Frequently Asked Questions

HoloPath accepts static images (JPG, PNG, WebP, BMP), animated GIFs, and video files (MP4, WebM, MOV, M4V, OGG). All files must be under 15 MB. Video is sampled at 10 frames per second up to 900 frames, so a clip of up to 90 seconds keeps its real speed. A longer clip has its 900 frames spread across the whole video, so it plays back faster. Which video formats open depends on your browser; MP4 and WebM have the widest support.

Yes, completely free. No account, no sign-up, no watermarks, no limits on downloads. The holograms you make, GIF or video, are yours to use however you like, including commercially.

No. All processing happens entirely in your browser using client-side JavaScript. Your files are never uploaded to any server. They are read locally, processed in your browser's memory, and the hologram file is created on your device. See our Privacy Policy for full details.

A hologram pyramid is a transparent four-sided pyramid (usually plastic or glass) placed point-down on a flat screen. The screen shows the same image in four orientations — top, bottom, left, right — each one reflected by a face of the pyramid toward the centre, creating the illusion of a 3D object floating inside. This is technically a Pepper's Ghost effect applied in four directions simultaneously.

You need four identical trapezoids of clear, flat plastic; old CD jewel cases work well. For a phone about 65 mm across its short side, each panel has a 62 mm bottom edge, a 7 mm top edge and a height of 38.9 mm, which gives 45° faces sized to HoloPath's layout. Tape the four together, stand the pyramid on its narrow end at the centre of the screen, play a "Pyramid 360°" hologram full screen, and dim the room. The DIY pyramid guide has sizes for other screens and the formula behind them.

A hologram fan (also called a POV or persistence-of-vision display) is a device with LED-equipped blades that spin at high speed. Because the LEDs change colour faster than your eye can track, you see a floating image instead of the spinning blades. Content needs to be circular, centred on a black background — which is exactly what HoloPath's "Hologram Fan" layout produces. Fans differ in what they accept: some read MP4 or GIF files from a memory card, others only take files through their own app, so check the manual.

Pepper's Ghost is an optical illusion from the 1800s that's still widely used today. A piece of glass or clear acrylic is angled at 45° between the viewer and a hidden screen. The screen shows a bright image on a black background, which the glass reflects toward the viewer — making it appear to float in mid-air. HoloPath's "Pepper's Ghost" layout sets the hologram low on a 16:9 black canvas and mirrors it, because a single reflection swaps left and right.

Pyramid 360° places four copies of the hologram (top, bottom, left, right) for 4-sided pyramids — viewable from all angles. Pyramid 270° places three copies for 3-sided showcase displays common in retail and museum settings, where the back is against a wall and you view from three sides.

A GIF plays and loops on almost any device without a video player, which suits a pyramid on a phone. It is limited to 256 colours and comes out large: a test hologram at default settings was 8.3 MB. The video option records MP4 where your browser supports it, and WebM otherwise. It keeps smooth colour and is far smaller (0.12 MB for the same test), but it records in real time and does not loop by itself, so set your player to repeat. GIF vs video covers which to use for each display.

Resolution sets the size HoloPath processes your subject at, and the layout canvas is twice that, up to 800 px. From 400 up the canvas is already 800 px, so a higher setting only adds detail where a layout shows the subject large: the Hologram Fan draws it up to 600 px across, so 640 or 800 helps there. Pyramid copies are at most 331 px across and the Pepper's Ghost subject is about 248 px tall, so 400 or 512 is plenty for those. HoloPath never enlarges your source, and higher settings take longer and make bigger files.

Classic: cyan, with moderate scan lines, glow, a grid and chromatic aberration. Cyberpunk: magenta, with heavy glitch, strong scan lines and chromatic aberration. Ghost: blue, with edge detection, heavy flicker and no grid. Glitch: near-maximum glitch and strong noise, with the colour cycling through the rainbow. Matrix: green, with sharp scan lines and a grid. Every preset is a starting point; each setting can be changed afterwards.

Each frame goes through a 13-stage rendering pipeline (edge detection, hue colorisation, scan lines, glow, glitch, noise, chromatic aberration, etc.), then gets composed into the chosen layout — all running in your browser using JavaScript and Canvas 2D. A 10-second video at 10fps produces 100 frames, each requiring full pipeline processing. Lower resolution and fewer frames will speed things up. Performance depends on your device's CPU capabilities.