indoor beamshow questions

[michelrietveld]

Hi, if i am creating a show and want to sneek peak how it will look and i do not want to fill up my living room with smoke, is the only way the preview window or is there an alternative like a plexiglass aquarium upside down on the table filled with smoke to see how it looks like?
any ideas?

Michel

[allthatwhichis]

Hi, if i am creating a show and want to sneek peak how it will look and i do not want to fill up my living room with smoke, is the only way the preview window or is there an alternative like a plexiglass aquarium upside down on the table filled with smoke to see how it looks like?
any ideas?

Michel

You're aquarium ideas is the best one I have heard. You could take your projector into another room instead of your living room, but you still have to fill it up with smoke or fog.

[JohnYayas]

Pup tent. Pup tent.

[norty303]

and i do not want to fill up my living room with smoke

Why, do your windows not open?

You will only need the very smallest puff from a fogger/hazer to see what it looks like very clearly, and it'll clear in minutes if you open a door/window.
I can tell you that I've not even been able to see the fog in the air with the lights on, but its lit up the beams well once the lights are out.

[PhantomRage]

I filled my house full of fog to freak out the kids on Halloween late at nite. All was well till I set off the smoke alarms. The wife had no ideal I was up to a "prank" she thought the house was on fire. All hell broke loose and I am no longer allowed to use it in the house.

But once the windows and doors were open, it all went away......

[hakzaw1]

Surely, you know someone with a garage- put the car outside- close the door - it will not need a lot of fogging to see the efxs. Once you open that big door the fog will be gone very quickly- take some pics/vids while you are at it and give us a sneak peek too.

good luck to you... hak

[Stuka]

See if you can get a can of "Fantasy FX" or other similar theatrical spray haze.
Works pretty well indoors, and is great for spot-checking beam effects.
(I still use it quite a bit when testing shows in my apartment).

Be advised -
If you go this route, use sparingly!
If you get TOO carried away, the smoke alarms WILL go off, and the fire department WILL show up!!!

[hakzaw1]

^^^^ thats a mistake you will only make once!! lmao

Last year at SELEM I mentioned that Texas needed a LEM to Adam and he said 'just do it'! So for the next hour or so he gave me the quick tutorial on doing LEM and that was one of the first things he said.. Be sure to not set off any fire alarms. Buffo also said that the easiest way to work around ones built in(ie those where all you need do more than remove the battery[s]) was to call the fire dept and or alarm company and tell them that the alarm system will be tested several times over the next day or so and to not respond. The 'Fog in A Can' idea is a good one- they can be gotten on-line... just do a search.

btw I held the first ever SoTexLEM a few months later and it was easy and well worth the effort. I still owe a debt of gratitude to Adam 'Buffo'-- Adam '300 Evil' and 'Platinum' Jonathon for driving down from Houston and doing 5 hours of lasershows for us. This years' promises to be bigger and better.

hak

[Stuka]

^^^^ thats a mistake you will only make once!! lmao

...hak

Yep -

And my wife reminds me of that anytime I mention setting up lasers inside the house!!!

[White-Light]

I'd say beware the fog in a can. I got some from Maplin once and it was obviously oil based.

Every single surface in the room became coated and I ended up having to clean the room top to bottom as everything was left with a coating of oil!!! It was a right job!

As for water based smoke, I've used it indoors. Only draw back is it settles into soft furnishings such as carpets and smells for a long time afterwards.

Don't you have a garage or cellar which you could smoke?

Also, pretty obvious, but watch your eyes indoors as viewing distances will be very low. Either stay outside of the beams or use a bam around your head in your sitting area but be aware of the risks if the BAM map should fail for any reason.