If you had an array of high power addressable LEDs, how would you project them onto a wall? Perhaps you’d use a Fresnel lens, or maybe an individual lens on the top of each. [Joo] faced this problem when making a lighting effect using just such an array, and the solution they came up with used both.
The problem facing a would-be LED array projector is that should the lens be too good, it will project the individual points of light from the LEDs themselves, when a more diffuse point is required. Thus the Fresnel required the aid of a separate array of lenses, resin printed in one in clear plastic. From this we get some useful tips on how to do this for best lens quality, and while the result is not quite optically perfect, it’s certainly good enough for the job in hand.
The linked Printables page comes with all you need to make the parts, and you too can have your own projected LED effect. Now we want one, too! Perhaps we really need our own Wrencher signal instead.
Well, it’s more light-efficient than diffusers… But I suspect more could be done with lens shapes and defocusing.
And given just how cheap lcd-based “toy” video projectors are these days…?
Projectors are the way to go as a source, unless you really like low-resolution effects (these do have a place in the milieu after all). A reasonably capable “Class FHD (1080P) LED Projector” (actually LCD with an LED light source) projector can be had for ~30$US online and you’re off and running – many of these will work from a USB drive directly. The reviews on these may whine about not having much resolution for movies/videos, but for this (and Halloween effects etc.) they’re ridiculously easy.
Get them cheap enough and you might work up the nerve to pull the front lens off and start playing with printed holders for optical elements/fiber optics which is when the fun really starts.
Where does the “high-power” comes from ? Looks like Jenny hallucinated it. Those are plain normal 5050 WS2812 LEDs. What makes it special is the lens array, that´s it.
Yeah, I’m thinking of this as a modern replacement for the old Edmund Scientific effects projector… doing some effects in software and possibly others optically.
Projectors and water.
Has anyone projected upon flammable gases, then have an animatronic emerge?
Lasers and campfires are interesting
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vxTh2eeOMs
Projectors combined with other equipment, like from Frankenstein lab electronics–as if interacting with jacobs ladder.
So basically what’s below your LCD screen of an SLA printer…