CMU School of Drama


Wednesday, September 24, 2014

Vector Laser Projector is a Lesson in Design Processes

hackaday.com: We’re used to seeing blogs devoted to one project, but this one has a vast portfolio of every piece of work that went into the build. Before any assembly started they drew out design diagrams to form the specification, laid out the circuit and the board artwork, and even worked out how the software would function in order to make sure the hardware met all their needs.

12 comments:

Monica Skrzypczak said...

This was a really cool video. The process that went behind it and how they got the laser to make the display was interesting to learn about. However, when I was watching the sound effects that went with the video it became very unsettling and disturbing, an interesting feeling. But there are so many applications for this in the theatre; especially for a creepy futuristic show or something similar. Lighting designers could experiment with this all day.

Unknown said...

Great video! After having read their process blog, the way that they worked on their project just sounded so much like every other prototyping project that I have been around, even if it was remarkably well planned out. If they had run into one big unsolvable problem, they would have been up a creek. The problem with prototyping work is that so much of it is done without any contingency plans, because contingencies can only be thought about when you have a main plan. Too often have I been working through a project and not being enough steps ahead of myself in the planning, to at a point have to back track when one thing doesn't work. I'm glad their project worked though! It looks really cool.

Keith Kelly said...

The amount of work these men put into creating their product is astonishing. I love how they want the public to know all their steps to developing their design and encourage the sharing of ideas. Their timeframe was three months from when the idea was designed to completed. What a truly amazing accomplishment. I found the video to be successful in the fact that each movement was timed perfectly with the sound. I found the color green to get boring and I wished that they incorporated more color into their design. Overall I had a great experience watching the video, but their work isn't ground breaking and I think other people have done this better.

Zoe Clayton said...

I view this project as a good learning experience for those who created it. They clearly put a lot of time and effort into it, and I admired that they documented everything they did and were brave enough to share it with the public. At the same time, the video got repetitive and bland. I wish there was more diversity within the project, and that they would've incorporated perhaps another medium as well. What would this project feel like as a projection on human bodies? If it were a part of a movement piece? What if each movement of the light corresponded to a movement in a person?

I think this was a great first step, but could use some developing in terms of making an experience for the audience as opposed to "oh look there are some pretty moving green lights."

Becki Liu said...

The video is really cool! The projection and the images being projected both went with the music so well and really let us see something that in actuality we can only hear. Though both images were really awesome, the laser projections, the main thing, was really quite beautiful. It was entrancing. I think it was very nicely executed. The idea of seeing the music and at different moments being able to feel it with the different lines that the laser created. I think it worked really well to engage an audience member. It probably has to do with the audience member whether or not the projections are successful (as with anything really...)

Unknown said...

Obviously the lasey projector laser system does in no way present images with the came completeness or quality as typical projector. But the sense of energy, glowing green, and frantic movements of the light beam come together to create something quite beautiful. As I began the video, I wished that the picture-in-picture was not there so I could fully appreciate the lazer art. But as the video progressed, it was compelling to see how the lazer responded to complex images.
I went to their porfolio website and their documentation of the project is astounding. They are very well-spoken and thorough.

Unknown said...

I love the application of the laser projector to enhance the experience of the music. usually with musical compositions we're just used to experiencing using our hearing as our only perception of it, but the combination of the interesting music with the striking visuals gives the piece a highly euphoric effect, which makes it more compelling to someone like me who is intrigued more by visuals than audible stimuli.

The rapid, distorted quality of the laser projector is also very appealing, especially with this music, as it gives the composition a sense of life and being through its breathing like distortion and contour lines. Overall the laser projection emphasizes the piece with its visuals more than the original visuals do because of the spastic movement of the laser which pairs with the varying tones of the composition. It reminds me a lot of a conversation I had with one of my roommates, a music performance major, about how music videos/visuals created to pair with classical/modern orchestra compositions might help them appeal to more audiences, while giving new insight/perspectives to their previous patrons. This demonstration shows an excellent example of how that might be effective if well implemented.

Like many have said, I can see this laser projector as an awesome tool for lighting designers to hopefully incorporate in new projects. When specifically geared towards enhancing audio, I think the laser is most effective, and I would love to see it incorporated in such a way in the future.

jcmertz said...

Really really cool! I love the effects you can generate with this thing, it is surprisingly functional. It is cool to see how detailed their design process documentation was and how excited they are about the work. I really love digging in to cool projects like this but I rarely document my planning process to this degree. I think it is something I will try to start doing from now on so I can have a better record of how I came to the end result of my projects.

Alex Fasciolo said...

This is something really interesting, and kind of new. The video was well presented, combining the laser with sound as to present a more fulfilling experience. Though I see there is a place in this world and in theatre for this type of laser projection (and would certainly love to play around with it for a while) I think that one would be hard pressed to incorporate that tool into a show without it simply being a trick for production value. The abstractness of it makes it difficult to use in anyway that would be able to forward the plot unless the play was equally as abstract.

Unknown said...

This is remarkable. But what I find even more interesting is the linked article about the RGB laser projector. What I'm waiting for is for someone to figure out a way to combine these projectors with some time of frequency or other method to control how far into haze the projection would go. I just have a really unique image of laser projections above an audience during a concert. A hologram like situation would be beautiful. Maybe another way to get this is a combination of a strobe or something else.

Fiona Rhodes said...

This is very cool. I am glad that they included some of their process photos, and a link to their process blog. I am interested to see what else they could do with this. How could they make the laser projection look more closely like the video they designed? I think this would be a really interesting thing to experiment with, and I wonder if there are ways to go totally crazy with it.

Unknown said...

That was a really cool video to be able to see. Especially with concerts lasers are being used more and more frequently for more purposes than ever before. This video is cool because it shows some of the capabilities that these laser can do. The amount of work it must have taken them is very impressive. But the music choice was interesting to say the least. If these goes from prototype to reality it will probably be very successful, if it able to compete will all of the other laser technology that already exists..