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View Full Version : Time fountain video... Quote a clever strobe effect...



Neil
08-Aug-2006, 12:56 PM
...nothing we haven't seen before, but just done well!

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Adrenochrome
08-Aug-2006, 01:13 PM
that's the coolest thing I've ever seen! I want one!

Neil
08-Aug-2006, 01:20 PM
that's the coolest thing I've ever seen! I want one!

Expect to see these in the shops soon!!

MinionZombie
09-Aug-2006, 11:20 AM
That is friggin' cool ... colourful goo is always a good thing (yes, I do own a ... you know the thing, what are they called again? wax lamp ... those things). It's especially impressive when they make the drops appear to go backwards, especially when the drops appear to even interact in "reversed time" with the stick/finger ... very cool find there Neil.

Philly_SWAT
09-Aug-2006, 11:26 AM
That is pretty cool! Maybe I am a little slow, but that isnt real, is it? I mean, it is like a trick photography thing where the drops are falling up, isnt it? Looks like it to me, like when they are coming up, they are already in two pieces because they just hit the stick, and go into one piece as it "falls up" past the stick.

Neil
09-Aug-2006, 12:30 PM
That is pretty cool! Maybe I am a little slow, but that isnt real, is it? I mean, it is like a trick photography thing where the drops are falling up, isnt it? Looks like it to me, like when they are coming up, they are already in two pieces because they just hit the stick, and go into one piece as it "falls up" past the stick.

No... Entirely legit...

Nothing complicated or magical about it. Have you ever seen a record player with the strobe light on the side that allows you to set the speed of the deck accurately? Same thing!

Imagine a line of identical cars driving on a road in the dark, and you flash a torch very quickly just when each car is passing you. It might look as if the line of cars are infact static if you got your timing right!

With the fountain, all that's happening is a constant line of droplets are pouring out, and the lights strobe (flash) so you catch a glimpse of the droplets in the air. The lights go out, and then a fraction of second later light up again, showing different drops, but in the same place. Hence it appears there are droplets just hovering there.

Speed up the flashes slightly, and the drops haven't quite fallen to the place where its predecessor was before it's lit up, so it looks like the drops are rising.

Slow down the flashes slightly, and the drops fall slightly further than it predecessor was before it's lit up, so it looks like the drops are slowly falling.

Simple.. But looks great :)

MikePizzoff
09-Aug-2006, 12:35 PM
Great find, Neil.

I used to love playing around with strobe lights when I was little. Doing stupid little experiments such as having my friend jump off the bed and hear him hit the ground while still seeing him in mid-air.

MinionZombie
09-Aug-2006, 01:31 PM
We had a strobe light at uni once. We sealed off the living room at night with no lights on and had the strobe going ... we were running around in halloween masks brandishing kitchen knives, running at each other, in a crowded room at the time though. At the time it was hilarious ... but about 10 minutes after scaring ourselves sh*tless from near misses, we figured we'd better stop ... then we put the strobe in our shed.

I actually filmed all that as well, looks kinda cool.

HLS
09-Aug-2006, 02:35 PM
That was way cool! Thanks for sharing:D

OddDNA
09-Aug-2006, 04:46 PM
Ive never heard of any of this stuff but it all makes sense