# Holographic Faerie flys through cave in viv: Proof of concept...



## Dendro Dave (Aug 2, 2005)

So after a long break I'm back on DB, and here is my newest viv project....some of you may have seen me mention it in recent threads. I did a ghetto mock up to get an idea how how to set it up and how it would look. Here is a short video...

*View in 720-1080p and fullscreen to get more feel for the 3d effect*





This is part of a viv that will incorporate many of my FX ideas, like led mood/underwater lighting, fiber optic star scape, uv/glow/blacklight FX, storm/lighting/fog Fx, etc..etc.... 

I'm using my old galaxy s, which will be sealed as best I can against moisture and be permanently plugged in probably. will be a rock floor, and that with the screen should mostly seal up the cave, and with the cave itself the phone won't get wet while misting.

It should also be possible to suspend the phone from the lid, with the thin clear nearly invisible screen hanging down, and project things that look like they are hovering in the air. It is also possible to build an entire viv set up to reflect the image over the land scape...such as a storm cloud shooting 
lightning.

Multiple screens, 3-4 way split videos can allow you to layer the images for a greater 3d effect such as the id3g uses. In the pyramid or partial pyramid type setups video shot from different angles and arranged in a 4 way + configuration allows you to walk 360 around the object like in the cheoptics video. 

For one directional viewing though you just need 1 display above or below with a reflecting clear sheet at a 45 degree angle towards or away from you depending if you have the projecting display above or below the angled reflecting screen.

In the id3g example, you could use 3 phones and 3 different videos all lined up to achieve the same effect only larger since it is 3 whole screens instead of 1 split into 3 parts....need a deep cave though (2 is probably good enough and more doable in most vivs) 


I'm using the principles in these videos...

I3dg (don't know why they don't flip this over like I did in my version, and have the phone on top...makes it harder to see the screen so you get a better overall effect)





Cheopics pyramid 360..





This could be a viv! if you lit it from the sides or something....I'm convinced there is a way to light one of these adequately enough for plants and at least get the 3d effect from 2 sides.





This video shows you how to make a simple pyramid system with your phone, and demonstrates how they split the video to get the 360 degree view...





So don't throw away you're old phones people... with a few of the right apps (video looper) and an appropriate video loop (usually something on a black background) you can add some motion to your vivariums. Plus old smart phones still work on wi-fi and stuff with no calling plan...you can even setup voip and make calls on them for free....they are basically a mini pc/media player even without a contract.

Or it can be as simple as leaving a clear part on the back glass in your background and a mount to slide a phone or other display device into place to project a partial or full video background/sky or introduce some moving elements into the scene.

The next step when I have the cash, is to use some of the small parrallax glasses free 3d media players, or used 3d smart phones, and plaster that against the back glass, with a little cave entrance area built into the background and/or platform that acts like a stage for the displayed character to act on.

Anyways this is just a rough mock up, with visible take and wires because the usb socket is broke on that phone. I had to wire the charger directly to the battery contacts lol... I'll clean it up, use a better less scuffed up piece of lexan for the reflecting screen and build a detachable (velcro probably) mount inside the cave so I can remove/replace the phone. Plus the cave will set on a platform so I can just take the whole thing out to work on it easily, or reset the sequence after power failure/use the phone for something else. The lighter floor and darker back of cave adds to the 3d effect.

If anyone is a capable video editor, I'd like to try the 3 way split video with 3 screens to increase the 3d effect. Perhaps I could send you some clips to edit together for that or even single screen displays because I'm totally new to video editing... (My version does look a bit more 3d then the video shows, but the 3 screen i3dg device has better depth, but the image is smaller). 

I have to redo the tinkerbell clip, make it longer and maybe add some stuff to it...maybe clips of other things and set up fades between each loop. Cyberlink puts a watermark on the first few seconds and windows movie maker got rid of it but then introduced some artifacts in the video at the splice points so I'll probably just re edit it all in cyberlink, process, and export to movie maker to cut the first part off with the watermark.

I also found a cool lightning clip, lighting up clouds, but then screen is all black so with a clear screen suspended from top of viv it would look like a storm hovering over the landscape. Theoretically you could even use this method underwater which would probably cause a clear lexan screen to vanish... 3d video fish in the viv...or a mermaid? 

oh I've also seen how to make a fog screen to project video on, and I think with a smaller version and a pico projector this could work in a viv too.


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## cschub13 (Apr 27, 2011)

Wow that is awesome! Definitely going to keep an eye on this!!


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## IEatBugs (May 15, 2012)

Wow, there are some really neat things being done now. Adding some 3d images of sky, cloud cover and storms would be amazing in a viv I think.


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## Dendro Dave (Aug 2, 2005)

View this in 720 or 1080p in fullscreen and you get a better feel for what the 3d effect looks like.


