Zebra Imaging Inc., Austin, Texas, produces 2x2-ft tiles burned with holograms generated from any 3-D data source. They leap into three dimensions when illuminated by any point-source light, such as the sun or a halogen lamp. Zebra has received $10.1 million from Menlo Park, Calif.-based Sierra Ventures, with other participants, and $2 million from the Advanced Technology Program of the National Institute for Standards and Technology. The money is for refining production techniques to reduce price and speed delivery.
Instead of painting objects with laser beams and capturing interference patterns to generate holograms, Zebra computes the patterns with software from 3-D data. Anything with 3-D coordinates, says Michael Klug, chief technology officer and co-founder. Myriad perspectives are computed and encoded onto film using a proprietary recording system. Were still using laser light, only now we dont need the object, says Klug.