[Mr Grimsley]

Hello all..

Just wondering if there's anyone out there that has tried what i'm about to...

I have plans to create a Disappearing Ghost effect in the upper front window to my townhome. I guess it will be most similar Paris Disneyland's Ghost Bride that they added to the "Endless Hallway" scene.

I have a "LED" flickering candelabra that will be floating in the window (possibly on a mini FGG-type mechinism). Then every so often a hooded spectre will slowly appear out of nowhere holding the candelabra!

I realize this is easiest way might be to use the "Pepper's Ghost" effect however I don't believe that'll work too well as visitors will be looking up at the window at up to a possible 45 degree angle. Note - I am familiar with that effect having setup a successful version at a local haunt at a fur-trade era fort called Fort Langley in a suburb of Vancouver.

Instead I wa thinking of placing black background material around the window forming a sort of space approx 3' deep by the width of the window (about 5' I think??).

The ghost will be made with black meshy material instead of the usual "FGG white" but will be doused with Blacklight hairspray or similar.

I intend to have LED blacklight cluster bulbs trained on the ghost and will periodically fade in and out. When the lights are off I'm hoping the ghost itself will not be visible against the black background.

Anyone tried the black FGG effect and does anyone have any thoughts on the best way to have the lights fading in and out???

Sorry for the long post... guess I'm just thinking out loud. :OP

Darren

 

[CaptnJackSparrow]

Ahoy ShadowMan.. sounds like the fadin' blacklight might work on UV paint on a scrim or black sheet, bu' think ye can nigh use flourescents ta fade in an' out. Incandescent bulbs'll dim/fade, but nigh flourescents. Otherwise, th' idea be sound ta me.. Good luck tho.

Capt. Jack

 

[Mr Grimsley]

Hey Capt. Jack,

Thanks for the response... I have several flourescent fixtures but last year also obtained 3 LED UV 'cluster bulbs' with standard threaded bases . (see below)

MIE27BLB - E27 Base 38 Ultra Violet (UV) LED Blacklight Bulb

Although I have not tested them, I am hoping these will dim to an extent. If not, then I'm likely left with mounting said UV bulbs onto an oscillating fan motor and having the UV light 'sweep' the ghost. Not my preference as there's always the possibility of scattered or reflected UV light still illuminating the ghost.

Time will tell. I'm confident I can pull it off in some manner or another, just not certain of how yet!

Well T Minus 151 days and....

Darren

 

[Dark lord]

(deleted message)

 

[JacksonManor]

You could try to pepper ghost it this way.

 

[scream1973]

I think the scrim idea might just give you what you need.. utilizing lighting on the frontside will make the candelabra visible.. lit from the back and front you should be able to see both..

 

[HalloweenBob]

If you can't dim the LED blacklight, you could set up a mechanism that slowly opens and closes in front of the blacklight, like a camera iris or something. The light stays on inside a sealed box. The slider or iris slowly opens letting the light out when you want it.

That should do it if a dimmer does not.

 

[Mr Grimsley]

Very cool... lots of ideas... thanks all...

JacksonManor... I hadn't thought of usinf the pepper's ghost that way... Thanks..

scream1973 & halloweenbob... Both very good alternatives! Now I have to choose one! What a dilema... LOL! Too many options... oh well ... better than none!

Will keep you all posted on which route I go!

 

[Mr Grimsley]

Part way there... check out this candelabra I found!!!

OK so I now have the candelabra (soon to be converted with LED flicker candles). CHeck this out...

View attachment 1744

I now also have the programable christmas light strings destined to be converted to allow me to control my black light LED bulb! See How To: 4 channel 8 function 3Amp animation controller for $5

Also I just came across an unused can of the UV hairspray that'll be used to coat the black FCG character (Didn't know I had that). Yahoo!

Things are looking up for this...now I just need the ghost!

 

[harrison36]

nice candelabra, glad to hear youve got it figured out. just another thought i came up with, what if you took one of those spinning party lights( not disco ball, but the multicolored ones) and replaced the bulb with a blacklight bulb, then hacked the 1/4 of the outer cover that spins. then completely black out the colored dots with electric tape or something. now while the ball spins only a 1/4 of the black light shines and if it spins slowly enough will give the appearance of fading in and out. this is probably confusing, but it might work. good luck

 

[Mr Grimsley]

Hey... interesting thought... and your description makes perfect sense... it's similar to the ascilating fan idea but may even be a little simpler in terms of setup.