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## easternversant (Sep 4, 2012)

How do you think frogs will respond to this? 

While tiring a dog out with a laser pointer I discovered that my Varaderos absolutely lose their mind over the little green dot. Quite entertaining actually.

Edit: This is an awesome idea!!


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## Dendro Dave (Aug 2, 2005)

easternversant said:


> How do you think frogs will respond to this?
> 
> While tiring a dog out with a laser pointer I discovered that my Varaderos absolutely lose their mind over the little green dot. Quite entertaining actually.


Hard to say, we are in new territory here  ...The image is large enough they probably won't mistake it for a food item. Worse case scenario short of them being so entranced they just sit there and starve to death, is their tongues will muck up my transparent screen.

...Accept for maybe some of the Fairy dust particle effects, they may have a go at those...we'll see! Also I'll probably edit out the sound when I redo the loop....I don't think I wanna hear that all day long, and the frogs probably won't want to either. 

I actually did a post several years ago about my darklands chasing a laser 


Btw...
Thx guys for the kind comments!


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## JeremyHuff (Apr 22, 2008)

How will this hold up to humidity? Also, wouldn't the screen fog up?


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## hydrophyte (Jun 5, 2009)

I am quite interested in these concepts, too!

When will you make one with Tupac Shakur in concert?

I was once cleaning a viv enclosure and I had the light strip on top, but off to one side. The reflections between the glass panels were such that droplets of water that were on a side panel looked like they were just hanging right in the middle of the enclosure. I should have drawn a diagram for myself so that I could remember how it worked.


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## Dendro Dave (Aug 2, 2005)

JeremyHuff said:


> How will this hold up to humidity? Also, wouldn't the screen fog up?


That is as yet unknown....I'm going to seal the phone up with silicone around the edges and stuff best I can...or perhaps wrap it in seran wrap if I can keep the part over the screen smooth enough not to mess up the image

Also I'm going put this on a platform, maybe flat Styrofoam and some slate or something so there won't be soggy ground in the cave, and the whole thing will be easy to remove from the tank to tinker with. Having a lighter floor against the black back of cave seems to enhance the 3d effect when you can see her hovering over both, and the particles look like they are landing on the floor. 

potentially if necessary I can install a fan inside the cave to blow the humid air out.

BTW...
If anyone else is thinking about trying this video loops with a black background, and with a static camera position that keeps the subject in frame the entire time seems to work best. You don't want the camera zooming in/out or panning around. Short loops or video a few minutes long...long enough for someone to look away before it flips back to the beginning is good. Video where the subject recedes into the distance can work, but if they move towards the camera you want that to stop before their feet get cut out of frame. There is a tiny part of the tinkerbell loop where her foot is cut off, and that's why the rocks are there to hide that a bit and add to the 3d effect.

Here is one that would be suitable....




 
Do a youtube and google searches for "mmd test" videos....these are what use for the live holographic concert vocaloids, and as such they tend to be suitable for something like I'm doing. Animated .gifs are another option if you can play them on your phone or whatever display screen you use. Tablet pc's, portable dvd players, and other media players are all options.


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## Dendro Dave (Aug 2, 2005)

hydrophyte said:


> I am quite interested in these concepts, too!
> 
> When will you make one with Tupac Shakur in concert?
> 
> I was once cleaning a viv enclosure and I had the light strip on top, but off to one side. The reflections between the glass panels were such that droplets of water that were on a side panel looked like they were just hanging right in the middle of the enclosure. I should have drawn a diagram for myself so that I could remember how it worked.


LOL...someone has already beat me to that....besides I don't like rap much anyways 

Your droplets probably occurred by the same way the ones I'm talking about do....would have been cool to see 

If anyone wants to play with the idea, just get a phone or ipad and play a video with glass sloped at a 45 degree angle reflecting the image. you may have to spin the phone/ipad around and play the vid upside down. I can actually partially close my laptop, and lay my phone on the keyboard and project that image to the laptop screen and it looks like it is hovering in the darkness.


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## Dendro Dave (Aug 2, 2005)

BTW...

If anyone thinks this is expensive, you can get used phones on ebay for $50 or less depending on what model you go for, and if you don't already have a spare one lying around. That + cost of whatever cave you use and a some other little items like velcro/silicon/great stuff/paint/plexiglass = total cost. 

You can probably use an old cd case for the reflecting screen, and many of the other materials you'll probably have lying around for viv construction, so it is mostly just the cost of the cave + phone. I can help with editing a loop, and/or finding a suitable loop, if need be.

Here are some of the appz/pc programs that came in handy for this project...

