For many years the idea of a realistic holographic fire effect as a replacement for bulky and often unconvincing substitutes for the real thing had been on the wish list of manufacturers in the field. In fact patents were taken out on the idea two decades before such an item could be realistically achieved or mass produced.
In the last two years we have developed a hologram of a coal fuel bed which is totally convincing. This hologram was created by Colour Holographic working in conjuction with Valor Fires who mass replicate the hologram from the master hologram provided by us. This has now become a well established product called The Valor Dimension and has led to new products in the range, now in full colour.
One of the principal reasons why this has become possible is the use of LEDs to light the hologram, which means we could compress the entire arrangement into a feasible space, in this case less than 4 inches. Also, our superb holographic material allows the hologram to exactly reproduce the subject matter, which can be seen from any point and any angle and in complete detail indistinguishable from the real thing.
An additional benefit from Valor’s point of view was the reduction in thickness of the overall fire allowing for flat panel display of a fire effect that visually gives a depth of up to 18 inches behind the hologram. No longer is there a need to transport all those hefty original fire effect materials worldwide. To add to that the holographic image is created from real materials such as coal, logs and driftwood, making it much more realistic than fires incorporating synthetic models.
This example conveys some of the more tangible advantages that holography can provide for forward thinking industries addressing the retail market.
