From Starline to Beam: what can you actually buy?
The 2025 launch created a platform and an enterprise product—not a universal replacement for every meeting room.
2025 retrospective · 3 min
Read the field guide ↗THE READING ROOM
A better question
for every display.
Mechanisms, buying decisions and the work around the image. Explore recent developments alongside the fundamentals.
Year refers to the subject or explicitly dated current-practice review—not when this website published. All new research was prepared in September 2026.
Looking Glass HLD changes the content brief
The September2025 announcement shifted the question from rendering many views to staging video inside a fixed optical environment.
2025 retrospective · 3 min
Read the field guide ↗A shop window is part of the display
The2025 tm:rw installation shows why a floating product image needs a street, a sightline and an operating plan.
2025 retrospective · 3 min
Read the field guide ↗Credit & reuse status
Looking Glass Go product visual — Looking Glass Factory; individual creator not specified. No reuse license or production permission established; owner review pending. Resized / WebP conversion; full frame retained. REFERENCE ONLY — NOT CLEARED FOR PRODUCTION.
A small light field for the desk
Looking Glass Go is a useful entry point into spatial images—as long as the content and viewing limits stay in the picture.
Read the field noteCredit & reuse status
Original Project Starline booth — Google; individual photographer not specified. No open reuse permission established; owner review pending. Resized / WebP conversion; full frame retained. REFERENCE ONLY — NOT CLEARED FOR PRODUCTION.
Before the product, there was a booth
Google’s 2021 Starline prototype treated the entire conversation as a display problem.
Read the field noteCredit & reuse status
inFORM dynamic shape display — Tangible Media Group / MIT Media Lab; photo/video support credited to Basheer Tome and Jifei Ou. CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 on source gallery; commercial/public use requires review. No crop or artwork alteration. Terms. Resized / WebP conversion; full frame retained. REFERENCE ONLY — NOT CLEARED FOR PRODUCTION.
inFORM: when the display really moved
MIT’s 2013 shape display asks what presence could mean when the image pushes back.
Read the field noteCredit & reuse status
BYU optical-trap butterfly demonstration — Nate Edwards / BYU Photo. Conditional editorial reuse terms; eligibility and intended use require owner review. Terms. Resized / WebP conversion; full frame retained. REFERENCE ONLY — NOT CLEARED FOR PRODUCTION.
A butterfly drawn with one moving particle
BYU’s 2018 optical-trap work made a tiny luminous volume—not a room-sized apparition.
Read the field noteCredit & reuse status
Multimodal Acoustic Trap Display butterfly — University of Sussex / MATD research team; individual photographer not specified. No open reuse permission established; owner review pending. Resized / WebP conversion; full frame retained. REFERENCE ONLY — NOT CLEARED FOR PRODUCTION.
One particle, three kinds of output
Sussex’s 2019 acoustic-trap prototype connected a visible trace with sound and touch.
Read the field noteCredit & reuse status
Space Nap quilt example — Jane Guan, Space Nap; tutorial published by Looking Glass. Third-party artwork within vendor documentation; permission from relevant rights holders not established. Resized / WebP conversion; full frame retained. REFERENCE ONLY — NOT CLEARED FOR PRODUCTION.
Why your light-field file looks like a contact sheet
A real quilt image explains why a 3D display needs more than a beautiful single render.
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Kantan Mapper interface screenshot — Derivative documentation; individual screenshot author not specified. Screenshot reuse permission not established; owner review pending. Resized / WebP conversion; full frame retained. REFERENCE ONLY — NOT CLEARED FOR PRODUCTION.
The image ends where the calibration begins
A real Kantan Mapper screenshot shows the ordinary alignment work behind extraordinary projections.
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When the image occupies a volume
What a swept-volume display gives you—and what a small cylinder cannot do.
Read the field noteCredit & reuse status
Looking Glass 27-inch portrait display — Looking Glass; individual image author not specified. No open reuse permission established; owner review pending. Resized / WebP conversion; full frame retained. REFERENCE ONLY — NOT CLEARED FOR PRODUCTION.
A panel with more than one point of view
Light-field and tracked-viewer displays solve different audience problems.
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The stage trick that keeps finding a new audience
An 1865 illustration makes the geometry behind Pepper’s Ghost unusually clear.
Read the field noteCredit & reuse status
Hologauze stage projection example — Holotronica; individual photographer not specified. No open reuse permission established; owner review pending. Resized / WebP conversion; full frame retained. REFERENCE ONLY — NOT CLEARED FOR PRODUCTION.
Foil, gauze and mapped surfaces are different briefs
Choose the surface and the light path before choosing the playback software.
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SmartV Wall retail demonstration frame — HYPERVSN / Kino-mo; individual photographer not specified. No open reuse permission established; owner review pending. Resized / WebP conversion; full frame retained. REFERENCE ONLY — NOT CLEARED FOR PRODUCTION.
Buying a “hologram fan”: start behind the image
A practical way to compare an Alibaba listing with a supported installation.
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Holobox cabinet product visual — Holoconnects; individual image author not specified. No open reuse permission established; owner review pending. Resized / WebP conversion; full frame retained. REFERENCE ONLY — NOT CLEARED FOR PRODUCTION.
The person in the box is only half the system
Why capture, return audio and the operator matter as much as the display.
Read the field noteCredit & reuse status
Space Nap quilt example — Jane Guan, Space Nap; tutorial published by Looking Glass. Third-party artwork within vendor documentation; permission from relevant rights holders not established. Resized / WebP conversion; full frame retained. REFERENCE ONLY — NOT CLEARED FOR PRODUCTION.
Build for the output you actually have
A short production map from a rendered loop to an interactive volume.
Read the field noteThe display price is the first line of the budget
A reusable way to separate equipment, creative work and operating costs.
Read the field noteBefore the spectacle: holography’s wavefront problem
The 1948 and 1962 papers explain why the technical meaning still matters.
Read the field noteTwo famous “holograms,” two different experiences
CNN’s broadcast effect and Tupac’s stage appearance are a lesson in audience viewpoint.
Read the field noteABBA Voyage: presence is a whole production
What a purpose-built digital concert can teach a smaller installation.
Read the field noteWhat “real-time holography” meant in a 2021 paper
A computational advance should be read with its experimental boundaries intact.
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A fog screen makes the air do some of the work
The image has a medium, even when the surface looks almost absent.
Read the field noteWhen holography became a window onto the street
MIT Museum’s 2008 exhibition put display holography in a public-art setting.
Read the field noteA hologram, an illusion, or a display?
The original guide to the families of light.
Read the field noteBring the room to the demo.
Make the venue, audience and operator part of an evaluation.
Read the field noteNo matching guides. Clear the filters or try a broader question.