Microsoft demonstrates Star Wars-like 3D holograms using HoloLens

Microsoft’s augmented reality glasses HoloLens have been shown projecting full-scale holograms into 3D space.

Demonstrating the ‘Holoportation’ technology in a new video, Microsoft Research’s principle research manager Shahram Izadi is shown interacting with projections of his colleague and daughter.

While the person being projected can only see the other individual if they are also wearing a HoloLens, other objects in the scene – such as Izadi’s daughter Lilly’s toys and a stool – are also shown to appear in each person’s vision.

This is achieved through the use of several 3D cameras, which capture and composite the multiple people and elements in real-time within the HoloLen’s augmented reality field of vision with a fair level of fidelity.

“Imagine being able to teleport to any place, with anyone, at any time,” explains Izadi. “That’s what holoportation is all about.”

Izadi is also shown playing back his interactions in 3D, which he describes as being like "a living memory". 

In layman’s terms, in practice it’s not far off the holograms you might have seen in sci-fi classics such as Star Wars and Star Trek.

Take a look at the tech in action below.