Projecting logos on clouds

[kel19700]

Hi all, A friend of mine runs a large promotions comany and has been asked if he can supply a laser that would project logo's etc onto clouds.

They are looking for blue in colour, so what power do you guys think would be needed (dont think budget is an issue) for nice bright crisp projection.

Kell

[andy_con]

10000000000000000watts

[m0f]

Projecting on clouds is hit and miss. Regardless of laser power it's fairly dependent on weather conditions. Having low overcast dense clouds is not something that can be depended on.

That being said when the conditions are perfect I've had ok results with 8W of 445nm on very low dense clouds. Green would be a lot better due to the difference in visibility and more power would be better for sure.

In general, lower divergence / tighter beams of course will be better for slightly higher cloud bases and longer distances. But in general the conditions have to be perfect in order for it to work well, and that's not something that will happen reliably often.

[TechJunkie]

(dont think budget is an issue)

It will cost you 100 Billion dollars!!!

[kel19700]

Thanks mof, yes i know the conditions have to be pretty much spot on and the football club that wants to install the laser are aware of this.

I suggested using green but as there local rivals have green in there logo its a no go.

Thanks

[badger1666]

Blue is no good 445 will just be a blur at night
At that distance ,my 10w rgb projecting white does well on a low cloud night

[kel19700]

Yes , looking to mix green and blue for a nice bright blue.

[m0f]

Another thing worth mentioning is viewing angle. In order to get decent results the intended audience should be fairly close to the laser source and looking up at a similar angle to which the laser is projecting. As a cloud is not a solid surface, looking at the projection, at a different angle / a distance away from the projector, it will end up looking blurry / not as intended.

[Photonbeam]

This subject comes up on a regular basis here.
http://www.photonlexicon.com/forums/...ing-in-the-Sky

[mixedgas]

If your not within 8 miles of a airport with scheduled passenger or freight service, can have a dedicated operator watching for planes, by all means, install a laser made by a reputable company that has been in business for a while and will still be there tomorrow. You can get in closer then 8 miles, but often the beams have to be terminated on something. Downers at stadiums, Metal Halide lighting kind of washes out cloud scanning. Helps if you can knock back the lighting for 10-20 minutes during laser time.

Get a laser professional or a few PLers to look at your site, often things like scrims, waterscreens, scanning on existing structures can be done instead of cloud scan.
Steve