Laser Tag

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

Comments

[trog69]

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!

[Rik Willems]

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

[Cameron Liddiard]

Looks like a nifty setup for Jean Michel Jarre's next concert.

There's no end to how cool that is.

[zach]

sweet

[Sarah]

Cool

[mario]

thats a very great idea! very good for a Jean-Michel Jarre Conzert.

[Scotty]

Very cool video; what's the name of the song playing?

[bill]

What an excellent ideaq! And how hard, I wonder, was it to keep from writing obscene graffo?

[Aerofreak]

This is so cool!!! Awesome work.

[Airsoft Guns]

that is so fantastic!!!! good work!!!

[steven davies]

Great work.It's like a science,so difficult:) and FANTASTIC:))

[DLP Projector]

Okay, this really goes into the "Wow" category.

[Zoneaire]

haha that is awesome!

[AEG Airsoft Guns]

Alot of airsoft rifles now are looking just like the real deal. It's pretty controversial but you can get exact weights and materials of originals. Like here AEG Airsoft Guns.

[DLP Home Projector]

Chicago is trying to get the 2016 Summer Olympics. It could be very interesting to see some of the skyscrapers here using this type of projection to get the message across.

[Unomito]

Hi, I just saw some really cool laser graffitti videos on this other website, thought I´d share with you guys since you might be interested too:

http://www.sensaa.com/en/laser-graffiti

[laser pointer]

it's like a giant projector screen.. oops no, it's not! it's a building!

[flowers]

I really liked your article.I really like flowers and also interested to send flowers all over the world.......

[green laser pointers]

crazy, what a high powerful laser!

[airsoft guns]

Thats friggen rad, I would love to do that to my office that would surely freak my boss out. Any one know how i can get ahold of these guys. LOL

[Embroidered shirts]

Great videos are presented their and I really appreciate to meet to this site.

[Laser Pointers - Laptops]

I want to thank for that information which is provided here. I also thank the people who contribute their comments on this blog.

[best laser pointers]

well done!so amazing!

[Mike]

Wow! I didn't know grafiti artists were into science.

[laser pointer]

wow, laser tag is looking pretty cool! thank you very much for sharing such wonderful works.