Perhaps one of the most memorable festival gigs in recent times, Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg concluded the first weekend of the Coachella 2012 festival. But the highlight was the holographic animated Tupac. A ghost like figure that appeared to be so real, you could even see the ripple of the fabric in his pants.

Another performance recently in Miami was Will.I.Am and DJ Irie. Media Stage, a South Florida audio, visual, and lighting production service, teamed up with UK-based Musion to bring the first full-size 3D hologram projection to South Florida.

The optical illusion known as “Pepper’s Ghost” is created by simply placing a glass screen at a 45-degree angle in front of a stage and working a few lighting tricks. Theater producers have used it to con audiences into believing objects are morphing into one another, or disappearing and reappearing on stage.

Inspired by the technology, Media Stage partnered with Musion and became South Florida’s first production company to offer telepresence, a hi-tech, futuristic service that allows three-dimensional objects to appear in live stage settings.

How’d it work? Imagine an invisible right triangle. At the top point is an HD projector pointed to a projection screen at the base of the triangle. The image is then reflected onto an 18×12 screen positioned at a 45-degree angle in front of the stage to create the 3D hologram.

Sourced from: Miami New Times + Hypebeast