A maker just turned a standard microcomputer into a free-floating 3D display. Reddit user silvercoated1 showed off a DIY holographic setup that sits directly on a desk, acting as a futuristic clock and media player.
The build relies on a Raspberry Pi 5 and a very old optical trick called Pepper’s Ghost. Instead of using complex projection mapping or expensive augmented reality headsets, the project bounces bright light inside a small glass box to trick the eye.
Putting the hardware together requires a specific shopping list. The core of the illusion depends on the OpenGhost software repository created by developer xanderchinxyz, which maps out the exact requirements including a square HyperPixel 4.0 screen and a beam splitter cube. The LCD screen sits underneath the cube, firing images upward so they reflect and appear to float in mid-air.
Right now, the little glass box mostly tells the time. But the maker has ambitious plans to integrate a local AI assistant mapped to the face of Zordan from Power Rangers, add retro Winamp audio visualizers, and eventually get the classic game Doom running inside the cube.
Why a 160-Year-Old Stage Hack Still Beats Modern Displays
Engineers have spent decades trying to perfect 3D displays. Most modern attempts require either eye-tracking cameras or wearable glasses to trick human depth perception. The OpenGhost project bypasses all that computational heavy lifting by borrowing directly from Victorian theater.
The Pepper’s Ghost illusion originally used angled panes of glass to make actors appear translucent on stage, terrifying audiences in the 1860s. By shrinking that physics principle down to a single beam splitter cube and replacing the hidden actors with an ultra-bright LCD panel, makers are getting a reliable, glasses-free 3D effect running on incredibly basic hardware.