3D Laser Art And Laser Animation Will Blow Your Mind

3D Laser Art And Laser Animation

That Will Blow Your Mind

 

[likebtn theme=”github” dislike_enabled=”0″ icon_dislike_show=”0″ ef_voting=”heartbeat” white_label=”1″ bp_notify=”0″] Please Give The Video a Thumbs up!

Who Wants To See 3D Laser Art and Laser Animation That Will Blow Your Mind??

Watch the video above to find out…

 

Download the pdf (right click, save as) here <======

If you prefer to read, scroll down to get the (slightly edited) transcript of the video. 

 

 

3D Laser Art And Laser Animation

 

Tim Bennett: 3D Laser art and laser animation have been part of my life for 29 years.

 

29 years ago I bought a club in the northeast of England and in that club came a laser and one day my DJ set me down and said, “watch this.”

 

And for the very first time in my life I saw laser.

 

It was my very first laser show my mouth fell open my eyes popped out.

 

And in an instant, I realised I had something very, very special in my hands because 29 years ago, laser was fairly rare and I had one!

 

Fast forward 29 years, about three weeks ago I was introduced to our guest Lewie and he has some of the most unique 3D laser art and laser animation I’ve ever seen in my life.

 

My mouth fell open, my eyes popped out and I said this guy has something very unique.

 

So it gives me great pleasure to welcome to ArgonTV, a very unique laser artists.

 

Please welcome Mr Lewie Wilkinson.

 

Welcome to ArgonTV, Lewie.

 

Lewie Wilkinson: Thanks for having me.

 

Tim Bennett: It’s great to have you here.

 

And I must say your background, puts my background to shame, that looks amazing.

 

 

Lewie Wilkinson: So it’s actually honestly what I use for my work background as well as i’m on zoom, most of the day.

 

So a lot of people get to see it and kind of wonder what’s going on.

 

So it’s kind of my way to carry it through my normal workday as well.

 

Tim Bennett: Yeah, I think I’m gonna have to do something similar for my background… this as much as it’s a beautiful painting from Thailand, it’s kind of boring compared to yours.

 

Anyway, let’s meet the man, Lewie, before we go into the 3D laser art.

 

Tell us a little bit about yourself like where are you from, and how did you get into lasers and what you actually do, etc.

 

Lewie Wilkinson: Okay, I won’t go too far back, but I’m based out of Indianapolis, Indiana in the United States.

 

Grew up close to where I’m living now.

 

So I’ve moved a handful of times, different parts of the city, but for the most part have stayed pretty local to Indianapolis.

 

My background is more in the computer realm of things.

 

So actually working in IT security full time and the laser hobby kind of fell into it.

 

I wouldn’t say accidentally, but about three and a half years ago, I was replacing a green laser pointer

 

My wife had been gifted a green laser pointer by one of her high school instructors who taught astronomy.

 

And so it was used to point out constellations and all that stuff and from the first time I fired that thing, and this is this is an over powered EBay Chinese laser, you know, probably rated at five milliwatts when in actuality was probably around 50 and being able to see the beam just kind of it brought everything together for me.

 

I was like, this is awesome.

 

 

So fast forward a little bit of time and I was replacing that laser and thought to myself, you know, I could probably put one of these together, like I want to know how to build this.

 

So I set out on a journey actually came across the laser pointer forums and familiarised myself with with that group of people and taught myself how to assemble a laser a diode based laser.

 

So very quickly, I started building high powered lasers, one after the other after the other, out of it anything I could find.

 

So flashlight hosts. I was, you know, tearing apart flashlights and putting lasers into them and ordering hosts from people at the forum from all over the world, people that were really talented and and building these nice hosts.

 

And about a year after doing that, I started falling in love more with the photography aspect of it.

 

So at the time. I’m out in my garage and I’m just taking pictures of beams.

 

I just loved the beams.

 

And found out quickly that these are way overpowered.

 

It was just over exposing everything.

