would make science lessons more interesting; equally, the “social campfire” which a center-of-the-table box provides could make virtual games as family-friendly as board games.

The base model Holus is still available on Kickstarter for the early-bird price of $550, while the eventual retail price will be $850. You can find out more about the project over on Kickstarter.