Creating a batman signal?

Question

Can anyone give me any info on how to make a bat signal to project on the wall of a building? We've been tryin to make one using a flood light, cardboard and aluminum foil but we cant seems to get it focused just right... it kinda distorts the image a little when its projected onto any surface... could it be we have to much light... or that the cut out over the light is too big or what? Also we thought maybe the flood lights beam was directed correctly so we made a director out of a bow and aluminum foil to make the beams go straight. Any help please we've only got 7 days left to do this, and we're tryin to make it as cheap as possible...

Answer 1

You have 2 problems, abundance of light and the distance between you batman symbol and the source of light, first you need to get the light going only on 1 direction, then you need to get the batman symbol further away from the source of light (in this case the flood light), try to hold it in place with some sort of structure made of plastic or wood. Measure the distance where the shape becomes clearer and build your structure to hold it there.

I think this is the cheapest way possible.

Good luck!

Answer 2

If I understand your problem, the issue is with the definition of the bat shape.  

This may be caused by how the beam leaves the lamp. If you look at different  types of floodlights and spotlights (look here:  http://www.theatrecrafts.com/lx_lanterns... ) then you may better understand what I mean.

Your best bet is to find a way to focus the beam by using some sort of lens.   How to do this cheaply is a bit of a challenge, but if you go through a scrapyard you may find old mirrors or pieces of glass that may work... a lot of trial an error, I am afraid.  If you find an old projector that somebody has discarded, you will be in luck!  

You can also try to add distance between the beam source and the cardboard cut-out, however I think this may produce only a minor improvement.

The project sounds cool, good luck!

Answer 3

it may not be possible to make it look like the michael keaton batman sign....it may be more fuzzy like the one from christian bale batman

Answer 4

You just need a lens between the cutout and the building. You can get cheap plastic Fresnel lenses that will do the job just fine. So you have flood light, aluminum foil cutout, Fresnel lens, building.

Edmund's Scientific sells a "giant Fresnel lens" that will do the job.

You could also do it using a pinhole cut in aluminum foil, but this will not be anywhere near as bright. It goes floodlight, pinhole, cutout, building. A smaller pinhole gives a sharper but dimmer image. A greater distance from pinhole to cutout gives a sharper image. Start with a 1 inch diameter pinhole and a 3 foot spacing from pinhole to cutout. The cutout needs to be pretty large, say 1 foot across, so you would need to glue it onto a sheet of glass. Experiment with the optics first, before you waste time making a good artistic cutout.

Answer 5

Borrow a slide projector.

To project a proper image, you need lenses.

Answer 6

You are on the right track. To really do it right, you need lenses before and after the cutout. Look at a slide projector, it has lenses that focus the light onto the slide (your cutout) and then lenses that take the light that gets through and spreads that out in a beam, focusing it on the wall.

See if you can find someone with a slide projector. Then cut your outline the size of a 35mm slide and it will be sharp as a tack.

Lacking that, you can just play with different size cutouts. I suspect small is better.