That would make a decent backup to my plan if the christmas light hack doesn't work (although I believe it will) You just never know for sure untill you try! LOL!

In the end I think any of these great ideas will work! I'm confident my ghost will materialize to my liking one way or another thanks to everyone here!!! :O)

Thanks for the idea!

 

[JacksonManor]

this can be a bit more expensive, but I have been messing with PWM on the basic stamps. PWM is Pulse Width Modulation. This allows you to essentially dim or fade LEDs. The fading program is simple and can be done on the prop-1 from efx-tek for $39.95. And you can buy UV LEDs.

 

[TNBrad]

I was wanting to do a projection type pepper's ghost on my second story deck and have the images of a ghost bride and the vampire from the silent black and white films fade back and forth..
so as the TOTs look up between the cabin the garage.
By using an opaque projector (used for doing murals) and having the light fade in and out and switch back and forth the images, projected on to a plexy-glass door; free standing on the deck next to the railing.
I was wonder if anyone had any ideas on this effect?

 

[boo who?]

Have you thought about combining video with a pepper set up or ghost projector?

In this pic, I aimed a TV upwards and reflected the image up at a glass screen door which I angled at a 45 degree angle. This effect scared the bejeebus out of even the adult TOTs.

 

[Mr Grimsley]

Disappearing Ghost Update...

OK so the good news is that the 'hacked' christmas light controller works perfectly for the fading in & out effect!

The bad news is that the LED UV cluster bulbs I have (as I feared) do not work so well on the fading circuit. They fade out just fine but do not fade in. For some reason I think I knew this would be the case but was in denial! LOL!

It's not that bad looking though, so I will still try it. Failing that, my backup plan is to add one of the LED UV clusters to my soon-to-arrive Lighting FX box so when the lightning flashes, the ghost lights up too! (also spooky)

Plan C will be spraying the black semi-invisible ghost with copious amounts of glow-in-the-dark paint so when the lightning discharges, the ghost should glow for a few seconds and then fade away? (I hope)

In fact now that I think about it, I'm liking Plan C more and more.

Any thoughts anyone???

 

[vprugh]

Just to pass along. I bought a chauvet LED Blacklight panel (called Shadow) in hopes of using it to fade on signs modified with blacklight UV paint (changing "Carnival" to "CarnEVIL"), but the LED's don't work on the same frequency as true Blacklight UV, so it doesn't glow).

Has anyone tried using a tube blacklight and a rotating plate to simulate a "fade"?

Thanks,

Vicki (newbie)

 

[Mr Grimsley]

Seriously? WOW...strange!

The only thing I would suggest trying with that is to move the panel closer to the signs. UV LEDs apparently have a fairly short UV falloff distance whereas the visible portion of those LEDs seems to go a little farther. I noticed this with my LED cluster bulbs. I have to be fairly close to get the "blacklight" effect on anything, but I can still backup further and have that same item only be lit with the visible purple-ish light they emit.

Just a though?!?! I hope that works cuz if not, what's the point of making this panel? Plus I really, really hope it works cuz I wanteed to invest in one or two of those someday! :OP

 

[Mr Grimsley]

Incidently, check out this thread. This fellow has oh-so generously given us test comparisons with UV LEDs vs Flourescent tube vs Incandescent bulbs etc. It shows that the UV LEDs do in fact emit UV and will light up UV sensitive paint etc. The UV LED bulb in shown in his 2nd msg.

http://www.halloweenforum.com/hallo...ison-test-incandescent-florescent-lights.html

 

[vprugh]

No, I put it RIGHT up against it... I'm having someone check it against the tube just to be sure it isn't the paint guy screwing with me. This is using CleanNeon paint (goes on clear and is SUPPOSED to glow red). Maybe it's a special paint that only reacts at the True UV frequency. Here's what he'd said:

"Hi there Vicki, standard fluorescent type blacklights are 365nm, which is what it takes to fluoresce the UV paint.

LED blacklight bulbs aren't quite the right frequency for the paint. LED makers have tried to make these with a frequency closer to fluorescent bulbs, but so far without success."

I'm going to try and make something from standard tubes that will do the fade. I've been looking at the "color wheels", but they run around $40 and I'd basically be destroying it just to get the rotating disc).

Vicki

 

[Mr Grimsley]

Oops...sorry, wrong thread! :OP