Asteroid City - (yet) unnamed prop

[Markus]

Something in the "Asteroid City" trailer caught my eye: Yes these colors(!) and, yes, that rangefinder camera(!) - but also that weird beautiful, mysterious prop consisting of eight "digits", each with six lights.

"What do those pulses indicate?"
"What? Oh, the beeps and the blips? We don't know."

The only information we have so far, is what is seen in the trailer.
There is the scene from which I got the first image, and another scene with this image.

Then, somewhere (fb?), I found a composite image which included this one.

I really think someone needs to build this (and that this someone might be me...).
This built is also featured on my blog page.

 

[Leinads]

Yes do it! “What do those pulses indicate?” . There’s so much goodness buried inside this trailer! I cant wait for this to come out.

 

[Markus]

The very first step is to get an idea of the size. Relative to the chair in front, I would estimate its width to be approximately 2 feet (assuming that it's not too far behind the window).

With this in mind, the spacing of the lights is consistent with 1" between the lights, 2" between the "digits", and 1 1/2" at the sides.

That makes the total width 24 1/2", and the height 7".
The depth is not visible in the trailer.
I think, I will make it rather thin (2"-3", just fitting the electronics) so it doesn't require too much space.

 

[13doctorwho]

This looks like some novelty LED clock that was modified for whatever it's purpose in the movie is.

 

[Markus]

This looks like some novelty LED clock that was modified for whatever it's purpose in the movie is.

Funny that you are bringing this up. I was thinking about how to program the light patterns, and it crossed my mind to use them as a "novelty LED clock"

 

[moviebuff5]

The dot pattern seems to match French Braille if you wanted to program your own to have a message or time.
This is what I have for the movie readouts:
ê ô ; r â ë ë x
ê ô ë *head in way* k q
u g ò [end] [blank] p s y (or è depending on image)

 

[Markus]

The next step is to pick the lights.

Based on this image, I think that regular (5mm) LEDs are too small.
The 8mm straw hat LEDs look much better (and the "straw hat" type provides a wide viewing angle). With 1" spacing, the six LEDs of each of the eight digits fit one 5cm x 7cm PCB.

And they can be very bright (0.5W / 150mA). I plan to operate them with TPIC6B595 shift registers which can sink up to 150mA for each channel, and which would fit on the 5x7cm PCB for each digit. I will, however, not operate them at full brightness. With current-limiting resistors of 68 Ohms, each LED will draw about 30mA and still be bright enough to be visible in a bright environment. If (on average) 24 out of all 48 LEDs are on, the whole unit will draw 0.72A - this is what typical USB chargers can easily provide.

 

[Leinads]

Wow you are moving right along with this! My electronic knowledge is limited, but it is my understanding that you will be able to program/ adjust the lighting sequence to replicate what is shown in the trailer and ultimately the film? Great progress so far!

 

[Markus]

Wow you are moving right along with this! My electronic knowledge is limited, but it is my understanding that you will be able to program/ adjust the lighting sequence to replicate what is shown in the trailer and ultimately the film? Great progress so far!

Thanks! I have no problems assembling (not-too complex) electronic circuits, and I'm pretty good with Arduino programming. So, yes, I will be able to do anything I want with the hardware. The trailer does not provide too much information, but it shows that the eight digits are updated from the left to the right.
... and now you motivated me to study this in detail, so I'm downloading the trailer to count the frames...
The trailer has 24fps.
The time between the update of two neighboring digits is between two or three frames - so, on average 1/10 sec. (or 0.8 sec for the full update)
The time in between subsequent updates of the whole display is about 12 frames - or 1/2 sec.
Those are nice and simple numbers.
Good that I go this covered!
Thank you for that

 

[Markus]

The dot pattern seems to match French Braille if you wanted to program your own to have a message or time.
This is what I have for the movie readouts:
ê ô ; r â ë ë x
ê ô ë *head in way* k q
u g ò [end] [blank] p s y (or è depending on image)

It is funny that you noticed that. And how funny would it be to run this as a clock with the time being displayed in Braille.
And how silly would it be to use Braille with lights
But then, there's nothing too silly for me...

 

[Markus]

The woodwork has started. I only had limited time with the laser cutter, so I just cut the base plate and added the foot. If we assume that in the movie the prop is standing outside the building on ground level, it would make the foot about 1m tall. But that would be too high for my purposes (I may want to have it on a desk or a shelf), so I made it only one foot tall.

 

[Markus]

Colors?
The way I designed the enclosure, I need to paint (at least some of) the pieces before assembling them.
So, I need to know what colors to use.

I feel that the images from the trailer are only of limited help, since all the light is so unnatural.
For the front plate, I am planning to use black paint (maybe not the darkest one).
But for the rest of the enclosure, we can only see the thin edge.
I think, this may simply be white, as it seem to match the white board behind the person and the color of the paper and the desk.
Any thoughts / suggestions?

 

[Markus]

Today, I was able to finish the remaining pieces with the laser cutter.

 

[Leinads]

That looks really good. To my eye the rim of the enclosure looks an off-white? It’s hard to judge against that background image.

 

[publiusr]

Well, it is the cheaper Army version. Air Force got the better digital semaphore bank for Close Encounters.

The Marines had one too, but…

Operation Welcome Wagon

Operation Welcome Wagon was a hastily organized attempt by the United States government to communicate with the Harvesters following the arrival of the City Destroyers during the War of 1996. After the arrival of the aliens on July 2, 1996, human attempts to contact them remained unsuccessful...

independenceday.fandom.com

https://www.amazon.com/Semaphore-Signal-22-500V-Indicator-Warning/dp/B09K4CSGPZ

 

[Markus]

Well, I already started painting the rim, and I use white. I painted only those pieces which touch the front plate, so I don't have to paint at the boundary after it's fully assembled. And I started gluing the pieces. Small steps ... but it's progress.

 

[Leinads]

Just spot-on considering the limited resource material you have to measure this against! Beautiful fit and finish btw.

 

[Markus]

I just saw the movie poster. And, yes, the prop is featured in it, albeit small...

 

[Leinads]

Nice!

 

[Markus]

My progress is really slow - but there is some...
In the meantime, I finished the enclosure and added spacers on the back of the front plate (for mounting the LED PCBs).

I also started assembling the electronics. Everything will be built on nine PCBs, one for the Arduino, and eight for the LEDs for each digit.
The LEDs are soldered in place using the openings in the front plate as a guide.