Ever since I was a little boy I was in love with projectors... The image they cast on any surface is warm, glowing and feels lot more soft and natural than any other type of display can provide. In Poland, where I grew up, there was this popular toy projector that allowed to display filmstrips with children's stories on them... It was a really basic device, there was no sound, the images were still, and you had to manually advance the film with a little wheel on the side... and yet, this was the most magical thing I've seen... We would darken the room with curtains, set up the projector against the door (the only white surface we had), cuddle up with my parents around it and be transported into a different world... My dad would read the captions, me and my brother would take turns in loading the films... I can still remember the smell of the hot film warmed up by the small incandescent bulb... My first visit to a cinema was a life changing experience. We had this small local theatre, and when I say small I mean it, the room was a size of a small convenience store (which is the function the building actually serves these days), and from the information I found online there was only 140 seats.. When I was about 5 years old it was already on it's last legs, but they had these morning cartoon screenings for kids... I most vividly remember the episodes of a quirky anime show Bumpety Boo... I still wonder how they got hold of these on 35mm in early 90s in Poland... We absolutely loved going there. That was until one day shortly before the cinema closed down. Instead of the usual projection, they wheeled in a school TV set, and put a VHS tape on... Even 33 years later I remember the soul crushing disappointment we felt... And if that sounds really familiar to you, you're probably not alone... Move forward to 2024, and I'm celebrating getting a hold of a ticket to Miku Expo in London. Ever since discovering Vocaloid music, and falling in love with the blue haired diva, I was enchanted with the idea of seeing her in concert using my beloved technology.. only even better, because one using transparent screen giving it a holographic look... I was so happy when I saw the European tour announced. And then came the first photos from Vancouver.. There it was again, my childhood nightmare repeating itself all over again... I felt my heart sink a bit... Without wait, I decided to start work on an idea I had in my head for a while... To build a scale version of the real Miku hologram. As you can imagine I own a home cinema projector (how could I live without one), so it was a matter of finding a way to replicate the screen technology Crypton uses. As I don't have a glass etching equipment lying around in my house, I searched my drawers and found a report folder with a transparent, but slightly milky cover. I cut it off, secured it to a shoe box, placed it in the light path of the projector and voila! The result was a lot more convincing than I expected. That was enough for me to convince me it's worth doing, next morning, I drove down to the home improvement store and got the materials needed for a more solid version I bought a photo frame, a piece of 9mm MDF board, a small strip of timber and few rolls of vinyl cupboard wrapping... First thing I needed to build was the base. There are few ways of doing it, either by cutting a groove into a block of wood, or using some kind of angle brackets. I decided on a different method: I started off by sawing the strip of wood into two (roughly) same sized pieces (I was in a bit of a rush so it's not perfect) I then applied the black vinyl to the MDF to give it a bit of a stage appearance. I screwed the two pieces of timber to the base with a gap just wide enough for a sheet of glass After that, I also applied the vinyl to these to mask them off Now with the base complete I started work on the main element - The screen I gently removed the glass from the photo frame. A bit of care is needed here, as these are usually very thin sheets of rather brittle glass, so very easy to break. The benefit though is they're cheap and very light, so can hold up vertically with ease. I first tried applying the vinyl glass frosting, that's used to create privacy glass. This gave a great image quality, but was too opaque for my liking, making it look more like a Miku was stuck in the shower than at a gig... I also tried a transparent wrap but this didn't work either, the texture was too grainy giving the image a strange glittery look, the hologram was also too dim, so that was not usable. I came back to the idea of using a document cover.. however the problem was these were only A4 sized, so too small for my glass screen... However, a trip to an art supply shop provided a solution. I found this big A2 size course book to store drawings in. Inside were multiple poly sleeves with just the right properties. It was quite costly at £15.50 but contains 10 sleeves so there's plenty of spares. EDIT: Please see further down the page for a cheaper and better alternative! I took one of the pockets out and cut off the edges with a razor to give me 2 separate sheets I decided to apply these using the simplest method: same way vinyl wrap is installed. I cleaned up the glass with window cleaner to remove any dust and fingerprints, and sprayed it with water. Then I slowly applied the plastic, removing any air bubbles as I went. After that was done, I used a microfibre cloth to push out the remaining bubbles and water off the sides.. again applying gentle pressure not to break the glass. After that I trimmed the edges with a razor, and applied the second sheet to the other side. It works with one side only, but by applying to both it effectively doubles the brightness of the image. It was then just a matter of gently sliding the glass into the base, and placing in front of the projector. After adjusting the geometry and focus of the projector, it was just a matter of playing one of the many YouTube "MMD Hologram Ready" videos, and my own personal mini Miku came to life on my coffee table! UPDATE: I found a cheaper and better alternative for the foil: I popped into Range again and found these for £5.99 As added bonus these are even more glossy and therefore provide sharper image and are also easier to apply to the glass. Here are few sample images of the results. This brings the total cost of the build from £42.36 to £32.85. Updated list of materials and costs (UK based, I included the stores, and links where available): The Range: 20x16 inch photo frame - £4.87 4x30mm chipboard screws - £1.85 Black Vinyl self adhesive wrap - £4.50 artstudio protective presentation sleeves - £5.99 B&Q: MDF 9x405x810mm board - £10.97 Pine stripwood 21x21x900mm - £4.67 Total cost: £32.85 This obviously doesn't include the price of the projector which I was lucky to own already. Mine is an Optoma HD142x, which is probably an overkill for this project, as both the throw distance and size of the image are much less here than what it's designed for. It might be worth trying this with one of these cheap projectors that can be found on Amazon for as little as £60, but the milage may vary. As for how long the screen will last before the plastic starts peeling, I'm not sure, perhaps the more permanent solution would be to apply some kind of clear adhesive (like the one used for phone screens) or finding a self adhesive film with the right properties. For now, it seems to hold quite well, as long as I'm gently handling it. And with the lights dimmed, and a concert light backdrop video I found on YouTube playing on my TV in the background for added effect, I can enjoy my very own, authentic albeit 1/7 scaled concert of the real Miku. All that remains for me to say is "In your face Miku Expo, I've done it better!" I'm still hoping that after the online backlash they'll rethink their decision and revert back to the projection screen at later dates, but I feel really sorry for everyone who missed out already, as I know the feeling all too well. Hence, I decided to write and share this guide, to give something to this lovely community that Crunchyroll failed to do. I hope we all get Miku we deserve again soon!
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AuthorI made a thing. I might make more in the future ArchivesCategories |