Tom's Guide Editor Creates 3D Phone Hologram Illusion in 5 Minutes
Updated
Updated · Tom's Guide · Jun 13
Tom's Guide Editor Creates 3D Phone Hologram Illusion in 5 Minutes
1 articles · Updated · Tom's Guide · Jun 13
Summary
A Tom's Guide editor said a viral smartphone “hologram” hack worked in real life, producing a convincing floating 3D-style image in about five minutes.
The setup used a phone, a square or rectangular glass dish, clear plastic film, tape and scissors, with the plastic bent to roughly a 45-degree angle inside the dish.
That angle is critical because light from the phone reflects off the clear plastic toward the viewer while the background remains visible, making the image appear suspended in mid-air.
The effect works best with a bright phone screen, full-screen 3D hologram videos and a dark room, though the result is an optical illusion rather than a true hologram.
The trick relies on the same reflection principle behind 19th-century stage illusions and some modern concert projections, scaled down to household materials.