the light trail forms an image ... WHAT'S IT CALLED?

3hbulldogs · Post by **3hbulldogs** » Sat Jul 10, 2004 11:17 pm

And where do you get one? 2002, I saw it on the playa. Saw something that looked like a 6' fluorescent pole. I slowly shook my head left to right, while keeping my eyes trained on the light pole. The light trails formed the image of the Mona Lisa, another time it was mushrooms, and three years ago it was the man. I even captured the images on my digital camera. Does anyone know what this gizmo is called. Help!

LTW

Bob · Post by **Bob** » Sun Jul 11, 2004 2:56 pm

Friend of mine built something similar c. 8 yrs ago using two vertical rows of LEDs on each side of a long circuit board. He just called it a light stick.

Lydia Love · Post by **Lydia Love** » Sun Jul 11, 2004 3:50 pm

I dunno if this will help... but it's a Persistance of Vision thing... it's what makes animation work. Our brains fill in the missing gaps.

There are lot's of persistance of vision toys out there... clocks and stuff.

3hbulldogs · Post by **3hbulldogs** » Sun Jul 11, 2004 9:16 pm

Thanks for the terminology tip! I found a few sites that sold the clock. Will do more searches to see if there's one out there that's customizable. I wonder ir I need to build one myself?

Does anyone know how to make a large custom Persistence of Vision image making thing?

3hbulldogs

robotland · Post by **robotland** » Mon Jul 12, 2004 5:37 am

If you have some self-contained small lights and a wheel that you can make spin around, then your persistence-of-vision experiments can commence. A bicycle wheel will do. Move up to a motor-driven axle with a propellerlike surface affixed to one end and covered with lights. Observe results. Adjust accordingly. Have fun!

stuart · Post by **stuart** » Mon Jul 12, 2004 10:58 am

video is created by generating a series of scan lines. If you could use an similar apparatus but disable the vertical scan component you would get this result but you could hook it up to a video source for streaming, rather than static, imagery.

Skyhawk · Post by **Skyhawk** » Mon Jul 12, 2004 10:55 pm

this guy seems to have it down
http://sub-zero.mit.edu/fbyte/projects/sublim/
http://sub-zero.mit.edu/fbyte/projects/obelisk/
http://sub-zero.mit.edu/fbyte/projects/obelisk2/

robotland · Post by **robotland** » Tue Jul 13, 2004 6:18 am

I am inspired.

the light trail forms an image ... WHAT'S IT CALLED?

the light trail forms an image ... WHAT'S IT CALLED?

Persistance of Vision .... hmmm