The Selfie takes on a new 3D look

3D printing has generally been restricted to a 3D printer, until now

Holograms are generally used to authenticate products or currency notes and need very expensive printers to produce them. That’s what makes bank notes and other security labels so hard to copy and counterfeit.

But a team of researchers from MIT, who have launched a company called Lumii technology, have developed a technique to produce ‘hologram selfies’, i.e. an image with a 3D effect.

Usually 3D images are create using a ‘lenticular lens’ which, in reality only produces a 2D effect, this new technique uses true 3D parallax movement, visible in all directions without the need for finding the right ‘eye line’ to really see the effect.

The holographic image capture uses an inkjet printer and printer ink to print images which are then layered on top of each other to produce a 3D hologram.

The company describes their innovative invention as “light field hologram selfies". But creating selfies is not the aim of the company; Lumii believes it’s cheaper approach to making holograms would greatly benefit advertisers. A backlight is required to create the 3D effect but since most advertising found in shopping centres, airports and train stations uses a lightbox, Lumii believes it has a ‘foot in the door’ when it comes to cheap 3D adverts. When it looks like the ads are jumping off the walls right at you, you would definitely give them your attention.