This cardboard gadget lets your phone produce holograms

When I was young and I pictured the year 2016, I imagined a world of flying cars, teleportation, and holograms. Reality has proved profoundly disappointing. But there is some good news. We might not be getting this kind of hologram anytime soon, but holograms are a thing. And a Hong Kong-based startup called Project Holo wants to help you enjoy them quite affordably.

Project Holo is the maker of the Holo Cardboard, a smartphone-driven cardboard holographic display that you can use to “animate” small objects like toys or jewelry for display purposes. The device combines a cardboard box (which forms the backdrop and holds your smartphone) and a transparent three-sided pyramid, using your existing smartphone to create a holographic effect. It’s currently in the middle of a crowdfunding campaign. Here’s the video pitch so you can see the thing in action:

The device will work with most smartphones sporting screens between 4 and 5.5 inches. And you won’t need to install any new apps. The holographic effects are created using regular video, so you can just visit Project Holo’s Youtube page to play premade effect videos (although none are up there at the moment).

Right now, you can still get the early bird pricing on a Holo Cardboard, which is US$22. Not bad for a slice of the future (albeit a small one).

I asked the team behind Holo how they came up with the idea, and didn’t get a straight answer. Project Holo’s Felix Cheung said the idea has been around for a year, with the team having been seriously working on it for the past six months. Wherever the idea came from originally, it’s clear that these people are passionate about holograms, and interested in making this tech more accessible to everyday folks.

For the moment, Project Holo seems to be focused on partnering with toy companies to create cool displays for toy cars and Dragonball characters. “People are usually able to […] imagine the amazing effects on anime figures and toy cars […] easily,” Felix told Tech in Asia. The toys make the Holo Cardboard easier to explain. “However, the use of Holo Cardboard is very wide ranged and thus not limited to toys,” he said.

One of the most interesting promised features in the Kickstarter is the ability for users to create custom effects. But Felix told me that even creating simple effects would probably require some video editing software like Premiere Pro and After Effects. “For complicated customized effects, 3D modeling, Cinema 4D, as well as 3ds Max might be required,” he said.

As of this writing, Holo Cardboard’s funding is not a sure thing; there are a few thousand dollars between the company and its goal. That matters, because the polymer plastic in the pyramid needs to be precisely cut with lasers, and the factories with lasers require minimum orders. If the project doesn’t get funded, Felix said, the team would make changes based on backers’ comments and try to release an improved version of the product.