Comment by possibilistic | Hacker News Reader

Comment by possibilistic | Hacker News Reader

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Laser projection.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x034jVB1avs (Pong on a 20 story building, billboards, etc.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5S5_v2By3Ec (Multiple laser projectors)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2m-A9LvPbmg (Canny edge detector)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5XTi-jf-ans (Asteroids on a 4 story building)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uF_OCvjq3ps (Reddit's Snoo on a 20 story building)

I've just added a second projector and a few more dacs (thanks to a very generous donor). I'm doing multiprojection and rectification/distortion now. I'm planning to get Skyscraper Tetris and Breakout going with some additional hardware.

I need about ten projectors at 60kpps (or 80kpps at low scan angle) with a combined wattage of 20W or so. I have endless ideas: I'll bring it online, do live art/graffiti, turn buildings into twitter feeds, multiplayer gaming, and NES emulator, etc.

I wish I could afford more hardware and the ability to work on this full time. :(

I'm a little confused - what exactly are you doing? Are you making the projectors? Are you programming the game? What software are you using? Are you sensing what it's being projected on?

Some of the hardware was built (one of the projectors), some of it is purchased (a second projector due to time constraints, and all of the DACs). The games, graphic engine, DAC comms, etc. are all programmed in a mix of Python and C++. Most projection software available is commercial and expensive, so I've rolled my own stack.

I'm working towards surface distortion mapping, which is increasingly important in the umbrella concern of rectifying multiple projectors onto a single coplanar/colinear surface. I'm going to project a series of grids and have OpenCV automatically align all of the projectors. From there I'll be working with a logical "frame buffer" (really coordinate/transform buffer) that is relayed over the network to a graphics server that will dispatch the drawing jobs and topologically sort objects unless they have preassigned projector-affinity.

As far as I know, nobody else is building a beowulf cluster of laser projectors for interactive display. That's my endgame. Really fluid, bright, fast laser light with incredible geometric output capacity. It won't be limited to 2D if I can get design a decent wireframe or clipping/culling engine.

There is a company in Montreal called VYV (I am not associated with them but a friend works there) who are doing lots of projector/projection type work.. I don't know if they work with lasers but they are definitely working on solving the whole multi-projector and distortion mapping stuff that you're tackling..

They might be interested in talking to you, they're still fairly small and startup-ish but they're doing big things..

http://www.vyv.ca/

I'll definitely look into these guys. I'm unable to relocate right now, but there might be some future opportunity waiting.

Thanks for the heads up!

That is just amazing. Keep it up.

I can imagine a future, where homeless people are playing pong on the wall of some gas station.

Having a github or a website to follow this would be neat.

I wouldn't mind playing a game of chess on the side of a building.

https://github.com/echelon/laser-testbed

You can also find more stuff that he's done at his website, http://brand.io/

Curious, are there any safety implications? What happens if the light shines directly into someone's eyes? Like if you projected on a building and the laser light went through a window and hit someone in the eye.

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