A holoprinter is a holographic printing device that can print out full colour digital holograms from a rendered 3D model or a video series. The machine can cost up to half a million dollars and is about the size of a small room. It uses red, green and blue lasers to write a series of dots or holopixels across a holographic medium. The holopixel contains information about the whole image from its own unique perspective. The information for each holopixel is computed from a series of rendered images generated via computer graphics. The holographic medium is typically a polymer film. The film may require development after exposure. It is then laminated on to a hard plastic backing. Printing a digital hologram can take several hours as each holopixel dot has to be written individually in three colours, where the colours overlap within the medium. The size of a holopixel is typically around a square millimeter.
There are only a few digital holoprinter manufacturers in the world, including Geola (Lithuania) and Zebra Imaging (US). Other companies active in the field include View Holographics (UK).