 

I started building lab style modules with no fans on them, better heat sinking, that can run pretty much continuously.

 

As time progressed collected more mirrors and more glass and more anything I could get my hands on and that’s that’s kind of how I got to where I am today.

 

It was a little bit of luck, but really it’s it’s this fascination I’ve always had with light in general.

 

And then being able to use both sides of my brain in the building aspect and the science behind making a laser work and in the art creation.

 

That’s kind of my excuse to my wife, why I get to spend so much time on this is that I get to use both sides of my brain.

 

So it became my hobby.

 

 

Tim Bennett: That’s pretty cool. I guess you owe quite a lot to your wife right?

 

For that laser pointer!

 

What I think is interesting as I talked to many people in the laser industry…

 

So many people have a story kinda like yours and like mine.

 

I didn’t deliberately say, “I want to be in the laser industry.”

 

One day I just walked into a bar and it had a laser in it, and one day you were given a laser pointer.

 

And I think there’s a moment where…

 

It’s you either get it or you don’t get it.

 

And I guess we got it!

 

Lewie Wilkinson: You can say that.

 

Tim Bennett: Yes. So you mentioned mirrors and glass and I noticed from a lot of your artwork that you you have that feature in it.

 

How did you move into this area where you…

 

…because you just showed me briefly what it is you have and from your photos, I thought this was something that was really huge.

 

In fact, is actually quite a small little unit.

 

Was it just experimentation?

 

Lewie Wilkinson: Yeah, for the most part.

 

I will say there, there is one person…

 

You know, I’ve done one live installation, if you will, where I had people walk up and actually see it.

 

But whether it’s live or or online or whatever, it’s, it’s the same kind of comments.

“Have you ever done a music festival or a show or something large.”

 

Or something about being ‘under the influence’ and looking at them usually comes up.

 

And then third, “I’ve never seen anything like this.”

 

And I say, you know, I honestly really haven’t either, except for one person an individual, his name is Bruce Meer.

 

He was part of the laser forum.

 

And as I was getting accustomed to building these things I stumble across one of his pictures.

 

So, typically with some glass and orbs in it.

 

And was like man this is cool, like this is so awesome.

 

So I one of the first pieces of glass I purchased was like a six inch crystal glass ball and was just messing around with that and then ordered some they were basically reclaimed mirrors from projection TVs.

 

There was a pack of 25 of these first surface mirrors, that had some sort of defect in all of them, but it was great.

 

It was it was what I needed.

 

It was actually cheap.

 

I’ve got like five or six left out of the 25 I haven’t broken to date.

 

But it was just getting those kind of pieces together and setting them up trying to bounce the beam around.

 

That really got me going into the glass collection.

 

Now I can’t go in anywhere without looking at glass and being like, I bet this would look pretty cool with a laser behind it.

 

So thrift shops, flea markets, eBay is pretty much where I spend my money now on glass.

 

 

Tim Bennett: That’s awesome. It’s really awesome and in the moment, we’re going to take a look at it…

 

Let’s talk about the equipment that you’re using in the way of lasers.

 

What lasers, do you have there and how big are they?

 

Lewie Wilkinson: Yeah.

 

So outside of the pointers that are kinda collecting dust, they’re locked up so the kids can get to them.

 

You know, safety first…

 

The high powered stuff.

 

The lab style modules that I built are all sourced from… the modules themselves off Ebay…

 

The diodes typically come from Ebay as well.

 

But the drivers too.

 

So while I was making my own drivers, it became a lot easier and cost effective and everything, to just to purchase all these different parts and assemble them from eBay.

 

So as far as modules go, I honestly haven’t counted probably in the range of like 15 or so little lab style modules that I can show you.

 

I’ve actually got one sitting right here.

 

So it’s basically just this little guy of all you know different flavors, different diodes, as far as wavelengths go and strengths go.

 

But for the most part, keep them pretty low powered so they’re not overexposing and so I can be able to mix the light effectively.

