Thread: Gravestone with hologram

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Hey all,

I started researching stuff here two years ago. I'm finally finishing my first "new" project based upon merging a few of the ideas and projects that I've read on here. It is all made from Insulation foam from Home Depot (except for the computer and acrylic of course)

This is my new gravestone with hologram (see video below). I'm still doing some details in regards to paint and touching up the inside but as you can see, it is pretty much done. I slapped in Leota for the moment but plan eventually using a micro projector to project onto a silk screen to give the illusion that the front is solid and then have it "melt away" to show a skull hologram inside that can be either pre-programmed or live via microphone. A laptop sits inside with the screen facing up and then an acrylic panel sits at a 45 degree angle (in front of the skull) so that it creates the illusion. A second acrylic panel sits on the face to protect the laptop from weather.










Anyway, Thought I'd share in case someone else wanted to make one. It took me about eight hours in total.

Looks great . Be sure to post video of the melting front dissolving into the skull projection .

That looks totally fantastic! That's a really good idea you came up with. Leota looks awesome!

Also, I could swear that cat was REAL!

Originally Posted by DaveintheGrave

That looks totally fantastic! That's a really good idea you came up with. Leota looks awesome!

Also, I could swear that cat was REAL!

It was a last minute throw-in effect. I thought it would add to the ambiance...

Did you carve the brick mortar lines into a sheet of foam or did you cut out the brick and glue it to foam or board? If you did just carve lines into sheet of foam, how did you do it? What tools did you use? I ask because the lines are so straight.

Someone was giving away "industrial foam insulation" which I thought was going to be large 4'x8' boards. After travelling an hour to pick them up, I found out they were pink strips of foam that they use for tucking into metal structure supports I guess. The size you see are what they are (even though they were pink).

The only real tools I used were a measuring tape, a box knife, a glue gun, and a craft hot knife. What I did was use Home Depot 3/4" insulation board (about 3/4 of one) to create the basic frame. The top comes off and is slightly sloped back to allow for rain. After securing the structure using gorilla duct tape, hot glue, and some Loctite Foam board glue (not overkill or anything), I cut out the video hole, glued the jagged blow out pieces and then started "bricking" the surface with the pink strips of insulation (they're about 16"x3"x.5") using a little hot glue on each to hold them on (too lazy and impatient for craft glue). Afterwards, I sprayed crap out of everything with four different colors (flat white, flat black, satin gray, and gloss black). I made it a little heavier where I wanted it to eat into the foam (around the edges of the bricks and some surface effects). The pink foam was really easy to cut with a box knife and was not made of the same material as the Home Depot Insulation foam. It had fiberglass fibers as the makeup (much nicer to work with). I carefully dripped some Martha Steward Florescent paint (it sucked and now I know why it was so cheap) into the cracks but after looking at the effect this evening, I will go back to my normal glow-in-the-dark paint that I usually buy. Inside, I took my son's old shield from a costume he had (cost about $5) and cut it to fit inside the structure. Inside, I glued a couple pieces of foam to support the laptop inside so that it was low enough not to be seen but high enough to really make the reflection be bright. I also put a small strip to support the acrylic (to create the 45 degree angle). I put the laptop in on it's back with the keyboard on the back wall (under the skull). There is a ledge right above the keyboard to support the lower edge of the acrylic that leans against the top front of the gravestone. I turn on the video on a loop, put the acrylic panel in, put the lid on and set it wherever I want. I played around with using remote access software to login to my laptop and such but I will probably get more serious about that next year (along with the silk front screen to make it "solid" and create dual layer effects) as mentioned in my original post. This year, I am just going to create a loop with Leota and whatever looks like it will fit that I can find on the internet.

I will take some more pictures of the inside tomorrow so you will get a better idea.

Very nicely done!

So How do you make a loop?

I use Pinnacle Studio to create my "movies" and blend clips together using the fading effect and then export it out as a Windows Media file. In Windows Media Player, there is a "loop" button (two curved arrows that point upwards and cross). In regards to my "final" effect, The primary monitor (laptop) runs one video while the second (VGA or HDMI out) plays the second projector. As long as the video times are the same, they both start and stop at the same time - same concept as running one projector. Only difference is that the laptop monitor will be black for thirty seconds while the micro projector is displaying the "front brick and melt" effect directly onto the front screen and then kicks on to fade up the skull that reflects onto the glass. When the micro projector is "black", the silk screen becomes translucent.

WOW that is awsome looking.
Thank you for sharing