Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Jeremy McCreary]

This is the trippy side of LEGO they didn't want you to know about...



Top-induced strobophantasmagoria: A phantasmagoria created by spinning a suitably patterned top under a variable-speed strobe in a darkened room.

Below are the strobophantasmagorias created by some of my smaller generating tops. (Larger tops to follow.) Their "generators" (static patterns), spin times, and operating speeds were designed — iteratively and partly by serendipity — to create striking phantasmagorias in every modern sense of the term...



In each clip, the strobe's flashing frequency was varied as the top's rotational frequency decayed. The resulting illusions don't depend on frame-rate effects or other video artifacts. You're seeing what you'd see in person.

Generators
LEGO construction makes it very easy to compose and revise 2D generators on flat platforms. Available parts support a huge graphic design space. And many more possibilities open up with 3D generators.

Since you never quite know what you're going to see until the top is spinning and the strobe is on, the fast prototyping possible with LEGO really speeds up the iterative design process. Finished generators are often worlds apart from the original concept.

Variable-speed strobe
Many people think of a strobe as a stop-motion tool. But that's only the beginning. Together, a strobe and a spinning generator can create amazing sequences of dynamic patterns that may or may not spin. When the strobe's flashing frequency is varied as the generator spins down, these dynamic patterns evolve continuously — often in totally unexpected ways. And even though these patterns exist only in the viewer's head, the strobe can freeze them just as easily as the generator itself!

My strobe flashes at up to 12,770 flashes per minute (FPM) or 213 Hz (flashes per second). Coarse and fine tuning knobs adjust the frequency. The coarse knob is great for frequency sweeps — the best way to explore a generator's dynamic pattern space. The strobe's xenon lamp dims when switched to its upper frequency range beyond 5,626 FPM.

In a flashing frequency sweep, a given generator will create a series of distinct dynamic patterns, each appearing at a specific strobe/top frequency ratio, the top's frequency being proportional to its spin rate in RPM.

See video captions and description for details.

[ortwin]

Beautiful! Enjoyable to watch! Kaleidoscopic! 
 
When looking around for affordable strobe's last time (a few years ago) I could not really find any. I would have thought these days there are good and affordable LEDs to make versatile strobes. In case you know of one, post a link.The time I made most extensive use of a strobe was actually also with a top. That was when I was playing with a levitron and the perpetuator for the levitron. What I still think is most fun to point a strobe to, is a dripping faucet.

[Jeremy McCreary]

Beautiful! Enjoyable to watch! Kaleidoscopic! 
 
When looking around for affordable strobe's last time (a few years ago) I could not really find any. I would have thought these days there are good and affordable LEDs to make versatile strobes. In case you know of one, post a link.The time I made most extensive use of a strobe was actually also with a top. That was when I was playing with a levitron and the perpetuator for the levitron. What I still think is most fun to point a strobe to, is a dripping faucet.

Thanks! Variable speed strobes are tons of fun. Will try the dripping faucet.

My xenon lamp strobe was $100 on Amazon 4-5 years ago. No satisfactory LED alternatives at the time and haven't looked since.

BTW, I'm very proud of my made-up name "strobophantasmagoria". Dead bloody chuffed in fact! Because it fits so well and got ZERO hits on Google before I posted my video!

[ta0]

The one that called my attention was the last one. Very nice effect from the holes on the square arms.

BTW, I'm very proud of my made-up name "strobophantasmagoria". Dead bloody chuffed in fact! Because it fits so well and got ZERO hits on Google before I posted my video!

I just reserved the domain strobophantasmagoria.com   . . . just kidding 

There are very good LED strobe lights, but not cheap, generally over $400. This one is $170: link. The only strobe light I have is LED based, but a toy one:

[Jeremy McCreary]

The one that called my attention was the last one. Very nice effect from the holes on the square arms.

I really like that one, too. Wish it'd stay up longer, but the drag is brutal.

Would love to see your toy in action someday. Looks like the designers focused more animating/stopping figures, whereas I'm more interested in abstract pattern formation.

[Jeremy McCreary]

Really don't understand how YouTube works. For kicks, I seached on "strobe". And even though the video above is only 1 day old and has only 36 views and 0 likes, it was 4th on the list! With no "strobe" in the title.

Strobes aren't exactly rare. They're fun to play with and produce many cool effects. And video captures some of those effects pretty well, as you can see.

So you'd think that YouTube would have a lot of strobe-related videos to put on that list above mine. Very odd.

[ta0]

Really don't understand how YouTube works. For kicks, I seached on "strobe". And even though the video above is only 1 day old and has only 36 views and 0 likes, it was 4th on the list! With no "strobe" in the title.
Strobes aren't exactly rare. They're fun to play with and produce many cool effects. And video captures some of those effects pretty well, as you can see.
So you'd think that YouTube would have a lot of strobe-related videos to put on that list above mine. Very odd.

Actually, it's not strange. I bet you were still logged in (to any google account). Or at least, you hadn't closed your browser or cleared your cookies since you had last used Youtube. It knew what you had recently viewed (perhaps a couple of videos that ortwin also viewed). Log out and the results will be very different.
This type of behavior from the social networks has helped conspiracy theories flourish.

[Jeremy McCreary]

Hmmm, will have to test that..

When I repeated the search, still logged in, with "strobe" in quotes, my video dropped to #22 on the list. Nealy all the hits above it were about about a song of that name by Deadmau5.

Interestingly, went through ~100 hits, and mine was the only one about things you can do with a variable-speed stroboscope. Again, very odd -- at least to a nerd like me.

[Jeremy McCreary]

Got to try out something like this top-based thaumatrope at Cyril's...



Especially like the top itself and the handheld slotted wheel spinner. Again, the focus in these gizmos tends to be on recovering or animating figures.

Still looking for other abstract pattern-makers of this kind.

[Jeremy McCreary]

Geez, how could I have forgotten about this footage?? Just the thrill of my topmaking career!

[Christop]

Wow! What a beautiful effect!