Aether is the brainchild of Light Field Lab, a California-based display technology company focused on creating colorful 3D holograms. In 2021 Light Field Lab unveiled SolidLight, a system that manipulates light to create colorful holograms that match a computer image’s movement in real-time. Now, with $50 million in Series B funding it announced Wednesday, Light Field Lab is testing out even bigger things: imaginary characters that move in accordance with backstage human models.
SolidLight relies on a 28-inch modular display that contains 2.5 billion pixels. (For context, your 4K computer monitor has 8.2 million pixels.) This display is responsible for projecting waves of photons that scatter at a specific point, making it appear as though a 3D object is hovering in front of the viewer. This image can be seen from a 100-degree viewing angle at 200 nits. In both Aether’s case and that of the original SolidLight chameleon, the display panel sits about two feet back from where the hologram appears.
The SolidLight chameleon demo, which debuted in 2021 along with the tech itself, is a rendered CG image. (Light Field Lab says its system works with Unreal, Unity, and Maya, among other 3D engines.) Aether, however, combines this method with motion-capture technology, which translates a hidden human’s speech and movements into real-time activity on the hologram’s end.
(Image: Light Field Lab)
Although Aether is an exciting demonstration of SolidLight’s capabilities, Light Field Lab has bigger aspirations for the technology. It envisions entire walls of SolidLight Surface displays, which would work together to create full-body holograms perfect for theme parks, mall advertisements, and museum exhibits. The company’s illustrative vision video even depicts a conference call in which people from separate locations talk business and ponder a holographic product mockup.
Light Field Lab isn’t the only company pushing out hologram tech. Last fall Google showed off Project Starline, a 3D “telepresence” platform that makes virtual face-to-face interactions so indistinguishable from real life that it’s made some long-distance families cry. A few months before, NASA “holoported” a surgeon onto the International Space Station. Though that was solely a proof-of-concept, NASA hopes to use its holoportation technology to conduct trainings, family conferences, and other events with astronauts from down on Earth. We might see a transformation in how we conduct long-distance visits within this decade.
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