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Thread: Color modulation question

  1. #11
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    Hahaha, man, that VR session was an eye opener for sure. I've got plans for that tech...

  2. #12
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    Yea, that was the genesis of my "concerted effort" comment over on the "unable to ascertain the value" thread. But, I get the gist.

    I've come quite a ways since this thread was started. It's been an epic information binge.

    I now know that either of the units I listed in this thread would fail to meet my needs. My primary interests are beams, designing/manufacturing/enjoying my own lumia wheels, and developing some small abstracts.
    For what I'm looking to do, it appears that anything less than 5 watts is going to come across as anemic looking.

    The challenge now becomes how do I get their without spending 8-10k?

  3. #13
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    What environment are you looking to do this in? The vast majority of folks doing lumia and abstracts are running systems below 5W and with beams 5W carries through a pretty darn big room unless you're fighting a fine pitch video wall. If you're doing abstracts, lower power is going to produce better results if you're on a tight budget. Color modulation rate is very important with abstracts and unless you get into the very expensive gear, the higher the power the lower performance the color modulation.

  4. #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by Vectorfire View Post
    I now know that either of the units I listed in this thread would fail to meet my needs.
    I disagree. The Skywriter HPX tour is extremely well-suited to your needs. The Mobile Beat Mirage would also be suitable, but it has less total output power so it may not "grow" with your needs as your progress.

    My primary interests are beams, designing/manufacturing/enjoying my own lumia wheels, and developing some small abstracts.
    As long as you plan to display these in your own home, even the Mobile Beat Mirage is more than enough. My first projector only produced 500 mw of balanced white, and yet I was able to do this in my living room:


    (direct link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khVGAOLTaTA)

    For what I'm looking to do, it appears that anything less than 5 watts is going to come across as anemic looking.
    Wow - where did you get that idea? 5 watts is a lot of power! Unless you plan to do shows in a large nightclub, or outside, you won't need that much power.

    To put this in perspective: I've done shows in people's backyards for birthdays, pool parties, etc with a pair of 2.5 watt RGB projectors and a fog machine or two, and even when running beam shows the results are amazing. 5 watts is overkill unless you plan to go commercial.

    Adam

  5. #15
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    Bradfo69 is offline Pending BST Forum Purchases: $47,127,283.53
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    A large majority of the projectors used at SELEM were all under 5 watts. Yes, there were some higher powered ones at times and, the outdoor show after SELEM warranted them but, trust me, for what you are doing, 2-3 watts is plenty.
    .
    Speaking of watts... don't be super caught up in "watts". Beam quality and, how those watts are derived are much more important. A low powered projector with really good beam quality can look equally bright if not more so than a high powered or blue heavy projector with crap beam specs.
    PM Sent...

  6. #16
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    Quote Originally Posted by buffo View Post

    Wow - where did you get that idea? 5 watts is a lot of power! Unless you plan to do shows in a large nightclub, or outside, you won't need that much power.

    To put this in perspective: I've done shows in people's backyards for birthdays, pool parties, etc with a pair of 2.5 watt RGB projectors and a fog machine or two, and even when running beam shows the results are amazing. 5 watts is overkill unless you plan to go commercial.

    Adam
    Found it here.

    http://www.laserist.org/guide-to-laser-shows.htm


    Somewhere between 5 and 20 watts is typical for indoor use.
    Guess they need to reel that in just a little. I'm guess they are recommending for commercial application, not personal use.


    Alright ill bite. How does one quantify beam quality? And can such a thing be done from this side of a monitor?
    Last edited by Vectorfire; 08-16-2018 at 05:55.

  7. #17
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    Really into VR here. any multiplayer games you guys play? (sorry for dragging this off topic)

  8. #18
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    There is Beam Diameter usually measured full width half maximum, diode lasers make rectangular beams for the most part, so it will be XxY mm unless a round beam. Round beams are the norm in science and industry for the most part and are easily described. Square beams are not so easy. Some folks try cheat here using weasel words or changing / twisting the Definitions.
    `
    Beam divergence, always in Milliradians.
    `
    Beam Profile, Aka Transverse Mode, Distribution of power across the beam. Usually based on Gaussian Math and Hermite Polynomials. For other then single mode diodes, modern laser diodes ad the ways they are combined, make this hell for non-techies , so we usually just expand it with a lens and take a picture.
    `
    M Squared, a figure of merit used in scientific and industrial lasers. Wiki explains it well.
    `
    Artists and DJ's usually skip everything except initial diameter and divergence. Often this bites them,
    `
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    To their credit, X-laser seriously played with my Beam Profiler at SELEM. I'm sure one is probably in their future.
    An importer of Chinese lasers called me last night asking for a profile measurement, after seeing my post about the gear took to SELEM, so this is heating up. Which will help the industry.


    Steve
    Qui habet Christos, habet Vitam!
    I should have rented the space under my name for advertising.
    When I still could have...

  9. #19
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    Quote Originally Posted by mixedgas View Post
    There is Beam Diameter usually measured full width half maximum, diode lasers make rectangular beams for the most part, so it will be XxY mm unless a round beam. Round beams are the norm in science and industry for the most part and are easily described. Square beams are not so easy. Some folks try cheat here using weasel words or changing / twisting the Definitions.
    `
    Beam divergence, always in Milliradians.
    `
    Beam Profile, Aka Transverse Mode, Distribution of power across the beam. Usually based on Gaussian Math and Hermite Polynomials. For other then single mode diodes, modern laser diodes ad the ways they are combined, make this hell for non-techies , so we usually just expand it with a lens and take a picture.
    `
    M Squared, a figure of merit used in scientific and industrial lasers. Wiki explains it well.
    `
    Artists and DJ's usually skip everything except initial diameter and divergence. Often this bites them,
    `
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    To their credit, X-laser seriously played with my Beam Profiler at SELEM. I'm sure one is probably in their future.
    An importer of Chinese lasers called me last night asking for a profile measurement, after seeing my post about the gear took to SELEM, so this is heating up. Which will help the industry.


    Steve
    Thank you.
    Off to the Wiki I go!

  10. #20
    mixedgas's Avatar
    mixedgas is offline Creaky Old Award Winning Bastard Technologist
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    I should clarify, a diode laser that does not have internal circularization optics emits what is for all practical purposes a fast ellipse and a slow ellipse at right angles to each other.. When stacked by knife edging in a high power projector and then clipped by a crude spatial filter, or clipped by the galvo mirrors (yikes!), they are pretty much rectangular.

    Steve
    Qui habet Christos, habet Vitam!
    I should have rented the space under my name for advertising.
    When I still could have...

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