Spin Peggy, get 3D POV

posted Aug 9th 2010 5:59am by
filed under: led hacks

We put a temporary ban on posting POV projects after receiving several LED spheres back in May. But we had to lift the injunction after seeing this superb Volumetric 3D POV display by [Wes Faler] and [Don Smith].

Their creative use of several readily available components adds to the alluring setup; the central elements being just a box fan and Peggy kit from EMSL. The video after the jump doesn’t really do the project justice, but if you missed it at Maker Fair Detroit and can’t make your own it’s the best you’re going to get.



18 Responses to Spin Peggy, get 3D POV

  • TexasWilly says:
    August 9, 2010 at 6:38 am

    Very cool, also I like Office Space playing in the background.

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  • elektrophreak says:
    August 9, 2010 at 7:26 am

    now that is freaky!

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  • SchrodingersCat says:
    August 9, 2010 at 7:35 am

    Could you do this using a standard LCD? Granted, the pixels might not be as bright, but other than that, whats stopping someone from making a 3d high-res display using POV?

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  • Don Smith says:
    August 9, 2010 at 7:55 am

    SchrodingersCat –

    We looked at LCD panels – we could not find any fast enough – need about 1ms (1000 frames/second).

    This example runs about 15 fps.

    In the Ping/Pong demo – the computer is playing against itself – uses less space than simmulating.

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  • wdmaker.eng says:
    August 9, 2010 at 8:00 am

    Wes here. We tried to figure out a LCD solution. At 100 slices per revolution, each needing to be drawn at least 10 times per second, we hit 1000 frames/second on the 2D display. The Peggy2LE’s Arduino can handle that, but we couldn’t find a LCD panel with that kind of frame rate. If you know of one, pass it along!

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  • theIsovist says:
    August 9, 2010 at 8:43 am

    @SchrodingersCat –

    I think this is about what you’re looking for. Like Don said, you need a display that updates incredibly fast, and if I recall correctly, they don’t spin the display in this device. they spin a mirror that reflects the display, which updates with each turn. I could be completely wrong though.

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  • SchrodingersCat says:
    August 9, 2010 at 8:54 am

    Cheers guys, I was wondering what the constraint was. Hopefully when they develop cheap ultra fast response displays, we will see more of these.

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  • Greycode says:
    August 9, 2010 at 9:23 am

    Spell check youur is spelled your.

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  • Osgeld says:
    August 9, 2010 at 5:09 pm

    This actually inspires me a bit, not with a peggy (little rich for my blood, hence the ghetto matrix I made), but I do have some left over matrices, enough for a 16×16 model, and some various motors

    I dont know about the arduino, as a arduino user I do love it, but I also have a pic32, the launchpad, and a 16 bit freescale

    even though the resolution would be much(much)lower the added boost in raw cpu power and efficiency of software, would allow some interesting playtime with pwm

    ok that’s it, its on the list! (right after about 2 other things)

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  • Drone says:
    August 9, 2010 at 6:30 pm

    “We put a temporary ban on posting POV projects after receiving several LED spheres back in May.”

    Why would you put a ban on POV projects? I see no ban on Arduino projects in-general?

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  • Jakob Griffith says:
    August 9, 2010 at 6:35 pm

    @Drone: I like to joke.

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  • Osgeld says:
    August 9, 2010 at 8:13 pm

    especially comming from the guy who was not around “back in May”

    It is kinda funny

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  • Tony Stark says:
    August 10, 2010 at 6:17 am

    3D CAD, anyone?

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  • fuzvulf says:
    August 10, 2010 at 3:54 pm

    sweet, would definitely like to see it with a tightly spaced grid work of surface mounted tiny ones to give you greater definition, but definitely sweet.

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  • mirror those lcds says:
    August 12, 2010 at 2:55 am

    why not use several lcd’s and alternate them using mirrors?

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  • Don Smith says:
    August 12, 2010 at 9:45 am

    mirror those lcds,

    The mirror method has its own set of problems, like a narrow viewing angle and narrow focus.

    Tony Stark,

    Yes, 3D CAD! also games.

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  • Tod says:
    August 12, 2010 at 1:54 pm

    Ok, since I can’t see it in person and the video doesn’t do it justice, I just have to know… Is it really a 3-D “pong”?

    By that I mean do the “paddles” move forward and backward as well as up and down to intercept a ball of light that appears to be moving in 3 dimensions?

    I can’t tell from the vid. Nice looking work, regardless though!!

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  • Don Smith says:
    August 13, 2010 at 8:03 am

    Tod,

    The Pong demo is a hack. It does play against itself as that used less memory than a simulation, but it is only 2D.

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