crazylegsmurphy
New Member
This is a re-start of the other post I had called, "Radio Controlled LED's" but, I wanted to start fresh and make sure all the information in this post was related, and better laid out.
Hey All,
With a background in Special Make-Up FX, I have had the chance to make a lot of props over the years. One however has always been of great interest to me, and now that I have some extra time and money, I would really like to try and see if I can make them.
The props are the magic stones from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. If you remember they were three "magic" stones that when brought together would glow.
Indy Glowing Rock
**broken link removed**
In the movie, they were made by placing a bulb in resin, and a cord went to an offstage person who controlled the light. There are of course a lot of "low tech" ways of reproducing this effect, however my goal is to re-create the "magic" in the rocks my making them self contained.
The rocks themselves will be made of resin, with a core to hold the electronics, an inner core to defuse the light, and a thin outer shell to give it the illusion of being opaque then the lights inside are off.
**broken link removed**
The size of the stones measure roughly:
Width - 8-9 cm
Height - 15-16 cm
So all the electronics, batteries, and such need to fit into the core of the rocks.
Below are some of the other "features" I would love for them to have as well.
- When the rocks glow, the lights inside randomly fade dim to bright giving the illusion that it's not just a lightbulb.
- All three stones must be within 1 - 2 feet of each other in order for the lights to work. Having just two rocks needs to produce no result.
- When glowing, they would be able to last a reasonable amount of time (up to 1 hour). I would like to put a standard power adapter plug in on the core so if desired the rocks could glow for ever.
- I would like to add a switch to the inside so they can be turned on to test, put in "display mode" so they won't light at all, and then normal mode.
- The rocks would "See" each other from as many directions as possible. Because there is no way to determine which way the rocks would be brought together, they would have to be fairly omni-directional.
- The ability to "sleep" when not close to each other for extended amounts of time to save on battery power.
- (In a perfect nerd world, I would like to have the sound that they make in the movies broadcast from one of the stones so it can be picked up and looped on a home radio system....this is of course a total above and beyond and not unnecessary for this project if it's simply whacked.)
There has been a few suggestions as to the best way to make these work.
Ultrasound - It seems that this may have been one of the better ways to do this project, but because of the resin it appears that there might be major issues with the sound getting through it in a reliable way.
Electromagnetic - Using magnetic fields was also another suggestion, but it seems through e-mailing someone who actually built one, that the range is simply too small. There doesn't seem like any way to effectively extend the range to the desired result. As well, it seems it's quite directional.
IR - This is one of the ideas I'm still holding onto. At first it seemed like there may be issues with the IR beam going though the resin in any reliable way. After some tests however it appears that a TV remote will actually change channels on a TV through the resin, except when done the length of the rock at about 30 meters.
So while this seems like it might be a good way to go, the other issue is how to get the IR beam to be limited to only 1 - 2 feet, or have the rocks detect that distance.
RF - The great debate is whether RF would work for this project. Some say yes, some say no way. It seems that simply FM/AM radios are not built well enough to effectively pull off this idea because of all the potential for the signals to get interference.
I do have very limited knowledge in the world of electronics, but the following are my ideas as to how this may work.
MCU / Unique ID's
- Firstly figure out the most stable platform for sending a signal. Whether it be IR, RF, or something else. Make sure the frequency is within a range where it can be picked up by a receiver in the rocks.
Using a Microcontroller the transmitters would each transmit their unique ID on the signal, which would be seen by the receiver and checked to see if two ID's exist resulting in the lights going.
This is of course way more difficult than simply using three separate frequencies in each rock.
Limit the RF signal to 1 - 2 feet
- Looking at those cheap mini RC cars, it seems there must be a way to limit a n RF signal down to within a few feet (the mini RC cars have a range of 6 meters).
If the signal wasn't strong enough to reach past that, then as the rocks were brought together, they would pass into the stronger and stronger signal strength resulting in the rocks glowing brighter. If this would work, it would eliminate the need for the other rocks to detect the distance as they would simply be listening passively.
- I'm not looking for anyone to give me ideas how to do this that breaks with the main idea (switches, actors, reed switches, etc.). I know there are ways to make these props with cords and fancy "off stage" things, but I want to re-create the "Magic" (unless it's really good and will work as desired)
- Anyone to remind me that I don't know what I'm doing. The goal is to learn, not be reminded of what I don't know. Positive, constructive criticism is definitely encouraged.
I realize this is not an easy task, especially for someone with little to no experience in this. My goal is to have fun while learning electronics on a project I really care about.
I'm not asking anyone to do the work for me, or teach me everything I need to know on a forum. I am looking for guidance, and help making sure I stay on track, am doing things correctly, and avoiding as many problems as I can.
With that, lets get started. Feel free to ask me any questions regarding thing you're unsure of, and in return if anyone has any questions for me regarding Make-up FX or prop making, I would be happy to answer them.