Android app:
video looper- https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.bradsbrain.videolooper&feature=search_result

If the video you want to use is an .FLV file you can use this to convert it to .avi- Pazera Free FLV to AVI Converter - CNET Download.com

Here is a program to help you download videos from youtube- YTD Video Downloader - CNET Download.com

Here is a free video editing program I used, that so far hasn't been to hard to understand- CyberLink PowerDirector - CNET Download.com

I don't recommend windows movie maker, except for perhaps cutting off the 5 second watermark the free version of power director puts on your video because when I cut clips together in windows movie maker it introduced artifacts when powerdirector didn't....so when I redo this it will be all in power director.

I'm considering using masking tap over the phone screen and spraying the phone down with spray polyurethane to help waterproof it. Anyone got a reason why this would be a bad idea?


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## Pumilo (Sep 4, 2010)

Forget about the holographic Faeries, Dave. Set yourself up about a dozen of those, but with holographic frogs. You could have yourself a DendroBoard approved, mixed species viv! (plus you don't have to worry about winter storms )



Dendro Dave said:


> ....besides I don't like rap much anyways


You could start a whole new genre of music. Try combining *C*ountry and *rap*. You could call it *Crap* music.


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## Dendro Dave (Aug 2, 2005)

Pumilo said:


> Forget about the holographic Faeries, Dave. Set yourself up about a dozen of those, but with holographic frogs. You could have yourself a DendroBoard approved, mixed species viv! (plus you don't have to worry about winter storms )


Well I've been wanting benedicta since before they were imported, but due to several periods of unemployment and a life in "flux" that hasn't happened...so maybe you are on to something here 

Actually I've been thinking of filming my Fox Echo against black background and putting a loop of her as a hologram in a viv. 



Pumilo said:


> You could start a whole new genre of music. Try combining *C*ountry and *rap*. You could call it *Crap* music.


I call each of them "crap" already....together they are "crappier"


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## Dendro Dave (Aug 2, 2005)

I'm bumping this on principle...I give you holographic fairies and I only get 6 replies that aren't mine? 

Also if we don't give fairies attention and believe in them they'll die....Is that what you want?!?!?!?

I know you're all waiting for the actual viv incorporating this and the firefly lights and the storm fx etc..etc... Its coming, but I'm poor and I'm kinda wanting frogs for all the old empty vivs I have. So this project is moving slowly...but its moving. I just did some spray painting of some waterfalls, at least 1 of which will end up in this viv....and I used some glow paint  Now I'm trying to figure out how I want to do the background and the basic layout. I'm thinking I might go modular too, maybe with magnets so I can just make everything and drop it in, or take it out for easy reconfiguration/maintenance.

P.S. Be sure to check my wanted ad for tadpoles and free/cheap frogs...help me out and I can get moving on this project faster LOL  (I have no shame  )


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## rowdaddy (Apr 9, 2013)

I love the idea. If i has a little girl, I'd "sneak" one of these into a build. Then she'd be the coolest girl in school, "Mother of Fairies". Lol

I am Rowdaddy. 
SC Aquaria


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## Dendro Dave (Aug 2, 2005)

rowdaddy said:


> I love the idea. If i has a little girl, I'd "sneak" one of these into a build. Then she'd be the coolest girl in school, "Mother of Fairies". Lol
> 
> I am Rowdaddy.
> SC Aquaria


Ya you could totally do that...just film them on a black background. Be a nice way to personalize your vivarium. My original plan that was similar to this, was to have an ex girlfriend dress up in a fairy costume and dance around but I'm lazy and wanted to do it with a 3d camera and no glasses 3d display (still planning on something like that wit 3d displays in the future)...and uh ex girlfriends in costumes tend to complicate my life


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## scoy (Jan 22, 2013)

I like the idea of fireflies at night. Where can I get the lights to do this. I see you said thete under $15 so can you provide the link for them? Thanks


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## Dendro Dave (Aug 2, 2005)

scoy said:


> I like the idea of fireflies at night. Where can I get the lights to do this. I see you said thete under $15 so can you provide the link for them? Thanks


manufature website; Gemmy.com

Kmart (*SOLAR VERSION*, NOT WHAT I USED:
LightShow Solar Lights in Flight Light String - Outdoor Living - Outdoor Lighting - Decorative Lighting


I guess you can't order them direct from lowes? (*Ok wait...put in your zip code, and then it gives you an option for delivery, store pick up, truck delivery?, parcel shipping*...I think parcel is what you want if you can't find them by walking into your local store 
Shop Gemmy 10.5-ft Green Mini Bulb Lights in Flight Light Strings Patio String Lights at Lowes.com
But they were in the outside lighting area, like with solar yard/walkway lights and all that.

AMazon looks right but real pricey:
Amazon.com: Gemmy Lights in Flights Patio 1 String of 10 Lights: Patio, Lawn & Garden

If you google gemmy lights in flight and start digging...you might find more, these were just the easiest to find


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