Generally, the projects featured on Hackaday actually do something. We won’t go as far as to say they are practical creations, but they usually have some kind of function other than to sit there and blink. But what if just sitting still and blinking away randomly is precisely what you want a piece of hardware to do?
That was exactly the goal when [createscifi] set out to dress a Lite Brite up as a futuristic prop. On a technical level, this project is pretty much as simple as it gets. But we appreciated seeing some of the techniques brought to bear on this project, and perhaps more importantly, really like the channel’s overall goal of creating affordable sci-fi props using common components. We don’t plan on filming our own space epic anytime soon…but we like to know the option is there.
The process starts off with creating some 2D imagery to represent various components on the final “control panel”, such as sliders, knobs, and a logo. These details, plus the big opening for the Lite Brite itself, are then cut out of thin wood using a diode laser.
After gluing the parts together, [createscifi] sprays the whole thing black and then rubs graphite powder into the surface to give it a unique metallic texture. Finally, small discs are glued onto the surface to represent knobs and buttons — a process known as “greebling” in the model and prop making world.
The very last step of the process is to glue the Lite Brite into the back of the console, and set it off randomly blinking. Personally, we’d have liked to have seen some attempt made to cover the Lite Brite. It seems like putting the thing behind a piece of scuffed up acrylic to act as a diffuser would have made for a more mysterious visual, but as [createscifi] points out, he considers the fact that its still recognizably a child’s toy to be something of a visual gag.
We love prop builds; from ray guns to historical recreations, they’re multi-disciplinary projects that really allow the creator to stretch their creativity without getting bogged down by the tyranny of practicality. It’s been a couple years since the last Sci-Fi Contest, perhaps it’s time for another?
I didn’t know about this guy.
Thanks for the “introduction”!
Can it play Doom ?
It will need a fast robot to update the screen.
Looks like a great prop for a sci-fi show/movie ! I don’t know if it’s the nerd in me but I always background peek when I watch SciFi shows. Sometimes they over do it.. for example Major Carter’s lab or the control room in Star Gate. The dancing LED panels and numerical displays sometimes are a bit too much but they are tech period Hollywood props and would be fun to build for lighting (and power sucking) for my computer room. I always look for recycled props as well.
I computer isn’t a computer without ‘lights’ moving around. One of reasons I built my version of the 60s Star Trek computer desktop with a RPI SBC and a Metro Grand Central (my version with talks, detects humans, 2 factor authentication, etc.) . Going to add a RPI camera next to actually ‘id’ people that are in front of it for fun.
Also have the PiDP-10, 8, and 11/70 front panels for my computer wall blinking away…
Lights … gotta love ’em :) !
I forgot all about Lite Bright pins. Might find a use in a project if I need light pipes instead of just an LED.
I always like to look at the display systems in SciFi shows, such as the altitude display in AirWolf.
Thought problem: how does one control a flying saucer, or a spaceship? What controls make some incredibly complicated thing easy to control?
Some of the best display tech is used in “The Orville”. The SFX person in charge has the notion that displays should be informative and useful.
How do they control a spaceship ? Mega-macro keys. Their press F7 to turn to port runs multiple macros that adjusts inertial dampeners, floor gravity plates, thrusters, engines, shielding, scanners, coffee replicator, and the turn signal.
Yes the Orville has great displays and I think the touchscreens actually have some function. I like the “programmed” simulated interactive displays that the actors use. In Valerian: City of a Thousand Planets they didn’t show the displays directly but you could see the touch screens “worked”.
Now turn it into an actual synthesizer thingy (or something):
(TLDR = LightBright(TM) combined with LED matrix to form some synth thing = interactive LED matrix where every physical LED is (re)moveable and the matrix knows which LEDs are missing -> changes to the synth.)
different color 5mm LEDs with 5mm shoes so “-” is outside and “+” is the center connector.
socket array like the light bright plate(?) but with connections for every 1. and a way to know where LEDs are (and maybe which color).
put the knowledge from 2. into visualization and audio manipulation or generation.
Maybe a 3,5mm stereo jack for every LED and an array of sockets on a circuit board.
What about a little 3D printed ‘shoe’ (as you called it) which keys to the matrix for polarity. The leads just go through channels in the shoe and then have a specific bend, maybe just to be bent back up and lie in channels on the outside of the shoe. Might need a jig to bend them correctly every time, and definitely need a positive-lock, but that might be as simple as a friction fit or a detent like a 3.5mm stereo jack has.
You’re almost describing future IsoLinear chips.
This guy has a bright future working at Utopia Planitia.
You’ve precisely described the plastic bases on certain varieties of LED Christmas lights — which conveniently makes them available (in quantity) as replacement parts, with LEDs already installed, bent, and trimmed.
All that’s needed is figuring out how to make a pluggable matrix board that accepts them at minimal spacing.
This fills me with the urge to defecate. Not my scene at all, but you folks who enjoy it, have at it! I rejoice in your happiness. Yeah, that’s just something you say, no one means it. Moving on….