 

So nothing kind of overpowers anything else.

 

I have a couple of bench top power supplies that come into play and other power supplies so I can, kind of fine tune.

 

The strength of them on the fly, if need be, but for the most part, I’m just using these these modules here and then a lot of optics to go with it to shine that through or refocus it or split it with diffraction grating and literally just glass to do like certain lumier effects with it.

 

Tim Bennett: Awesome.

 

That’s cool.

 

So in a moment, we’re going to take a look at the actual unit and we’re gonna have a little play with it, which I’m looking forward to, but in the meantime, I’m talking to Lewie Wilkinson about 3D laser art and laser animation, his unique collection of laser art.

 

It’s just incredible.

 

We will be back in just a moment!

 

 

 

Tim Bennett: Welcome back to ArgonTV.

 

I am here with Lewie Wilkinson talking about 3D laser art and laser animation and I’m really excited because in a minute Lewie is going to show us his actual model.

 

 

Lewie Wilkinson: You know, it’s really a glass structure.

 

I mean it’s it’s…

 

I mean, it’s part of the laser art I guess…

 

I’ve never really defined what what this pieces so

 

Tim Bennett: We should give it a name.

 

Lewie Wilkinson: Yeah, maybe.

 

Tim Bennett: Maybe we should have a competition ask people to write in with a name

 

Anyway, but yeah, let’s take a look at it.

 

So maybe walk through, you’re going to switch over phones, Yeah?

 

Lewie Wilkinson: Yeah, I’m gonna just pick up my phone here. So make sure that are you seeing my phone screen yet.

 

Tim Bennett: Let me see if I can switch over to that.

 

Lewie Wilkinson: Okay, I’ll, uh, I’ll turn the lights down real quick just kind of show them all here.

 

So this is a walk in closet off of my spare bedroom that

 

My wife great graciously gave me the closet to basically turn into my studio.

 

So this is all the just current glass I collected.

 

Most of this is all us in a second hand stuff that I picked up here.

 

Tim Bennett: That’s cool. That’s like a real workshop

 

Lewie Wilkinson: This, this is my workshop. So this is just a standing desk from IKEA.

 

Tim Bennett: Okay, it’s getting difficult to hear you right now.

 

Lewie Wilkinson: Okay. Well, let me turn my microphone on mute. This one here. Okay.

 

Tim Bennett: How many hours a day do you spend in there?

 

Lewie Wilkinson: Well, I have a full time job and five kids.

 

Tim Bennett: So this is cool. So you’ve, you’ve got how many glass structures that there’s triangles and spheres?

 

Lewie Wilkinson: I’m sorry, can you hear me still.

 

Tim Bennett: Yes, that’s better.

 

Lewie Wilkinson: Okay, great.

 

Alright, so I’m gonna kill the lights here, you kind of take a closer look, if you will. I’m not sure how the exposure is going to look with the zoom settings.

 

Tim Bennett: It looks good here.

 

Lewie Wilkinson: Cool.

 

So most of this stuff, everybody’s probably pretty familiar with.

 

I’ve got a couple RGB projectors.

 

This one I assembled on my own.

 

It was pretty massive.

 

I had all the different modules were once I put together.

 

So it was a few watts, but it was way overpowered for what I was using…

 

This module I purchased off of eBay to make things a little simpler.

 

A lot less power.

 

So I’m not completely over exposing everything just blasting the camera away.

 

Tim Bennett: And what kind of power are we talking about. Is it low, high?

 

Lewie Wilkinson: The series is rated at 600 milliwatts however I have turned everything down.

 

Quite a bit. So if everything was on full bore, it’s probably half of that. If I had to guess.

 

Yeah. Well, the only laser power meters is something I assembled from some schematics I found online.

 

Works pretty well. Honestly, but it’s not obviously professional one.

 

This one was off eBay. This was rated at 500 milliwatts this RGB guy.

 

So it’s hooked up through a Pangolin interface.

