Holographic Terminal: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

[[File:holoterm 6169.png|link=Dead Space (series)|frame|And when the power fails, [[Awesome but Impractical|the whole thing goes dark]].]]

 

So you're in the future [[Twenty Minutes Into the Future|but everything looks pretty much the same.]] No [[Crystal Spires and Togas]], no [[I Want My Jetpack|jetpacks,]] not even [[Space Clothes]] to make fun of. But just to get the point across that this ''is'' the future, walking up to a random soda machine or computer won't reveal any kind of button or screen, instead a '''Holographic Terminal''' will pop up right in front of your nose and suspended in midair!

 

Similar to the [[Viewer-Friendly Interface]], yet very much an [[Unusual User Interface]], the '''Holographic Terminal''' is just that, a combination keyboard and screen made of transparent [[Hard Light]] that can be used to control computers, machines, or access other [[Phlebotinum]] derived devices and abilities. It's somehow solid enough to stop your hand going through it (but presumably not so much to stop a gunshot or sword, but at least [[Explosive Instrumentation|it won't explode in your face]]) and can tell what you're pushing much like a regular touch screen. Whatever it displays is usually visible from "behind" as well (so be sure not to read personal mail in public).

Normally it might appear near an emitter of some kind, maybe even inside actual pieces of transparent plastic or in the empty space between metallic frames. However they're increasingly turning into the SFX equivalent of Internet pop ups: Appearing without the need for an emitter or any kind of prompting by [[The Smart Guy]] who'll use it. For much the same reason they're more common in [[Cyberspace|VR environments]] and [[The Metaverse|themed worlds.]]

 

 

It doesn't yet float, but the transparent screen part could be [[Truth in Television]] in the near future. See [http://gizmodo.com/5465084/samsung-to-release-laptop-with-a-transparent-screen-within-12-months here]. Also, if Enhanced Reality goggles ever get here, readout menus would probably appear to the user this way.

{{examples}}

== Advertising ==

 

 

* Practically ''abused'' to its logical extreme in ''[[Macross Frontier]]'': cellphones, toys and advertisements all have projected holographic displays that move around outside the physical boundary of the device emitting them. Military equipment seems "serious" and physical, while commercial electronics indulge in [[Viewer-Friendly Interface|all sorts of holographic fancy]]. A particularly egregious example is a cellphone-to-cellphone file transfer system that consists of actually ''tossing'' a small holographic file from one phone to another.

* Washu in ''[[Tenchi Muyo!]]!'' loved using these in everyday life, such as making custom baby-food.

 

 

* All over the place in ''[[Starstruck]]'', which got in on the act early, seeing as it came out in comics form in the early '80's.

* ''[[Transmetropolitan]]'' had this—sort of. One of the wide, ''wide'' variety of genetic enhancements people had was the "phone trait", which was essentially an implanted cell phone. To dial a number, you just imagined punching numbers on a keypad under your right hand. The keypad is visible to ''you'', but not to anyone else, since it's just inside your head, technically.

 

== Films ==

* The displays in ''[[Minority Report]]'', although they're technically not floating so much as projected ''inside'' glass panels.

** This is actually not a difficult thing to do. The whole ''Minority Report'' computer setup could probably be created at home for a few hundred bucks—whether it would be ''comfortable'' to use is another matter.

* In ''[[Paycheck]]'', the protagonist is a reverse engineer. He buys a new hologram-projecting TV, plugs it into his lab computer. The TV's specs then appear on the transparent wall behind him, revealing that it is a transparent screen like in [[Minority Report]]. He then manipulates the specs with hand gestures. Pretty much a 2-D version of Stark's gear. [[Rule of Cool]] certainly applies, as well as [[Viewer-Friendly Interface]], but it doesn't look implausible for the most part—except the standing-there-waving-your-arms-around-for-hours-on-end part.

** And when he finishes that project he decides to ditch the screen for the holo-TV, so it's just a floating projection.

 

== Literature ==

* The Conjoiners in [[Alastair Reynolds]]' ''Revelation Space'' series can see holographic displays, except that they're created in their mind by their cybernetic implants. One character discovers this after being assimilated and finding out why some people were waving their hands in the air and staring at things that were not there.

* The ''3rd World Products'' series uses "fields" for pretty much everything.

* In the most recent of [[Larry Niven]]'s ''[[Known Space]]'' novels (everything from "Ringworld Throne" to present), all computer terminals are one of these.

