• not to mention the cost. these are students, after all, even mit students don't usually have unlimited funds for their science projects. i think this is a very exciting step. i'm interested to know more details about how they're projecting the hologram, and if they're using some kind of medium like previous vapor holograms.

• You should definitely hire a professional scientist to write articles like this next time

• Is this even a proper hologram? The experiment is only recording a single camera source plus depth. The depth information is only recorded from one viewpoint, which means reconstruction of obscured areas is impossible. If you want to see impressive virtual reality usage of the Kinect, I recommend okreylos's channel on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/okreylos He uses multiple Kinects in concert to provide better fidelity. There's a demo of headtracking combined with 3D videoconferencing (via a 3DTV) which seems far superior to the above 'hologram' method.

• Actually, watching it again, strike that she appears nervous. She is very confident, and knows what movements she is making to perform the test. The girl knows what she's doing, so don't insult her!!! WORD! :D

• Wow, first of all it MIGHT shock you all to know that not EVRY1 that has seen and enjoyed that movie is a nerd, or has memorized every word or tonal differentiation of that scene. Second, she is speaking ENGLISH and rehearsing lines from the movie, although not very enthusiastically, and she seems nervous. Third, the test is NOT about the girl acting like princess Leia, the test is about the accuracy of the hologram as she speaks and moves. I could tell clearly myself that, although she may have been dressed the part as this technology is meant to be compared to what they showed in the movie, they really didn't care if she could "Play the part." That wasn't really the priority, it was mostly in jest. She may have well been a grad student or part of the research in another way. So get over yourselves, you dorks!

• My guess is that the reasoning went "That girl has no idea what she's doing. Anyone, Primary Investigator or grad student, involved with a project like this has to have seen Star Wars. Moreover, grad students in general working on these kinds of projects are likely to be nerds, and no nerd hasn't seen Star Wars. So, either she's a hired actress (unlikely, given the delivery), or she's one of the grad students (yet doesn't know how that line goes? Hasn't ever heard the intonation? Unlikely), or, she somehow got roped into doing this as a bit part. Thus, someone's friend, sister, girlfriend, etc.

• Next thign you know Carrie Fisher will be found naked and babbling about vaginas in some bush with Margot Kidder. At least that would be a step up from having dead Republicans turn up in her house. Why is it every out of control Hollywood brat claims to be bipolar?

• Have you seen Carrie Fisher lately? She's at least 60 and weighs about two hundred pounds. The woman has not aged well at all. No thanks.

• teriible lol

• Yeah, like, CARRIE FISHER would have been an interesting choice for someone to be in this hologram...

• Speaking to an industry professional the other day I asked about the future of 3-D (I can't watch 3-D films, they cause me genuine pain) and he thinks that in about 20 years 3-D is going to be leapfrogged by holograms...

• No offense, but jojoDancer is right. The girl doing this was less then enthusiastic and with this sort of thing, you should deliver the line with more spirit. As to the image, yes, blue would have been more true to form. Basically, before you launch this, scientists really need to have mandatory business marketing classes as part of their learning process. This way, Scientist A could have looked at Scientist B and said "Wait, Scientist A, let's get a girl from the drama dept and let's hold off until we get it in blue so we don't look like idiots" to which Scientist B could have said "I am sooooo glad you took Marketing 1480, Scientist A, I almost made us look like clowns!"

• Please don't thrash the brilliant people for sharing something they're pumped about. Makes me happy stumble upon a surprise like this and imagine how we may all enjoy it a few years out.

• David, I think most of us did NOT assume she was a GF but grad student. the thing is, if u are going to release to the general public something that many of us SW geeks have been breathlessly anticipating for 35 YEARS to be "real", "real looking", or whatever it takes for you brilliant (no sarcasm intended at ALL) scientists to come up with, it is indeed a little disappointing to watch the video & see 1). a grad student less than enthusiastically delivering what some consider to be the most iconic words in at least sci/fi film ever and 2). that the resulting jumble of red lines, not shown on say, a table surface or the SW table-oriented "projector", but on God knows what... as one commenter pointed out, likely a screen, making this a "holograph" (or facsimile thereof) as has been seen already countless times on screens, in water, on Pirates of The Carribean ride makes this rather underwhelming, again, to us nerds without the talent & no time spent killing themselves to get what u got. i personally DO NOT wish to defeat your spirit, as clearly you are on the right track, but if you're going to toss this onto the internet at random my only advice next time would be.... make it the one you've finally perfected... the one that will have even the jerks herein say, "OMG! they've really done it! WOW!". Maybe by that time u could even convince Ms. Fisher to come deliver the lines herself, or at least an actress. Good luck 2 you, and keep working!

• Can't anyone simply comment on the technology without tearing apart the creators/participants? Geez, anonymity sure does bring out the jerk in people.

• she's a grad student in our group, not a girlfriend. you guys are jerks.

• It reminds me of the Virtual Boy. You can look at the picture for about 10 minutes before your eyes start to burn out of their socket.