Thanks,
Jeff
Hey All,
With a background in Special Make-Up FX, I have had the chance to make a lot of props over the years. One however has always been of great interest to me, and now that I have some extra time and money, I would really like to try and see if I can make them.
The props are the magic stones from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. If you remember they were three "magic" stones that when brought together would glow.
Indy Glowing Rock
**broken link removed**
In the movie, they were made by placing a bulb in resin, and a cord went to an offstage person who controlled the light. There are of course a lot of "low tech" ways of reproducing this effect, however my goal is to re-create the "magic" in the rocks my making them self contained.
The rocks themselves will be made of resin, with a core to hold the electronics, an inner core to defuse the light, and a thin outer shell to give it the illusion of being opaque then the lights inside are off.
**broken link removed**
The size of the stones measure roughly:
Width - 8-9 cm
Height - 15-16 cm
So all the electronics, batteries, and such need to fit into the core of the rocks.
Below are some of the other "features" I would love for them to have as well.
- When the rocks glow, the lights inside randomly fade dim to bright giving the illusion that it's not just a lightbulb.
- All three stones must be within 1 - 2 feet of each other in order for the lights to work. Having just two rocks needs to produce no result.
- When glowing, they would be able to last a reasonable amount of time (up to 1 hour). I would like to put a standard power adapter plug in on the core so if desired the rocks could glow for ever.
- I would like to add a switch to the inside so they can be turned on to test, put in "display mode" so they won't light at all, and then normal mode.
- The rocks would "See" each other from as many directions as possible. Because there is no way to determine which way the rocks would be brought together, they would have to be fairly omni-directional.
- The ability to "sleep" when not close to each other for extended amounts of time to save on battery power.
- (In a perfect nerd world, I would like to have the sound that they make in the movies broadcast from one of the stones so it can be picked up and looped on a home radio system....this is of course a total above and beyond and not unnecessary for this project if it's simply whacked.)
There has been a few suggestions as to the best way to make these work.
Ultrasound - It seems that this may have been one of the better ways to do this project, but because of the resin it appears that there might be major issues with the sound getting through it in a reliable way.
Electromagnetic - Using magnetic fields was also another suggestion, but it seems through e-mailing someone who actually built one, that the range is simply too small. There doesn't seem like any way to effectively extend the range to the desired result. As well, it seems it's quite directional.
IR - This is one of the ideas I'm still holding onto. At first it seemed like there may be issues with the IR beam going though the resin in any reliable way. After some tests however it appears that a TV remote will actually change channels on a TV through the resin, except when done the length of the rock at about 30 meters.
So while this seems like it might be a good way to go, the other issue is how to get the IR beam to be limited to only 1 - 2 feet, or have the rocks detect that distance.
RF - The great debate is whether RF would work for this project. Some say yes, some say no way. It seems that simply FM/AM radios are not built well enough to effectively pull off this idea because of all the potential for the signals to get interference.
I do have very limited knowledge in the world of electronics, but the following are my ideas as to how this may work.
MCU / Unique ID's
- Firstly figure out the most stable platform for sending a signal. Whether it be IR, RF, or something else. Make sure the frequency is within a range where it can be picked up by a receiver in the rocks.
Using a Microcontroller the transmitters would each transmit their unique ID on the signal, which would be seen by the receiver and checked to see if two ID's exist resulting in the lights going.
This is of course way more difficult than simply using three separate frequencies in each rock.
Limit the RF signal to 1 - 2 feet
- Looking at those cheap mini RC cars, it seems there must be a way to limit a n RF signal down to within a few feet (the mini RC cars have a range of 6 meters).
If the signal wasn't strong enough to reach past that, then as the rocks were brought together, they would pass into the stronger and stronger signal strength resulting in the rocks glowing brighter. If this would work, it would eliminate the need for the other rocks to detect the distance as they would simply be listening passively.
- I'm not looking for anyone to give me ideas how to do this that breaks with the main idea (switches, actors, reed switches, etc.). I know there are ways to make these props with cords and fancy "off stage" things, but I want to re-create the "Magic" (unless it's really good and will work as desired)
- Anyone to remind me that I don't know what I'm doing. The goal is to learn, not be reminded of what I don't know. Positive, constructive criticism is definitely encouraged.
I realize this is not an easy task, especially for someone with little to no experience in this. My goal is to have fun while learning electronics on a project I really care about.
I'm not asking anyone to do the work for me, or teach me everything I need to know on a forum. I am looking for guidance, and help making sure I stay on track, am doing things correctly, and avoiding as many problems as I can.
With that, lets get started. Feel free to ask me any questions regarding thing you're unsure of, and in return if anyone has any questions for me regarding Make-up FX or prop making, I would be happy to answer them.
Thanks,
Jeff
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