Well, it does depend on what you mean by "volumetric display". You can get one of these ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgcKKgQPjuw ) for less than a 1000. But, this is not a "digital" (though digital data has gone towards making it), computerised or electronic display, except insofar as there's a led to illuminate and a motor to rotate.Thomas wrote:xcept for selfmade LED-3D cubes there is no way I can get my hands on something like a volumetric display or even a electro-holographic one.
They simply don't exist as finished, buyable products (..well for under 50'000 or 100'000$) .
Precisely! To my mind "it" is not "called" a holodome, the originators of the device are calling it a HoloDome. Perhaps, to invoke the very same association you mention.Thomas wrote:It's probably called "HoloDome" because everybody (except real holographers and researchers working on this kind of display tech) would and will call this a hologram. In the mind of most people everything which seems to be 3D and floating in air is a hologram.
And, do you suppose that the chances of it working out may be because of the association with holograms? Would it be a reasonable assumption that the interest in this device might not be the same if they'd called it a "VoxelDome", "Floating Image Device" or "3D ProjectorDome".Thomas wrote:So if their kickstarter thing works out...
Don't get me wrong, they can call it whatever they like, and the public at large can react to it in whatever manner they choose to. If this kickstarter works out, then they will have pulled off a successful mass marketing scheme, and more power to them. I've long since given up on the idea that the public at large has any ability to think analytically or indulge in any critical thinking. The kind of advertising and marketing you see nowadays and the public response to it are overwhelming evidence of this. I actually saw, would you believe it, an ad for "e-Ice Cream"! You're supposed to download ice cream now?!
My point is, no holographer seems to have picked up on the word "HoloDome'. It's only when something "holographic" goes viral in the media that the holographers respond, as if to add to the virality of it all by taking an apparently anti-viral position. The statement that the emperor has no clothes is today an attempt by people simply to draw attention to themselves - an antiviral, viralised statement. But, when something "holographic" has not hit the media in a big way, there is silence from the community. However, there are a lot more of "them" than there are of us and the emperor can afford to ignore the few that state he has no clothes, because those praising the finery of his attire far outnumber those that state his lack of attire! If someone had pointed out that he had no clothes the moment he left the castle, the message might have had a chance to be acted on.
The result of all this is to mutate, then completely change the meaning of the word "holography". By not speaking out early, I believe that the holographic community at large has abrogated it's chance to stop this change. The word will evolve and change, there's no way of stopping this evolution. Holographers can either accept the change and adapt to it or get left behind, constantly living in a netherworld of the Glorious Past 40 years ago! We will be assimilated, resistance is useless!