• That was really shitty. I think they need to talk to Japan, they already have one that puts on concerts....

• Autostereoscopy will never provide motion parallax, and according to Walter Murch (via Roger Ebert's blog http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/2011/01/post_4.html ) will never overcome the brain dissonance caused by our vision converging and focusing at different distances. So help me holograms, you're our only hope!

• I love that the phrase "for authenticity's sake" entered into this discussion. Something in my brain's metatextual analysis center jammed hard and it's giving me a very pleasant spinning sensation. This must be what Christopher Hitchens feels when he hears someone debate what color Jesus' halo was. Or actually, all the time, I guess.

• Whats R2D2 sound like in swahli?

• Have to totally agree! i remember when virtual reality headsets first came out. They were pixelish, and slow, but man were they cool, and look at them now. So yeah, give it a few years, and we will no doubt get holographic porn... *shudders*

• I thought this technology was perfected by SEGA's 1991 arcade "hit", "Time Traveler".

• 'In your sleep' is a far different thing than 'on camera' (trust me, I've tried to elide the difference...)

• Well crap. The fact that James Barabas here is posting on TR means that I can't complain about Leia being accurate to the point where she's going commando. Or gaffer's tape, specifically. Truth be told, I really enjoyed the video and think this is awesome, no matter what the naysayers, um, say. From the technical bits to the Leia bits, my day was a bit better after seeing this tech. Thanks for sharing. Lastly, thanks for the external links. Should be good reads.

• but then you'd be putting your 14 YO niece in front of the wolves to be ripped to shreds by the masses. Not unlike Xeno Lovegood putting pics of Luna in the Quibbler Page 3. Just eew.

• Yes, :) our holograms are a bit hard to photograph. Here are some other samples that may give a better sense of what the display can do. http://barabas.scripts.mit.edu/holovideo/ We would love to do blue instead of red, but blue lasers with the power we need aren't cheap. We've tried the blu-ray color, but it is just too hard to focus your eyes on it. Also, the display can have the widest viewing angle with red. And 8-Bit Zombi, one big reason for working on holograms is that they can overcome the focus/accommodation conflicts that stereo movies suffer from (see http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/2011/01/post_4.html).

• That's not actually a hologram, though; it's an animated holo<i>graph</i> projected onto a clear screen. Still impressive, but hardly comparable.

• She could send postcards. Sorry, too easy.

• Right. This is not good. I'm very sure the technology is here and almost anybody could do this better!!! By the way, have you seen the iPhone App for the Norwegian Troll movie, the Troll Hunter? It's here: http://veevr.com/videos/RwqK09nnf Wouldn't that be cool if it was Leia?

• science can do a very poor princess... sure... japan can do awesome. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZVwF6tyHBc

• I agree with Rob. I couldn't even finish the video because she seemed so put out with having to do it. It's one of the most iconic lines in the movies...

• With all the developments in autostereoscopic 3d displays being made these days, why the hell is anyone still interested in holography? Until there is advancement in the ability to project shadows into holograms I could care less, even the worlds top holographic projectors produce horribly washed out images...

• LOL.... :-)

• Has anybody told Carrie Fisher about this? It could either be cathartic for her or send her further over the edge. Wishful Drinking II: The Hologram Clone Binge.

• Help me Obi-Wan, from my stilted acting and poor line...delivery.

• Do you really think I doubt the existence of female science grad students? My assumption that she might be the girlfriend is because of her horrible, awkward delivery of a line any true nerd girl could say in her sleep.

• Wtf...that just looked like a bunch of lines to me. And my 14 year old niece could have done a better job than that chick.

• Exactly what I was going to say! You know, sometimes us women folks go and do something wacky like enroll in graduate school. And heck, every once in awhile, we even have a thesis that isn't about shoes!

• I'm working on it.

• One of the dialects,sounds like Spanish,mainland South America,maybe Argentine.

• Just think, every major breakthrough in this technology will be demonstrated with a Star Wars reenactment. I can't wait till we get to the Imperial Soldier that Vader chokes to death through the hologram.

• Ah, Mike beat me to it.

• "Furthermore, would it have been so hard to make the hologram blue in instead of red?" Quite possibly, yes. I can't find the exact details on the hologram projector, as it seems to have been built by the team, but it's possible that blue light would not have the correct wavelength to project the image. The acting aside, they've made great improvements in just a few months. So cut the scientists some slack!

• Blue lasers are hella expensive in comparison to red right now, and maybe with the shorter wavelength it wouldn't have worked right. Agreed on the disappointing quality of both the final product AND the "talent" in the hologram though...

• "I gave my grad student extra credit to make his non-nerd girlfriend dress up like Leia" I assumed *she* was the grad student.

• I doubt Obi-Won could have made heads or tails of that.

• Is she speaking English?

• Congratulations Rob, you are still a huge nerd. Also I think I might write a letter to Oprah.

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