Page 2 of 2 FirstFirst 12
Results 11 to 14 of 14

Thread: The Perfect Colours, Have I just cracked it?

  1. #11
    Join Date
    Dec 2006
    Location
    Netherlands
    Posts
    983

    Default

    I get great color blends form 650,532, and 473, all around 100mW.
    The problem isn't with the hardware (ok, we do need analog modulation on R,G&B) and not as much with the software(as long as it supports blending) as with most people's tendencies to use primary colors. `We' think in terms of R, G and B - it's technology centered thinking as opposed to artistic thinking. That makes sense since most of us built the projectors ourselves so a technological approach is expected. Now `we' need to become artists

    So I don't think that having color cards etc is going to help much. A great way to tackle this 'problem' is by what has already been started: posting the true artist's work and getting inspired by it. The colors are already in the projectors, just need to find them. Try making non-primary color frames, demand from yourself to make blended color frames only. Blended colors are brighter to begin with anyway Combine blue and red to get colors that are not in the rainbow!

    E.g. , I could not imagine how to get brown light before trying - but it can be done.

  2. #12
    Join Date
    Jan 2006
    Location
    Charleston, SC
    Posts
    2,147,489,446

    Smile More thoughts on color...

    One thing to remember is that Hugo uses Pangolin hardware and software. And Pangolin supports 3 different color palettes. A white, or "fully balanced" palette, a "High Saturation" palette, and a "Full Power" palette.

    The "Fully-Balanced" palette is the one that mixes several different wavelengths to give you weird colors. For example, the target wavelength for red in the fully balanced palette is actually 610 nm (to be close to the red phosphor of a TV set). So the software mixes in some green to make your red look more orange. This can give you some really interesting colors when you mix this new "orange-red" with other wavelengths.

    Hugo uses Pangolin's color system to create some amazing effects. If you'd like a taste of what this color system is capable of, have a look at the "Gradient-Moby" show from Pangolin the next time you're at a Laser Enthusiast's Meeting. The colors are absolutely astounding in that show.

    As others have said, so long as you have analog modulation on all your lasers, you can create just about any color. The selection and sizing of the lasers ahead of time is only to make sure that you don't "waste" power by having a high power laser running at much lower power in order to get good color balance. But with analog modulation, so long as you are "in the ball park", so to speak, you'll be fine.

    However, there are some limits on the ability to create all possible colors. If you look at a color chart, you'll see that by choosing any 3 wavelengths around the edge, you create a triangle. Any color inside the triangle is a color you can recreate with your three lasers. If you add a 4th laser to your projector, you end up with a quadrilateral, and again - any color inside is one you can recreate.

    Thus, it's easy to see that there are trade-offs involved. If you select 473 nm for your blue, you can't create a deep violet. (It's outside the triangle.) On the other hand, if you use 445 nm for your blue, then you miss out on the bright, piercing blue that you would get from 473 nm. (Draw a line from 445 nm up to 532 nm and you'll see that 473 nm is outside the triange.) Note that the appearance of the CIE color chart is limited by the phosphors of your monitor, so you may not see the vast difference in color between 445 nm and 473 nm on your screen.

    I have seen projectors running both 635 nm red and 660 nm red. And in a side-by-side comparison, I think the difference between the two reds is minimal. The 660 nm red does look a bit deeper, but it's not a huge difference. Thus your choice of red doesn't really affect your color balance that much.

    Most of use use 532nm for green. Green happens to be near the top of the peak on the color chart, so again, the specific wavelength you use for green doesn't have all that much effect on the color balance. (Though some people swear by the 514 nm green from an argon laser.)

    On the other hand, when I saw a projector that had 445 nm blue in it, the difference was striking. The blue was *much* deeper. Initially, it was an interesting effect, but after watching a few shows I decided that I didn't care for the deep blue. I missed the 473 nm blue that I had seen in so many other projectors.

    And this was not a cheap, low-power projector either. In fact, it was a 3 watt RGB Infinity projector from MediaLas. So it represented pretty close to the top of the line. And even so, I prefered the colors I was able to create with my own projector at home.

    I believe this is largely a matter of personal preference. Some people really like the deep blue line, and do not care for the 473 nm line. Likewise, many people do not like the 488 nm argon line. (Sam Goldwasser calls it, "The blue that wants to be green"!) As for me, I prefer a "brighter" blue, as opposed to the violet-blue of 445 nm.

    Of course, if you have more lines in your projector, you can cover a larger section of the CIE color chart, and thus you will be able to recreate more colors. This is why a Krypton-Argon mixed gas laser with an 8 channel PCAOM looks so great. There are numerous lines to choose from, so the largest possible area of the CIE color chart can be covered.

    Bottom line - I think the blue line has the largest effect on your color palette. Of course, 445 nm blue is a lot more expensive than 473 nm blue, so even if you prefer the deeper blue, you may not be able to afford it! The really important factor is to ensure you have analog modulation on all your lasers. That way you have the maximum color space to work in.

    Adam

  3. #13
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
    Location
    Central Florida
    Posts
    7,067

    Lightbulb

    Yep, it is time to start working towards that fifth laser in the projector.
    Last edited by allthatwhichis; 10-12-2008 at 07:22.
    Love, peace, and grease,

    allthat... aka: aaron@pangolin

  4. #14
    Join Date
    Jan 2007
    Location
    Florida
    Posts
    4,382

    Default

    Nice ASCII drawing Aaron, reminds me of Sam's FAQ

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •