5 ms·

Recreating the “Asteroids” graphics with a single-beam laser projector [video]

97 points by eddyg 10y ago

db48x 10y ago
Beautiful
jasonkostempski 10y ago
I love this guys projects. I have a friend that collects vector graphics arcade machines and he got me into them a few years ago. I played them plenty as a kid but never really thought about how they worked before. After learning about them, one of my first thought was how it was like a laser show but never followed up to see if anyone had done anything like that. When this video showed up in my feed last week, I was ecstatic. I'm really hoping to find the time to dig into doing something like it. I'd love to see a comeback of arcade machines that are very hardware specific instead of using generic displays and controls.
M_Grey 10y ago
This is the real intersection of games and art, for me. I'd love to see it in person.
stefco_ 10y ago
4 Watts! That is a ridiculous amount of power for a project like this. No wonder the screen is so bright! For those of you who want another point of comparison for how powerful this laser is, advanced LIGO detected gravitational waves for the first time in 2015 with an average laser power of only 23W[0] (though we use a lot of tricks to boost the power of the beam, like Fabry-Perot cavities in the detector arms). [0] https://www.advancedligo.mit.edu/aug_2016_news.html https://www.advancedligo.mit.edu/aug_2016_news.html
echelon 10y ago
I did a really crappy version of this in undergrad years ago, also with 4 watts. I also projected pong onto skyscrapers in Atlanta. I have several videos of this at http://lasers.io http://lasers.io
- i336_ 10y ago
  In the pong video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x034jVB1avs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x034jVB1avs) I find it absolutely hilarious that you practically just grabbed a random guy to play it while you filmed.
sehugg 10y ago
On early pre-production Atari vector games, you could burn a hole in the phosphor all the way to the glass if you left the electron gun active too long without moving the beam. They added a "spot killer" circuit that turned the beam off if you left in place too long. (From "The Secret Life of XY Monitors": http://www.jmargolin.com/xy/xymon.htm http://www.jmargolin.com/xy/xymon.htm)
tyingq 10y ago
Not quite as cool as laser beams, but if you have an oscilloscope with an x/y mode: https://www.nycresistor.com/2012/09/03/vector-display/ https://www.nycresistor.com/2012/09/03/vector-display/
ejfox 10y ago
Okay, real talk, where do I get / buy / make one?
- echelon 10y ago
  Try the Photon Lexicon forums. There are lots of knowledgeable people there, and it's easy to price out a build (or buy a projector). A lot of us work on open source bindings. (Much of my laser code is in Python and Rust and is available on Github, linked in my profile.)
Animats 10y ago
Unfortunately, the mirror galvos are much slower than moving an electron beam around. So he can't do a full Asteroids game. It would be straightforward to do Asteroids on an analog oscilloscope, but the screen is kind of small. (4 WATTS of laser power? He's going to burn through his screen if the beam stops moving.)
- timthorn 10y ago
  Yeah, we tried hooking an original system to a laser projector at a hack night for the Centre for Computing History back in 2010 and as you say found the galvos just couldn't keep up :/ http://www.computinghistory.org.uk/pages/14439/Hackers-Delight http://www.computinghistory.org.uk/pages/14439/Hackers-Delig... A few seconds from 1:42 catches the work: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUEPSuQ6PMs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUEPSuQ6PMs
- dukoid 10y ago
  Like the most amazing quake port ever? :) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMli33ornEU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMli33ornEU
  - Animats 10y ago
    Cute. They're getting analog output from slow audio D/As, which is why the graphics are so shaky. The scope is orders of magnitude faster. Here's someone who used the output from a VGA port, which has megahertz-bandwidth D/As on the output end. Much better. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfBwz_SiK8s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfBwz_SiK8s
- echelon 10y ago
  High power is necessary for brightness while scanning over a large surface area. Most laser projectionists know what 4W will do if left still. I'd be more worried about my eyes if I were to look at a single 4W point on the wall than even the damage to the screen! As far as flicker and point rate is concerned, it's possible to divide rendering work between projectors.
jansan 10y ago
There was actually game console called Vectrex that included a vector monitor. All the games were based on vector graphics. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vectrex https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vectrex
Already__Taken 10y ago
I'll plug Sebs Creative Coding podcast then since the video doesn't seem to haha. http://creativecodingpodcast.com/ http://creativecodingpodcast.com/

97 points by eddyg 10y ago

db48x 10y ago

Beautiful

I love this guys projects. I have a friend that collects vector graphics arcade machines and he got me into them a few years ago. I played them plenty as a kid but never really thought about how they worked before. After learning about them, one of my first thought was how it was like a laser show but never followed up to see if anyone had done anything like that. When this video showed up in my feed last week, I was ecstatic. I'm really hoping to find the time to dig into doing something like it. I'd love to see a comeback of arcade machines that are very hardware specific instead of using generic displays and controls.

