New New New: Welcome Post!

[ayags]

Hi there!

My name is Alexandra Yagilowich and somehow I missed the place where I was told to introduce myself before posting so here I go:

I am a graduate student studying Interaction design and performance art in London at the Bartlett Architecture School. I come from an interior design background so prior to this year I had never written a line of code in my life. Now, I frequently use creative coding with processing and arduino for lights and motors, as well as MaxMSP for sound. Although I can understand and comprehend these things, my knowledge and skills are more architecturally based, so 3D modelling and rendering is really my strong suit. I came to this program because I have been designing stages for local music festivals back home (I'm from New York/ Philly originally) and wanted to learn more skills regarding lighting/ sound/ fabrication techniques to cut out some of the middle men and do a lot of the work myself (and keep my costs down). So I'm really new to lighting and sound, as well.

My pride and joy is my ongoing thesis project that I began in April of this year and will finish in Novemeber. It's loosely based on the 1970's board game Mastermind but is also very similar to the game Simple Simon, as its a sound interactive game.

As I come from the architecture field, I've always had the intention of making this game more spatial and experiential, which is how I came upon this amazing forum! I am planning to take the same concept (and similar code) as Mastermind 3.0 (video above) but instead of a traditional MIDI keyboard as the input, having interactive DMX controlled RGB lasers (like a laser harp) as the input and DMX controlled stage lights as the output. Like I've said, I'm very new to all of this so any advice is appreciated, especially when it comes to safety and calibrating for 90 degree angle!

Thanks everyone, hope to get to know you all more soon!

 

[paul1598419]

Welcome to the LPF, Alexandra. The major problem I see with your laser harp strings are visibility. Anything powerful enough to be seen like your diagrams will be so powerful that they will be an eye hazard. Laser light is focused to a tiny spot on the retina by the eye's lens, so anything over 5 mW is too powerful to allow our blink reflex to keep it from damaging our retinas. This reflex is considered to be ~0.25 seconds.

 

[ayags]

Hey there, can you explain this a bit more? It is a bit confusing to me that the lasers would be too powerful for the eyes? There's plenty of laser light shows and what not that have powerful lasers that don't blind, no? Or you're just saying I should be looking at laser's under 5mw? Thanks!

Welcome to the LPF, Alexandra. The major problem I see with your laser harp strings are visibility. Anything powerful enough to be seen like your diagrams will be so powerful that they will be an eye hazard. Laser light is focused to a tiny spot on the retina by the eye's lens, so anything over 5 mW is too powerful to allow our blink reflex to keep it from damaging our retinas. This reflex is considered to be ~0.25 seconds.

 

[Encap]

See this good laser hazard chart: https://www.lasersafetyfacts.com/resources/FAA---visible-laser-hazard-calcs-for-LSF-v02.png

For more complete and detailed information see this excellent web site: https://www.laserpointersafety.com/

IN USA the FDA laws, rules and regulations cover all lasers See: https://www.fda.gov/radiation-emitt...-and-entertainment-products/laser-light-shows

 

[ayags]

Pardon my ignorance but this is all just numbers and symbols that have no actual context to me, as I'm very new to all this. I'm still not clear on what the issue is? If the lasers I would be using are RGB, are they not calibrated for such power?

See this good laser hazard chart: https://www.lasersafetyfacts.com/resources/FAA---visible-laser-hazard-calcs-for-LSF-v02.png

For more complete and detailed information see this excellent web site: https://www.laserpointersafety.com/

IN USA the FDA laws, rules and regulations cover all lasers See: https://www.fda.gov/radiation-emitt...-and-entertainment-products/laser-light-shows

 

[paul1598419]

The difference is the laser light shows are seen as against a target, like a screen, while the beams are not actually able to come in contact with one's eyes like it could with your setup. The laser's beam could be focused to a much smaller point on your retinas if they contacted the pupil of your eyes.

 

[Encap]

The difference is the laser light shows are seen as against a target, like a screen, while the beams are not actually able to come in contact with one's eyes like it could with your setup. The laser's beam could be focused to a much smaller point on your retinas if they contacted the pupil of your eyes.

Exactly.

Pardon my ignorance but this is all just numbers and symbols that have no actual context to me, as I'm very new to all this. I'm still not clear on what the issue is? If the lasers I would be using are RGB, are they not calibrated for such power?

You don't get it--what you want to make is a daydream based upon your imagination/imaginings about lasers not an accomplished and available reality of lasers in the real world. There is nothing ready made off the shelf for what you want to do/your purpose.
If your window is 4 weeks to complete a project it is an impossible situation IMHO.
Will take that long just to get a single RGB module from China and play with it to see if it is suited to your purpose before you order 8 of them. Same to experiment with single diodes , drivers for each, lenses , heatsinks, and housings

You really should get an education about lasers and what they do and don't do/how they behave + what relative visual brightness at same mW output is by comparison of different wavelengths to wavelength ex: a 100mW 532nm green is 10X visually brighter than a 100mW 445nm blue + laser safety before you make a device using 8 of them. There is a lot of details learn to comprehend lasers that are not intuitive.
If you know nothing about lasers it will be impossible to do what you want quickly and safely. Generally, anything you do with RGB laser modules or individual diodes will either be dangerous and able to damage eyesight or visually so weak that visibility is a problem.

Would be would be up to you to make whatever it is "eye safe" and implement laser safety measures and safe use practices . Lasers are dangerous and can cause eye damage.---anything sold in EU above 1mW is against the laws and rules and in USA anything over 5mW is illegal to import and sell within the USA to USA customers.
See the Chart link I gave you a link to for eye damage distances for different wavelengths and outputs .

No, nothing offered from China, or very little, and none of the $50-$100 modules is calibrated to comply with US or EU output laws + all of them are a mix of different mW outputs of red , green , and blue--all of them more than powerful enough to cause eye damage + most of the low cost RGB module has less than accurate beam combining to make white or colors other than red green and blue. The $50 modules are all set to do and illusion of "white". You would have to adjust them for colors.

 

[hakzaw1]

THIS IS the correct 'section' for an 'intro' (better if you had a location intro the 'intro' title as well as in your profile.

Sounds like you need hands-on help.

Thousands of laser shows in the USA are perfectly safe-- viewing a LaserShow while wearing safety glasses would not work well. HOWEVER all the lasershow workers wear laser protection... in fact each worker MUST at least have them on his person per FDA 'rules' .

IN Moscow dozens of people were injured when a poorly planned show went bad.

Your questions about lasers are not in the correct section-- WELCOME/Newcomers section is for your intro...NOT for questions.

Search 'Laser Harp'-- might be helpful.

Viewing lasers from the 'side' is the hardest to see well-- from behind the viewer or coming at you (way overhead) are seen much better. AND Green is by far much easier for humans to see --even w/o fog or smoke.

good luck and protect your eyes at all times.

Len