A 3-D look down the RabbitHole

At first glance, the artworks placed around the small framing workshop in artist Rolando Rodriguez’s tiny studio appear to be blank sheets of Plexiglass.

But switch on an ordinary halogen lamp and suddenly – like a magical Harry Potter family portrait – lush, full-bodied images leap from the unassuming plaques: The outstretched fingers of a mysterious tentacled figure undulate alongside the coils coming from her head; a brooding, Gollum-like creature slinks at the rear of a room, then leaps out; and two skeletal beings lock in an embrace as they hover in the air.

These are the creations of a handful of pioneering digital 3D artists whose show (RabbitHoles 3-D Motion Holograms) launches the newly opened Gnomon Gallery, a showcase for entertainment-industry art in the heart of Tinsel Town.

But it is not just the images that are remarkable, say industry observers. It's new technology developed by RabbitHoles Media that enables them to display up to 12 seconds of animated holography that is having its “coming out” with this show.

The compelling visual effect is not reliant on video or movie film and does not require any special glasses. Rather, the RabbitHoles technology produces both the three-dimensional quality and animated movement from a single flat surface. It cutting-edge posters carry the potential of revolutionizing the worlds of entertainment, advertising, and art.

Filmmaker James Cameron (“Titanic”) has dubbed the new technology “the Holy Grail of advertising.” Eric Miller, a digital artist and the director of online training for the Gnomon School of Visual Effects notes, “A new medium for artists to explore doesn’t come along very often, and this is one that really needs to be seen.”

Perhaps the most telling response comes from within the ranks of the Hollywood technorati. “It’s a glimpse of the future,” says Josh Greer, president and cofounder of RealD, one of the industry’s leading providers of 3-D technology. “Everyone in this town is interested in 3-D and this,” he says, shows “what the next stage will look like.”

RabbitHoles offers startling realism, but only for 10 to 12 seconds of motion. That’s not enough for a normal 30-second advertisement, but the moving holograms have already produced a handful of movie-theater ads, special effects in theme park rides, and a sprinkling of holographic art pieces.

Thanks to several years of research and development by laser technicians and optical engineers in Canada, crisp-moving 3-D images once seen only on a computer, or with special glasses in movie theaters, have finally been realized – and in an easily portable format.

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