--- title: Holograms, From Your Plotter | daily.dev description: A maker demonstrates how to create real holograms using a pen plotter to scribe fine interference patterns onto the polycarbonate surface of a CD case, without... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/holograms-from-your-plotter-tpixoz0oj twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Holograms, From Your Plotter | daily.dev og:description: A maker demonstrates how to create real holograms using a pen plotter to scribe fine interference patterns onto the polycarbonate surface of a CD case, without... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/holograms-from-your-plotter-tpixoz0oj og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/tPIxOZ0oj.png og:image:alt: Holograms, From Your Plotter og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Holograms, From Your Plotter **[Hackaday](https://daily.dev/sources/hackaday)** · 1 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary A maker demonstrates how to create real holograms using a pen plotter to scribe fine interference patterns onto the polycarbonate surface of a CD case, without needing lasers or an optics lab. The writeup starts with a simple oily-finger-on-phone-screen demo of interference patterns, walks through the underlying theory of light diffraction, covers some failed material experiments, and ends with working plotter-etched holograms. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### Can you make a hologram at home without a laser or optics lab? Yes, a hologram can be created using a pen plotter to scribe fine interference-pattern lines into a thin film. One demonstrated method uses the polycarbonate surface of a CD case as the material, with the plotter etching lines fine enough to diffract light and produce a holographic image, no laser required. _Anyone chasing unconventional maker projects like plotter holography can find similar builds on daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Making holograms with a pen plotter](https://daily.dev/posts/making-holograms-with-a-pen-plotter-wqzsdfqxw) · Hacker News · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [This awesome Raspberry Pi project uses the Pepper's Ghost illusion to make a holographic display](https://daily.dev/posts/this-awesome-raspberry-pi-project-uses-the-pepper-s-ghost-illusion-to-make-a-holographic-display-vg37qpihj) · XDA Developers · 2 upvotes · 0 comments - [DIY Wall-Plotter Does Generative Art, But Not As We Know It](https://daily.dev/posts/diy-wall-plotter-does-generative-art-but-not-as-we-know-it-wb88nnrcn) · Hackaday · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [A new way to “paint with light” to create radiant, color-changing items](https://daily.dev/posts/a-new-way-to-paint-with-light-to-create-radiant-color-changing-items-mis3r5qdb) · MIT News · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#hardware](https://daily.dev/tags/hardware), [#physics](https://daily.dev/tags/physics) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/holograms-from-your-plotter-tpixoz0oj) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Holograms, From Your Plotter","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/holograms-from-your-plotter-tpixoz0oj","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/holograms-from-your-plotter-tpixoz0oj"},"datePublished":"2026-08-13T15:51:10.032Z","dateModified":"2026-10-15T02:24:24.049Z","description":"A maker demonstrates how to create real holograms using a pen plotter to scribe fine interference patterns onto the polycarbonate surface of a CD case, without...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/8c038f3d616478c56f5d50d22204e7b0?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/8c038f3d616478c56f5d50d22204e7b0?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"Hackaday","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Hackaday","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--JhDfhy70--/f_auto,q_auto/v1767541814/logos/hackaday","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/hackaday"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/holograms-from-your-plotter-tpixoz0oj","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"hardware,physics","timeRequired":"PT1M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Hackaday","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/hackaday"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Holograms, From Your Plotter"}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/holograms-from-your-plotter-tpixoz0oj#faq","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"Can you make a hologram at home without a laser or optics lab?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Yes, a hologram can be created using a pen plotter to scribe fine interference-pattern lines into a thin film. 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