If you’ve been following the election coverage, you know by now that CNN played their hologram card. Jessica Yellin appeared Live from Chicago via hologram and talked with Wolf Blitzer. She shimmered slightly around the edges, and I can’t even tell you what she was saying because my nerd brain just kept repeating, “Help me Wolf Blitzer, you are my only hope.”

The technology was as creepy as we’ve always imagined and happening in the middle of vote counts, seemed totally weird and un-necessary. I believe they said that they used something like 44 HD cameras in a ring to get her every movement, all communicating with the studio cameras as well. Hey, if we’re gonna have holograms on election night, it’s better her then a grinning Emperor Palpatine.

The ICT Graphics Lab at USC has created a low-cost volumetric 3-D display that brings Princess Leia one step closer to begging Obi-Wan for help. The system projects high-speed video onto a rapidly spinning mirror. As the mirror turns, it reflects a different and accurate image to each potential viewer.

The rendering algorithm can recreate virtual and real scenes with correct occlusion, horizontal and vertical perspective, and shading. Close to 5,000 individual images are reflected every second within the surface area and create a real-space three-dimensional object. Video below.