M_Grey 10y ago

This is the real intersection of games and art, for me. I'd love to see it in person.

stefco_ 10y ago

4 Watts! That is a ridiculous amount of power for a project like this. No wonder the screen is so bright! For those of you who want another point of comparison for how powerful this laser is, advanced LIGO detected gravitational waves for the first time in 2015 with an average laser power of only 23W[0] (though we use a lot of tricks to boost the power of the beam, like Fabry-Perot cavities in the detector arms). [0] https://www.advancedligo.mit.edu/aug_2016_news.html https://www.advancedligo.mit.edu/aug_2016_news.html

echelon 10y ago

I did a really crappy version of this in undergrad years ago, also with 4 watts. I also projected pong onto skyscrapers in Atlanta. I have several videos of this at http://lasers.io http://lasers.io

i336_ 10y ago
In the pong video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x034jVB1avs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x034jVB1avs) I find it absolutely hilarious that you practically just grabbed a random guy to play it while you filmed.

sehugg 10y ago

On early pre-production Atari vector games, you could burn a hole in the phosphor all the way to the glass if you left the electron gun active too long without moving the beam. They added a "spot killer" circuit that turned the beam off if you left in place too long. (From "The Secret Life of XY Monitors": http://www.jmargolin.com/xy/xymon.htm http://www.jmargolin.com/xy/xymon.htm)

tyingq 10y ago

Not quite as cool as laser beams, but if you have an oscilloscope with an x/y mode: https://www.nycresistor.com/2012/09/03/vector-display/ https://www.nycresistor.com/2012/09/03/vector-display/

ejfox 10y ago

Okay, real talk, where do I get / buy / make one?

echelon 10y ago
Try the Photon Lexicon forums. There are lots of knowledgeable people there, and it's easy to price out a build (or buy a projector). A lot of us work on open source bindings. (Much of my laser code is in Python and Rust and is available on Github, linked in my profile.)

Animats 10y ago

Unfortunately, the mirror galvos are much slower than moving an electron beam around. So he can't do a full Asteroids game. It would be straightforward to do Asteroids on an analog oscilloscope, but the screen is kind of small. (4 WATTS of laser power? He's going to burn through his screen if the beam stops moving.)

timthorn 10y ago
Yeah, we tried hooking an original system to a laser projector at a hack night for the Centre for Computing History back in 2010 and as you say found the galvos just couldn't keep up :/ http://www.computinghistory.org.uk/pages/14439/Hackers-Delight http://www.computinghistory.org.uk/pages/14439/Hackers-Delig... A few seconds from 1:42 catches the work: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUEPSuQ6PMs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUEPSuQ6PMs
dukoid 10y ago
Like the most amazing quake port ever? :) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMli33ornEU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMli33ornEU
- Animats 10y ago
  Cute. They're getting analog output from slow audio D/As, which is why the graphics are so shaky. The scope is orders of magnitude faster. Here's someone who used the output from a VGA port, which has megahertz-bandwidth D/As on the output end. Much better. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfBwz_SiK8s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfBwz_SiK8s
echelon 10y ago
High power is necessary for brightness while scanning over a large surface area. Most laser projectionists know what 4W will do if left still. I'd be more worried about my eyes if I were to look at a single 4W point on the wall than even the damage to the screen! As far as flicker and point rate is concerned, it's possible to divide rendering work between projectors.

jansan 10y ago

There was actually game console called Vectrex that included a vector monitor. All the games were based on vector graphics. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vectrex https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vectrex

Already__Taken 10y ago

I'll plug Sebs Creative Coding podcast then since the video doesn't seem to haha. http://creativecodingpodcast.com/ http://creativecodingpodcast.com/