During COVID, the importance of video calling grew as people were stuck and separated from their family and friends. But the 2D experience falls short of making you feel present in the same space together. Moving to a 3D calling experience (e.g. holographic calling) can help people feel closer and more immersed.

People are familiar with the concept of holographic video calling from sci-fi movies, and there have been some demos by different companies using highly specialized equipment. But what would it take to make it a reality, enabling this technology for the masses, and making it so that people can use it as easily as 2D calls? The answer to this question spans multiple domains, both on hardware and software, from computer vision and machine learning to compression and real-time transport. In this talk, I will focus on some of the technical challenges this brings for video and real time communication. Presented at Demuxed 2021.