A PRINTER WITH THREE-DIMENSIONAL PRINTOUTS

    Holograms: anyone who sees them becomes immediately fascinated. In a few words, a hologram is a three-dimensional image on photographic material. Dutch Holographic Laboratory (DHL), an Eindhoven firm, has been perfecting this process for more than twelve years now and has developed a large number of new applications for the hologram.

    But DHL's latest invention is truly unique: the holoprinter. The holoprinter is comparable to a normal printer, but with one important difference: while the printout itself is of course two-dimensional, it can be viewed in three dimensions. With a simple push on the button, the holoprinter can produce a three-dimensional image of a two-dimensional computer designin fifteen to twelve minutes.

The hologram has thus been promoted from a handy presentation tool into the best manner of obtaining rapid feedback during the design process. For designs can only be judged in their full three-dimensional glory. "Rapid Prototyping" saves money and reduces the time to market. With this new invention, DHL has become a world leader in this field, attracting tremendous interest from various areas including the automotive industry and the medical community.