“Based on the concept behind commercial units, but using everyday items (drinking straws, scrap PVC pipe, a kid’s humidifier from the thrift store, some scrap computer fans), he rigged up a device that creates a thin, even sheet of vapor mist. Almost translucent, but able to catch the light projected onto it from a rear-facing projector — which gives an eerie, floating hologram effect…”
Extremely clever trick from designer John Leung, who’s put a coffee table with an optical grill on top of a rug patterned with a few “hashed” frames of a simple, looping animation. The net result? As you move around the room, the patterns on the rug, viewed through the table, appear to move.
To celebrate the release of our latest publication, the Make: Ultimate Kit Guide 2012 (and its companion website), we’re giving away at least one of the cool kits reviewed in the issue each day during the holiday season.
Instructables user dimovi took an old LCD monitor and moved the top polarizer from the surface of the screen to a pair of glasses worn by the user. Others who look at the monitor, without the polarized glasses, see only a white rectangle. Besides the übergeek cool factor, the mod could be quite useful if you’re concerned about folks looking over your shoulder at the coffee shop.
My friend Karen Nazor send me a link to this video of animations being created, phenakistoscope/persistence of vision-style, on bicycle wheels, using paper cut-outs in the spokes. Really nifty.
I always assumed that the process of making a hologram was so complex that it was limited to only those with access to expensive lasers and other fancy optical equipment. But when I heard that the Maker Shed started carrying Litiholo’s Hologram Kit, I was surprised that such a thing existed and I was eager to give it a try. After carefully following the directions, my first hologram was visible, but just barely. This was better than I expected, actually. The manual stresses that controlling vibration is the most important factor in creating a good hologram, but I live in a busy Brooklyn apartment building that often feels the low rumble of the subway trains rolling by. I tried to make another, but this time I increased the exposure time from five minutes to fifteen as the instructions suggested. The result was a surprisingly sharp hologram of a toy car.
What a difference a couple of years make. Back in 2009, you had to scrounge together a bunch of lenses and glue them to a jar lid if you wanted a smartphone lens carousel. Nowadays you’ve got options.
