Laser Tag
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| Photo by urban_data |
Take a handful of international graffiti artists, an abandoned building in Rotterdam, a smattering of hot tech (a super-high-intensity 60-milliwatt green laser pointer, a 5,000-lumen DLP projector and a sensitive security camera) all crammed into an old RV; add a sprinkle of the DIY spirit, and what do you get? The coolest thing we saw on the Internet today, that's what.
Basically, the folks at Graffiti Research Lab ("Dedicated to outfitting graffiti artists with open source technologies for urban communication." Hmm, sound familiar?) cooked up the world's largest Etch-a-Sketch. Only instead of twisting those little knobs, you write on an 18-story building with a laser pointer that's capable of popping balloons and igniting match heads on contact. Their whole setup is fully documented (along with the source code to the software they wrote).
Basically, a sensitive security camera and a powerful DLP projector are both trained on the facade of a building. A laptop processes the camera's output and indicates the presence of the laser's cursor, which is then fed to the projector and onto the building in the form of a streak of "paint," all in real time. It looks too fun for words.
Click ahead for an amazing video of the whole setup in action. —John Mahoney
The headline at Fark said: The coolest graffiti you will see Today. I thought to my self,"no way, I've seen Beemer's work. Well, the header was right! I would have paid 100.00 to sit there painting on that wall all night. Far out, man!
Posted by: trog69 | February 20, 2007 at 10:44 PM
This is the KPN building in Rotterdam. It is not an abandoned building though, but quite a new office building. The other side of the building has lights on it that depict all kinds of figures and animations during the day and night:
http://gallery.zoom.nl/image/426436/kpn-gebouw--2-.html
Posted by: Rik Willems | February 22, 2007 at 10:36 AM
Looks like a nifty setup for Jean Michel Jarre's next concert.
There's no end to how cool that is.
Posted by: Cameron Liddiard | February 22, 2007 at 03:08 PM
sweet
Posted by: zach | February 23, 2007 at 12:31 PM
Cool
Posted by: Sarah | February 23, 2007 at 12:35 PM
thats a very great idea! very good for a Jean-Michel Jarre Conzert.
Posted by: mario | February 24, 2007 at 04:32 AM
Very cool video; what's the name of the song playing?
Posted by: Scotty | February 26, 2007 at 11:14 AM
What an excellent ideaq! And how hard, I wonder, was it to keep from writing obscene graffo?
Posted by: bill | February 26, 2007 at 03:12 PM
This is so cool!!! Awesome work.
Posted by: Aerofreak | March 08, 2007 at 05:19 PM
that is so fantastic!!!! good work!!!
Posted by: Airsoft Guns | April 13, 2007 at 09:33 PM
Great work.It's like a science,so difficult:) and FANTASTIC:))
Posted by: steven davies | July 17, 2007 at 11:33 AM