It may not be a hologram, but it’s as close as you can get. Leia Display System, created by an innovative Polish company, lets you project images into thin air with outstanding quality. Images are interactive – you can walk through them, or control them with gestures resembling the ones from science fiction movies.
According to the company founders, Leia Display System is the next step in the evolution of video screens. Motion sensors read your gestures, allowing you to interact with the screen and, for example, rotate the displayed object, collect scattered pieces, or even “quarrel” with a holographic character. For instance, a person passing through the screen can appear to go ablaze with virtual fire.
The system is not completely new from the technological perspective; there are other similar solutions available on the market, but none of them presents such a high quality and resolution of the images. All of their competitors use thick, turbulent smoke as the screen, but its constant motion doesn’t allow for projecting complex images. Leia Display System uses a barely visible mist to create a stable screen that can accommodate images requiring high resolution, such as small-font text.
The main product, LDS X-300, is a screen 3 meters wide and 2.5 meters high. The mist generator is placed on the top of the screen, what allows you to pass through it without the risk of tripping on some electronic devices. The screens can be combined, creating large surfaces – for example, multimedia corridors.
Currently, the Leia Display System team is busy with a new type of device. K-42 looks a lot like a museum display case but has an inbuilt mist screen that allows projecting an image directly onto the exhibit. Thanks to the motion sensors, the image can be rotated or manipulated in any way necessary.
Leia Display System has two founders. Daniel Skutela has spent 10 years in the event market, creating and operating special effects during large-scale events. One day, while operating a fog machine, he noticed that combining it with a laser causes an image to appear. Intrigued by this effect, he built the first prototype out of cardboard and straws. Shortly after, he joined his forces with Marcin Panek, a software developer, to work further on this idea.
The company both sells and rents their devices, with the latter mode being much more popular. Every week, their screens are used during events, conferences, presentations or exhibitions. One of the last events they visited were fairs in Seoul, where over four thousand participants had the opportunity to interact with the LDS X-300 screen.
Watch the Leia Display Systems promo below:
