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Show HN: Laser Graffiti

laser.consti.de

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Re: Show HN: Laser Graffiti

#21

Post by clickety_clack »

brianpan wrote: post #19
Vakaiser wrote: post #10

While this is interesting, what I really wanted to see was more 'graffiti' and less 'laser'. Graffiti, fundamentally, is a defacement of public property as a form of artistic self expression. To that end, why not combine this with a laser engraver instead of a laser pointer ? Imagine hooking this up and then literally carving your graffiti into the side of a brick building. Or burning it into the paint on a metal con…

Defacement is not the point of graffiti. It's fundamentally visual, not fundamentally destructive.

Ask the people who have to clean it off.

Re: Show HN: Laser Graffiti

#25

Post by trashcan_man »

Vakaiser wrote: post #10

While this is interesting, what I really wanted to see was more 'graffiti' and less 'laser'. Graffiti, fundamentally, is a defacement of public property as a form of artistic self expression. To that end, why not combine this with a laser engraver instead of a laser pointer ? Imagine hooking this up and then literally carving your graffiti into the side of a brick building. Or burning it into the paint on a metal con…

"Can you tell the jury what you told investigators when you decided to use computerized directed energy weapons to target civllian infrastructure?"

"...rule of cool?"

Re: Show HN: Laser Graffiti

#26

Post by trial3 »

thot_experiment wrote: post #9

https://graffitiresearchlab.com/blog/projects/laser-tag/#vid... everything old is new again, and toys will be toys

i’m so happy this is the top comment. i’m someone who found the GRL as… a middle schooler and boy was it the coolest thing i’ve ever seen at the time

Re: Show HN: Laser Graffiti

#27

Post by con »

thot_experiment wrote: post #9

https://graffitiresearchlab.com/blog/projects/laser-tag/#vid... everything old is new again, and toys will be toys

Thanks! This was absolutely the inspiration - and I've also mentioned it on the page (right under the video) and in the repository's Readme.

Re: Show HN: Laser Graffiti

#29

Post by con »

Hi HN and สวัสดีครับ! I remember seeing this the first time in Vienna by a friend of mine, Michi who came back from NYC and I believe he learned about it at the local hacker space at the time: NYC resistor.

I knew Michi through the Metalab, our hacker space in Vienna. Originally the idea seems to have been from the Graffiti Research Lab, which is also what I've linked to on my page and in the repo's Readme.

I think the version that Michi used was a MacOS app (not sure which framework), but I've always wanted to make it a web app. So all you need now is a projector, a laser pointer, and a laptop (with a camera).

I've already tried a few fun setups (eg using the iPhone's camera or using AirPlay connected to the projector). It's quite flexible.

Let me know if you end up using it and please share videos / photos and I'd be happy to put them up.

I know the original is old-skool cool, which I think makes this a fun project.

I'll try to set it up at the next CCC (2027) - if you see me there, come say Hi (I'll probably be in a banana costume).

Re: Show HN: Laser Graffiti

#30

Post by echelon »

trial3 wrote: post #26
thot_experiment wrote: post #9

https://graffitiresearchlab.com/blog/projects/laser-tag/#vid... everything old is new again, and toys will be toys

i’m so happy this is the top comment. i’m someone who found the GRL as… a middle schooler and boy was it the coolest thing i’ve ever seen at the time

I love this project!

I saw this back in the day and it inspired me to build this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x034jVB1avs

I hacked together some game jam games with it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zd7A6TEthPQ

Alexis Ohanian commented on my video, which was awesome:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uF_OCvjq3ps

I eventually built a laser drawing system too. I used a 532 nanometer optical filter taped to a webcam to isolate green laser pointer light, then drew a sampled approximation of the shapes. I recorded that somewhere, but never uploaded it...

In retrospect, I'm glad I didn't get in trouble for this.

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