 

* One of the most breathtakingly cool displays of the Holographic Terminal is the piloting interface for the Companion's ships and Shuttles in ''[[Earth: Final Conflict]]''. A series of gestures replaces the complex switch flipping of modern fighter craft cockpits, and gives the pilot complete control over every aspect of the ship.

* Notably avoided on post-[[Star Trek: The Original Series|Original Series]] ''[[Star Trek]]''. On a few occasions, the production staff have tried using holographic free-floating main viewers, but they don't last. The reason: the main viewer is one of the franchise's most common visual elements, and it just felt wrong to replace it with a blank wall. The view screens in the post-TNG era do project in 3-D, however. Whenever a two-way communication is up on the viewer, and the shot angle changes, the view of the other party changes, too. The control panels used in the post-TNG era are actually advanced touch-screens.

** ''[[Stargate Universe]]'' shows that even the uber-old Destiny has holographics without any kind of visible emitters.

* [[Eureka]] uses this technology, actually reaching out and grabbing the windows and moving them. Actually reaching out and grabbing on and crumbling it up before tossing it into the real trashcan.

* The Visitors in the 2009 remake of ''V'' use interfaces that can be made to appear and disappear with a wave of a hand.

 

== Tabletop Games ==

 

== Video Games ==

* The Turraken laboratory scanner in ''[[Startopia]]'' has a holographic display with [[Matrix Raining Code]] when something is being analyzed.

* The game ''[[Borderlands]]'' features this in spades, as vending machines, entry gates, and even the pause menus and inventory screens are represented as floating holograms. If you look closely, you can see the inventory/pause screens moving around a bit, and this is explained by the [[Hyperspace Arsenal|storage deck]] the Claptrap gives you at the very start, which then "boots up," showing you your health, ammo, and other HUD paraphernalia.

 

== Web Comics ==

* ''[[Orion's Arm]]'' has "Ghost interfaces" but by the 107th century [[Alternate Calendar|AT]] they're very retro. Having long been replaced by Direct Neural Interfaces and "Wraith" screens that use [[Nanomachines|Utility Fog]] to effectively act as [[Hard Light]].

* Used for just about everything in ''[[Land Games]]''.

 

== Western Animation ==

* In ''[[Chaotic]]'', before a match (and after every battle) begins, players assemble their battle teams via a holographic console. Logical considering Chaotic is a VR simulation. Interestingly, it averts the two way translucency by not letting opponents see each other's card selections. From one side, you get creatures, mugics, and locations, but from the other it looks like a floating plexiglass pane.

* In ''[[Aqua Teen Hunger Force]]'' Master Shake agrees to something or internet and the entire house gets flooded with holographic displays of internet advertising from the WWWYZZERDD. To the point where they can no longer function due to the enormous amounts of ads floating constantly over their heads.

 

== Real Life ==

*** People also don't attempt two-handed full-speed touch-typing on iPhones, either - although it's just about possible on an iPad (indeed, the first draft of the current—and rather controversial—38-page [[wikipedia:Constitution of Hungary|Constitution of Hungary]] was drafted on an iPad). As well, the visual display also happens to be in the exact same location as the input method...you can't help but SEE where to guide your fingers.

* There are demonstration technologies to produce the actual floating in the air holographic displays. The difficulty is in the display: the actual interactivity (sensing the hands position and moving the graphics accordingly) is a solved problem, as such systems already exist in the form of infrared sensors.

*** Note that of the two examples provided, only the first one seems to fulfill the "ideal" of a traditional sci-fi hologram, that is, a full-3D image projected in a volume. The second one, the ''Heliodisplay'', is a scam, requiring a cloud of water vapour or some other denser-than-air medium on which to project a 2D image. Like a cinema without a screen, at ten times the price for one tenth of the clarity.

** Of course anyone who's actually tried controlling a computer by waving their hands in the air has very quickly discovered that it gets old quickly, and gets painfully tiring shortly after that. While the displays may only be a matter of time, the interface is likely [[Awesome but Impractical]].

** Quite the opposite in fact. If light passes through the display there would not be any reflection, therefore, the display would be readable in any lighting condition.

*** Actually, since it's transparent, all light traveling from the back would be seen through the front, making any fine detail dissolved into fuzz. It would only be reasonably view-able in either VERY low light conditions, or when displayed over a plain, black or white, surface. It would be difficult to use in most lighting conditions. Non reflective screens are only useful because the back of said screen blocks off light.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Futuristic Tech Index]]

[[Category:Speculative Fiction Tropes]]

[[Category:Magical Computer]]