Partners Start Marketing Mesh-Based Screen For Projected Visual Illusions

April 16, 2024 by Dave Haynes

Projections on near-transparent surfaces that create the visual illusion of 3D and holograms have been around for a bunch of years, but a Dutch start-up and its US sales and marketing partner are touting a new product that is based on a lightweight fabric-like mesh instead of a film.

Austin, TC-based Screen Innovations, which markets everything from projection screens to specialized window coverings, is working with a company called CarbonBlack, and marketing what it calls CarbonBlack Mesh Holographic Screens.

The visual output is similar to other projected visual illusion set-ups that eliminate backgrounds and allow a performer or speaker to appear to be on a stage or podium in person, even though it is a visual file or stream projected onto the display surface.

CarbonBlack’s mesh fits on a truss or fixed frame, and the visuals can be delivered using regular or short-throw projectors, from above or below. An interesting wrinkle is that the images can be “twin-sided” – with the same image visible on the rear of the projected surface. I asked and was told “the light wraps around the structure and is viewable on both sides.”

They’re not any more holographic than all the other products out there called holographic, but like the others, create the illusion of visuals floating in thin air. Real holograms have depth, whereas this – like those mesh/foil LEDs and transparent LCD shower stalls – are all two-dimensional.