 

The one that I put together myself, I’m using actually a mock-up card here to control that laser so…

 

Over here is basically some some Lumiere set up and I use a ball at different sizes.

 

I use that or or maybe this sphere or this smaller glass ball is basically just a lens to refocus that so on the background is is that class pattern that you’re seeing from this.

 

This is a sample piece of glass from a glass store here in Indianapolis.

 

So the rest of it, some chemistry stands are what all the modules are hanging off.

 

Tim Bennett: This is very cool.

 

 

Lewie Wilkinson: And the mirrors themselves, basically sourced all of that stuff just off Amazon and collected over time, so I got a few of those stands.

 

What’s really hard to come by, If you asked me, is the first surface mirrors.

 

Like I said, I got a good deal on 25 of these guys a long time ago off Ebay.

 

I was trying to replace some of them and I found this very large one down here…

 

…actually three of them in California for only 15 bucks, but ended up paying $120 with shipping to get it here.

 

Well absolutely worth it you asked me.

 

Just got to take care of them.

 

We don’t want to be spending that kind of money all the time, obviously.

 

But this is pretty much it.

 

I tear this down to nothing and build it up.

 

You asked how much time I spend on it, maybe two hours every other night I get to come down here and mess around when all the kids are in bed and I don’t have any other work to do.

 

So that’s pretty typical, I guess. Yeah.

 

Tim Bennett: And some of the prints that you’re sharing on Facebook, are pretty amazing.

 

I love the different styles and colours and things you can get from it.

 

Lewie Wilkinson: Thank you.

 

Tim Bennett: And if you can send me some of those I’ll include them in the interview, so that people can take a look at what it…

 

…because here it looks very different to the actual finished artwork.

 

Yeah, when you see the actual model live, it’s a very different feeling to when you see it in a print…

 

Lewie Wilkinson: Yeah.

 

Tim Bennett: And it’s really interesting to see both!

 

I’m fascinated with It, to be honest.

 

And I bet you find it hard to walk past the stained glass church without ripping the windows out, yeah?

 

Lewie Wilkinson: Yeah, I have a small everyday carry pointer that I take with me places.

 

Obviously, I’m not going to be pointing it at random things, you know, where there could be a possibility of some reflection or refraction, you know, into open space, but I do carry a laser with me.

 

So if I do come across something, I can take it to the side and see how it’s going to react with a laser behind it, or through it, etc.

 

So yeah, it is kind of like the, the world is is a big tool and you can basically find anything out there that will react nice with some light shined at it, if you will.

 

Tim Bennett: But what I think is interesting, I had an interview recently with William Benner from Pangolin and we were talking about making laser as a career.

 

And what I think is really interesting as, as I have these conversations with people is, how many different styles of work there are within one industry.

 

Like you know there’s laser shows, there’s laser animation, there’s laser art like you have, there’s construction of equipment and there’s all these different areas that people can niche down into within the industry.

 

I just find it really fascinating how many different avenues there are that people can go down.

 

Lewie Wilkinson: Yeah.

 

Tim Bennett: And you know what you’re doing is is really beautiful. Now can you make a full time living out of this? Is it something you recommend people to go into?

 

Lewie Wilkinson: Personally, I barely made…

 

I haven’t made a dime.

 

I mean, all these all the diodes and all the lasers I put together has not been cheap.

 

It’s not a cheap hobby, by any means, you know.

 

I do offer prints for sale.

 

I was scheduled to do some some live installations before Covid hit and it was going to get, you know, a portion of the door, if you will.

 

I was going to try to sell some prints there but honestly, you know, this is far from a lucrative job for me.

 

It is literally my hobby that you know if I can share it and people enjoy it and that just makes it that much better at least for the, for the time being.

 

Tim Bennett: That’s cool. I remember when I started my, my first show was 1989, I think, and I remember going to a website of one of the early companies and it had an FAQ page and it says, “Can I get rich with lasers?” and they said, “definitely not.”

 

Lewie Wilkinson: I’m not gonna beat around the bush here. I mean, it’s an art, you know, and people value art very differently.

 

And and people have different discretionary income.

 

So it all depends I guess who your audiences is, but I think just hearing compliments and inspiring others that are like “hey I love to try this out. Can you give me any pointers?”

 

And the answer is yes.

 

I will talk your ear off. You’re going to hear a bunch about safety, you know, right out of the gate.

 

I’ll give you that warning.

 

But, you know, as far as tips on on what’s a good entry way to kind of start setting things up, you know, that’s great to hear if somebody…

 

…it’s hard to find.

 

I don’t wanna say ‘laser friends’, but I don’t have anybody in this area, that can hang out with regularly, that just sit around and talk about lasers or goof around with lasers.

 

I’ve got some friends who like to come in and check it out.

 

But bringing somebody kind of into the hobby or just the laser world could give them laser brain for a little bit is exciting.

 

Tim Bennett: If you ever want to jump on a plane and come over to the Philippines with your family… You’re always welcome to!

 

Bring A couple of lasers.

 

Lewie Wilkinson: Sounds terrific.

 

Tim Bennett: So yeah… You’re always welcome.

 

How do people get in touch with you if they’re inspired by, you know, they want to buy some of your artwork or they want to just talk about this in any way?

 

How did they get in touch with you.

 

Lewie Wilkinson: I think the easiest way is Instagram.

 

So a co-worker of mine convinced me to get on Instagram.

 

The end of 2018

 

And that’s really where I have found the best audience you know.

 

I tried other avenues, but don’t get a whole lot of great feedback, but Instagram has been kind of a nice community and accepting for something as unique as this could possibly be, I guess.

 

Tim Bennett: Shoot me Your link for Instagram and I will include it in the description so that people can reach you there.

 

Lewie Wilkinson: Yeah. That’s awesome. That’d be terrific. I’d love to talk to some some more laser heads. It’d be great.

 

 

Tim Bennett: Cool. Well Instagram is a very visual place anyway, so I guess it’s ideal.

 

So do you have lots of these prints hanging around your house on the wall?

 

Lewie Wilkinson: I only a couple honestly

 

I didn’t make a whole lot.

 

I did before I had the installation that was coming up and then that never happened. So I’ve got a box of some prints here and then I just recently stood up an online presence on Threadless mostly.

 

So when people were asking me, can I get a print?

 

I can say, Yeah, and it’s it’s really cost effective. It’s cheap to go to Threadless and get a print, as opposed to the ones I printed here for like a gallery are super, super high quality and expensive.

 

I would rather you know make it easy for people to have something if they really want it.

 

Tim Bennett: Okay, so is that Threadless did you say?

 

Lewie Wilkinson: Yeah, Threadless is the site, you know it’s it’s kind of like a society six or something along those lines where you go in there and you’re like, “I like this design” and you can make a print of it or put on a t shirt or a mug or a bedsheet whatever you want.

 

Tim Bennett: That’s nice. I like that! Print on demand.

 

Lewie Wilkinson: What’s it?

 

Tim Bennett: Print on demand.

 

Lewie Wilkinson: Yes, exactly. Yeah.

 

Tim Bennett: Yeah. Okay, great.

 

Awesome. Okay.

 

Well, I’m here with Lewie Wilkinson and we’ve been talking about 3D laser art and laser animation, which is just absolutely brilliant mind blowing.

 

I love it!

 

And we will be back in just a moment!

 

 

 

Tim Bennett: So welcome back!

 

It’s part three.

 

I’m with Lewie Wilkinson, we’re talking about 3D laser art and laser animation and he has been showing us his totally unique and awesome 3D laser models.

 

If you are inspired by this and you want to get in touch with Lewie, we will have contact details in the description beneath this video.

 

 

And as we round up with the final part, I just thought I’d throw Lewie some random questions.

 

And get to know him a little bit better.

 

So number one, what’s your favorite colour?

