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Fire in a Barrel

Started by psyko, December 02, 2014, 02:36:14 PM

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psyko

This is my first foray into using a Prop 1 controller.

I do props for the local theater scene and was tasked with making a fire in a barrel for the musical Annie.  One of the criteria was that it needed to be run off of a battery. I tried the old standby with lights, a fan and some white satin and wasn't happy with the look, plus it the fan could be picked up by the actor's mike.

I had a Prop 1 controller that I bought a while back, but never used.  I thought this would be a good opportunity for me to put it to use.

The shop has a ton of 18v Li cordless drills, so I made a fitting to accept one of the batteries to power the LEDs and the controller.  I then modified the Candles.BS1 program to limit the number of outputs and changed the timing to look more like a fire than a candle flame.

Take a look and let me know what you think.
http://youtu.be/HILXSpggJBk?list=UUxrMhKNChlkK2mc3GV4M3gg
http://youtu.be/6RXIqsFMc50?list=UUxrMhKNChlkK2mc3GV4M3gg
http://youtu.be/djVW8s5ee2A?list=UUxrMhKNChlkK2mc3GV4M3gg

Tim




Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
--Arthur C. Clark

JonnyMac

December 02, 2014, 03:30:47 PM #1 Last Edit: December 02, 2014, 03:33:25 PM by JonnyMac
Cool! John Barrowman has done a fair bit of musical theater, and my bag is TV and film (in SAG/AFTRA) -- we're entertainers, too!
Jon McPhalen
EFX-TEK Hollywood Office

bsnut

Cool! I like how you did it.

BTW, Tim welcome to the forums.
William Stefan
The Basic Stamp Nut

psyko

Thanks for the feedback.  To be honest I've been lurking for way to long, but haven't posted b/c I haven't really had anything to contribute until now.

As with all my props, as soon as I turn it over to the client, I think of ways it can be improved.  I only had a two day turn around on this one and needed to be able to use either what I had on hand or things that I could get quickly.  I got the Red LED strips in the automotive section at Walmart, and the blue and orange LEDs are battery powered White LEDs strings I got fro about $4 each and spray painted.  If I had more time I would have gotten the other color light strips on line, or gone with RGB light strips.

It would be nice to be able to give up my day job and do props full time.  One day perhaps.

Thanks again!
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
--Arthur C. Clark