Solutions for and Examples of Laser Video?

[glowingpictures]

Hi Laser Friends!!

I am a complete novice when it comes to lasers - my vocation is video: projection mapping, LED mapping, VJing, etc.

I have a project that needs to be visible in the daytime and I'm curious about full-color raster based laser video projection as a possible option.

Could you please link to any great examples of this? What kind of solutions are out there aside from the Pangolin Lasershow Video - VST?

Much appreciated & I look forward to your responses!

Cheers - Owen

[WookieBoy]

Hopefully someone with more experience will chime In shortly, but from what I've seen (and it a limited sample admittedly) you'll be disappointed with raster images. They are much lower resolution and the scan lines tend to be obvious, so you won't get a great image unless you're going for pretty low resolution stuff...
You'd probably be better off looking at more powerful video projectors and stacking them, or go the whole hog and use led wall...

[buffo]

*IF* you have the budget, you can do raster images at higher resolutions using laser projectors. But it's not cheap.

Standard laser controllers with standard laser galvometers can give you 25 to 50 lines of resolution at up to 10 frames per second. This is just enough to discern the image, but it's nowhere near TV quality.

To get true TV resolution (say, 525 lines at 30 frames per second), you will need multiple, synchronized laser projectors and a synchronized spinning polygonal mirror to handle the horizontal scanning. (No galvo currently available can scan at a high enough rate to handle the horizontal scan frequency of a true video signal.) Then you will need to write custom software to control all this hardware.

This has been done in the past by very large laser light show companies with deep pockets and rich clients. It's absolutely not a mainstream effect, however, and I honestly can't remember the last time I've heard of anyone doing it. Steve Roberts can probably point you in the direction of the companies who first pioneered the concept, but I have to warn you that this is going to be very expensive...

Adam

[ghosttrain]

I've heard Sony was working on a laser video projector which is always in focus. So I assume it will be using such a technology.
I've also tested a Showwx pico projector which is also laser scanner based. Though it was only 50 lumens.
http://www.microvision.com/technolog...ay-technology/
Sony has a similar light engine: http://www.engadget.com/2014/02/20/s...-laser-module/
But yeah, none are bright enough for your application.

Perhaps you could use this when it's available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iX8CUVF5Ido
I wouldn't try building my own laser raster projector, I don't know how expensive it will be but it will be difficult project requiring knowledge in several areas.

[ghosttrain]

This might be related: http://exmind.livejournal.com/
Russians like to call "video mapping" shows "3d laser shows" for some reason, but in these videos the videos actually do seem to be generated via a laser scanner. Especially the one where they project green human silhouettes on trees. https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=25&v=yVrhMDBaoQI
I couldn't find any information about the hardware they use from their site.

[masterpj]

This might be related: http://exmind.livejournal.com/
Russians like to call "video mapping" shows "3d laser shows" for some reason, but in these videos the videos actually do seem to be generated via a laser scanner. Especially the one where they project green human silhouettes on trees. https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=25&v=yVrhMDBaoQI
I couldn't find any information about the hardware they use from their site.

This is a video projector for sure.. no lasers to be seen

[ghosttrain]

No video projectors to be seen either. They show an enclosure for outdoor use and you can't tell what's inside. It's just the noticeable beams, scanlines and graininess which makes me feel it's a laser/scanner system and not a video projector. And I wouldn't understand why anyone would use a single green color if they had a regular RGB video projector.

[masterpj]

What it could be is a laser video raster scanner using a MEMS but these things aren't very common.
Which is not galvos

[Laser Wizardry]

" 15 characters"

[ghosttrain]

That's very possible. But I don't see the purpose in getting an actual video projector and only using single green, red or blue color and faking scanlines in every show to make it seem like lasers are used.
Also, it can't be seen from still photos, but in the videos the beams are pretty "sparkly" which I've only noticed with grainy laser beams. I could be wring though.
I can try mimicing scanlines on my projector when it arrives and see how real it looks.