 

Lewie Wilkinson: Ah, you know,

 

Seriously, since the sharp company made this this diode readily available, it’s a somewhere between 488 and 495 nanometers. So it’s like this really, really pretty blue, to like cyan.

 

I’m going to go with with 488.

 

This one right here. That’s my favorite

 

Tim Bennett: That sounds Brilliant.

 

And second question. What’s your favorite city?

 

Lewie Wilkinson: Man, I’ve got a soft spot for some cities down in the the Virgin Islands, Where I’ve my wife’s family and we got married down in St. Thomas.

 

So it’s a little bit outside of there, but I’ve always had a fondness for some different places and St. Thomas, I would say.

 

Tim Bennett: Third question, if you could have dinner with anyone dead or alive, who would it be?

 

Lewie Wilkinson: Whoo.

 

Dead or alive?

 

Gosh, I gotta get some some points here. I’m gonna say my wife…

 

But outside of that would be Dave Grohl.

 

So my wife and then Dave Grohl!

 

Tim Bennett: That’s cool.

 

Lewie Wilkinson: I think Dave rolls amazing dude and does a lot of cool things and it was obviously a performer entertainer, so Yeah, that’s what my knee jerk reaction.

 

Tim Bennett: Excellent. So I know what the next question is going to be…

 

Which band would you like to do lasers for?

 

Lewie Wilkinson: I’m gonna switch it up a little bit on you.

 

I’m when I’m putting together some some videos or visuals for what I record here in the closet, I heavily lean on Thievery Corporation and their unique style and and just masterful music.

 

I think they’re a terrific group.

 

I’ve got to see them one time live.

 

And I think about that a lot.

 

I hope I get to see them again… but I think that would be probably my go to.

 

Tim Bennett: OK, I will have to check them out. I’m not very familiar with their music.

 

Okay, yeah, so that’ll be an interesting journey.

 

What’s your favorite food?

 

Lewie Wilkinson: Oh, steak easily cows are good.

 

Tim Bennett: All right. And then, last question….

 

What’s Lewie’s secret to success?

 

Lewie Wilkinson: Oh, in life in general and lasers in just everyday life.

 

I mean, it’s just, it’s kind of the old adage, where you’re you always give 100%.

 

So kinda of like with lasers or anything I get interested in, not going to back out of it halfway through it.

 

So pretty much give it your all.

 

You know, I’ve been lucky in a lot of aspects of life where or gotten good genes are good uprising.

 

You know, my parents are loving and caring individuals and I got a great family and all this stuff.

 

But I think just putting your heart into whatever you’re doing, giving it your all and it’s going to be the key to not only success, but happiness.

 

Tim Bennett: Awesome. It doesn’t get much better than that living the dream.

 

Well Lewie, I want to thank you for taking the time to share what you do with our community.

 

It’s really awesome.

 

I’m very impressed with what you’re doing and you kind of inspire me to…

 

I have a laser over here on my right hand side….

 

Maybe I’ll turn that on, little bit later and play with it.

 

Lewie Wilkinson: I love being here. Just the chance to talk to somebody who appreciates it it makes my day. So this has been a great chat, honestly.

 

Tim Bennett: Thank you. So what happens now is I will post this video, I’ll do some editing and make it look beautiful and then I’ll put it up on the site. I’ll send you a link and We’ll put you in the magazine as well. The ArgonTV magazine.

 

So thank you for being here.

 

I really appreciate it.

 

Keep in touch. And I’m sure you’ll get lots of people sending you messages about this.

 

So thank you for being part of ArgonTV.

 

I’ve been sharing the journey of Lewie Wilkinson and we’ve been talking about 3D laser art and laser animation and I look forward to seeing you all again on another episode of ArgonTV…

 

 

What To Do Next…..

Click Here To Get All Expert Secrets

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This post “3D Laser Art And Laser Animation Will Blow Your Mind” Was written exclusively for Argon Animation Inc by Tim Bennett © 2020