StarCraft - Ghost / Kerrigan

Peachykiki

Peachykiki

New Member
I'm looking to do a Starcraft ghost costume, however the lighting on her suit is baffling me. I'd really like to get the lights to light up in a relay? (not really sure if that's the correct term, but like emergency lights)
I was looking at EL wire and other similar things because it needs to be attached to the skin tight suit but I couldn't see anywhere that had EL wire that could give this lighting effect. Not sure if I'd be able to do it with a flexible LED strand.
Anyone have any suggestions?

YouTube - StarCraft 2 The Betrayal on Kerrigan Cinematic Full HD
You can see the light effect on her suit in this video.

Thanks for any help!
 
Some EL wire might actually do the trick. I'm not so sure about that flashing light seen on the suit though. I don't think you can get EL to phase like that but you can get it to flash.
 
As a huge StarCraft fan, I look forward to hearing about your progress with this!

As for the lighting, I'm gonna second the use of EL Wire for the non-flashing parts. Go head over to the Tron thread: http://www.therpf.com/f24/tron-legacy-costume-planning-88230/ There's extensive talk about the useage of the wire, and EL Tape!

As for the the moving relay lights...Google search "snyc lights on relay". There's alot of results for making the lights come on with movement and music...I'm baffled on how they can stay on. Maybe one of the tech-savies on here can save the day with this one!

Good luck! I'd love to do a Ghost or Medic costume one day ;)!
 
Last edited:
Drewid said:
You can get some really small, high intensity LEDs that can flash in series. Here's a small circuit board that can be adapted to work. Just switch out the red LEDs with blue and get a diffuser strip and it should turn out okay. Good luck :)

Kit 52 - 5 LED Sequence Flasher / Chip-On-Board PCB
Click to expand...

Ok so I'm new to this light thing, but looking at this it only powers 5 LEDs and they're on a non flexible circuit board. So I'm not sure how that could be integrated to run up and down a skin tight bodysuit?

I have been reading over all the tron stuff and getting some good ideas for how to do the diffused lights in all the armor. Its just the ones up and down the suit that are tricky. The few people I've seen make this costume, usually just omit these lights. If I can I'd like to have them light up in that pattern...The main issue is that it needs to follow the lines of the suit, it needs to lay flush with the body and be flexible and it can't add too much bulk.
I'm almost wondering if something like this could achieve the illusion of it?
http://www.microstru.com/images/EL-twist.gif
 
1154695.jpg


Found this on the net. Hope it helps give you an idea on your costume.
 
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Peachykiki said:
Ok so I'm new to this light thing, but looking at this it only powers 5 LEDs and they're on a non flexible circuit board. So I'm not sure how that could be integrated to run up and down a skin tight bodysuit?

I have been reading over all the tron stuff and getting some good ideas for how to do the diffused lights in all the armor. Its just the ones up and down the suit that are tricky. The few people I've seen make this costume, usually just omit these lights. If I can I'd like to have them light up in that pattern...The main issue is that it needs to follow the lines of the suit, it needs to lay flush with the body and be flexible and it can't add too much bulk.
I'm almost wondering if something like this could achieve the illusion of it?
http://www.microstru.com/images/EL-twist.gif
Click to expand...

From the video, it only looks like a few of her lights flash in relay fashion. What you could is hide that circuit in one of the hard parts of the suit and run the LEDs up to the lighted areas through the use of wires. The circuit is pretty small and fairly easy to hide.

Just remember that EL wire does require an inverter that usually only powers up to 10' of wire. The smallest inverted I've found is:

EL wire Inverters from $4.50/ea. EL wire from $0.98 / ft

Either way, you're hiding some kind of small, inflexible circuit board and battery packs. But the effect is worth it :)
 
Drewid said:
From the video, it only looks like a few of her lights flash in relay fashion. What you could is hide that circuit in one of the hard parts of the suit and run the LEDs up to the lighted areas through the use of wires. The circuit is pretty small and fairly easy to hide.

Just remember that EL wire does require an inverter that usually only powers up to 10' of wire. The smallest inverted I've found is:

EL wire Inverters from $4.50/ea. EL wire from $0.98 / ft

Either way, you're hiding some kind of small, inflexible circuit board and battery packs. But the effect is worth it :)
Click to expand...

I'll look into those and maybe ask a few engineer friends if they know a way to integrate those circuits on a larger scale.
YouTube - Starcraft: Ghost - Cinematic
In this video in the dark light (at around 2:10 - 2:30) You can see how the lights dance up and down the suit. Its basically along every piped line on the under suit following the curves up and down the legs, torso and arms. I may be able to just place LEDS spaced out over the area, so when lit it gives the illusion of the movement... ?
 
Another possible trick you is to take some clear flexible gel strips and place an LED on the side of it to mimic the fiber optic effect. As the suit moves, it'll alter the path and cause ripples in the lighting. I don't know how well it would work but it could be worth checking out.
 
I just watched the video and thought that is a sweet costume. (except for the googles:unsure) Trying to replicate the pulsing and chasing effect is near impossible. SMD LED's would be ideal, IF they were manufactured for sequencing along the strip, because all the wiring would be SMD. The closest would be to twist multiple EL wire strands together on a sequencer with a fader. But the amount of wiring would add a lot of bulk on a skinsuit like that where it will definitely show through. The amount of EL wire/inverters/batteries would make the tron costumes look like childsplay. Count the linear feet of EL wire for all the costume lines and triple it.
If I can convince my wife to wear it, I would totally do this.
I'd rock it, but the codpiece is rather revealing...:eek
 
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