Creating Backlit Logos

[HolyPhish]

Hello

 

I have been asked to develop/research an idea for our stage.

 

Basically I want 4 square logos about 750mm x 750mm that are lit up on stage.

 

The end product must be able to tour (it will be packed away and got out each night).

 

I have thought of many ways of doing this:

 

LED Light boxes with vinyl prints on the front.

MDF with the logos cut out and lights behind.

Making the logos out of LED Strips or Festoon.

 

Does anyone have any other ideas that might/could work?

 

Price is an issue as always but I want it to look good so know there is gonna be a cost in it.

 

Thanks in Advance

 

D

[ImagineerTom]

each of the methods you've mentioned so far produces a totally different end result and is / is not suitable for different types of logo. You need to tell us more SPECIFICALLY what the logo is, the level of detail required and exactly what the logo has to "do" within the performance - CFL backlighting is cheep and simple but not if you need to dim/switch the display for example.

[HolyPhish]

The logo is the one in the top left of this webpage: http://www.the4points.com/INT/index.php

 

The whole idea is to have this logo on stage as part of the stage 'dressing'.

 

They do not need to flash, change colour or dim, although any of those would be nice if the solution enables it.

 

They purely need to 'exist' on stage, whether as 4 separate boxes (easier to transport/move) or one single display (easier to set up).

[c.cam108]

They would work well using a light box (fluoro tubes would be ideal if no dimming required - think X-ray viewer) with an opaque white acrylic front and the logo blacked out using black film or spray paint.

 

Colin C

 

(ps I'm sure I have those on a wristband somewhere...)

[rossmck]

Another vote for making a lightbox - possibly using RGB LED as the source if you'd like them to change colour (also reduces a lot of the heat issues you would have with incandescent sources)

[Hilary Watts]

Go for the lightbox. Matthew Bourne's 'Cinderella' which is presently on tour uses a lightbox very effectively for a large red cross in a hospital scene - see the 15th image in the Gallery on this page. As already suggested, you would simply need to 'blank out' the image with paint or black film or other similar material.

[timsabre]

Another vote for making a lightbox - possibly using RGB LED as the source if you'd like them to change colour (also reduces a lot of the heat issues you would have with incandescent sources)

 

You'll have great trouble getting it illuminated evenly using LED, not to mention it'll be expensive to achieve a reasonable brightness. Unless you really need colour changing, use a few short fluorescent tubes on the back of the box.(e.g. the linklights you put under kitchen cupboards)

[cedd]

Are these getting used on the outdoor stage Dani? Knowing the kind of stuff you boys do, you'll have a job getting a light box to work effectively outdoors in daylight. If it's for indoor or night time stuff then no worries.

I'd suggest a couple of options depending on how they'll be used - in the dark only, put the shape masking on the light source side of the opaque material, so the logo appears when lit - be a nice effect. If used in daylight, put the masking on the audience side. Then at least if the light won't burn through, the shape is still visible.

 

And just WHERE in the Luton are these going to travel? :D

[HolyPhish]

Are these getting used on the outdoor stage Dani? Knowing the kind of stuff you boys do, you'll have a job getting a light box to work effectively outdoors in daylight. If it's for indoor or night time stuff then no worries.

I'd suggest a couple of options depending on how they'll be used - in the dark only, put the shape masking on the light source side of the opaque material, so the logo appears when lit - be a nice effect. If used in daylight, put the masking on the audience side. Then at least if the light won't burn through, the shape is still visible.

 

And just WHERE in the Luton are these going to travel? :D

 

We'll worry about packing them when I've worked out what we're actually doing! :D

 

Ideally we would use them indoors and outdoors, so am opting for the graphics on the outside of the box. That way they don't always need power and can be used as a display if needed.

 

Does anyone have an idea of how big to build the boxes?

 

"Go for the lightbox. Matthew Bourne's 'Cinderella' which is presently on tour uses a lightbox very effectively for a large red cross in a hospital scene:

Do you know how deep these boxes were? And does anyone know of a good source of opaque acrylic?

[rossmck]

You'll have great trouble getting it illuminated evenly using LED, not to mention it'll be expensive to achieve a reasonable brightness. Unless you really need colour changing, use a few short fluorescent tubes on the back of the box.(e.g. the linklights you put under kitchen cupboards)

 

I've had success in the past with LED ones in two ways - either similar in idea to how EvenLED works (small spaced out sources quite distant from a translucent, diffuse, surface) and also with a shallower box, painted in a gloss white inside with RGB LED strips around the inner edges (might still have one of those somewhere) - I found as long as the cut out area was more than an inch or so from the outer edge it looked very even.

 

 

 

[Hilary Watts]

If you're using fluorescent tubes or link lights the depth will probably be dictated by the number of tubes you have (which may in turn be dictated by the budget). The fewer tubes you have, the deeper the box will have to be in order for the illumination to be fairly even.

 

You could experiment with a mock-up using an old cardboard box. If you were to use a box with a 600mm square front, then I'd be inclined to start with 4 540mm tubes and mount them parallel to each other on a 600 x 600 piece of plywood with a spacing of about 120mm between the tubes. With this number of tubes I'd guess you'd get away with a depth of 200mm or so - you could enhance the even spread of light by painting the inside of the box white or covering it with silver foil. If you find you can use less tubes then you can use any that are left over from the first box for the other 3.

[Jivemaster]

This is a pretty standard shop front sign daylight viewable and illuminated at night. Go to a local sigh shop and see what they can offer.

[kitlane]

Go for the lightbox. Matthew Bourne's 'Cinderella' which is presently on tour uses a lightbox very effectively for a large red cross in a hospital scene - see the 15th image in the Gallery on this page. As already suggested, you would simply need to 'blank out' the image with paint or black film or other similar material.

 

How did he get away with that? Didn't we have a discucssion a while back about the copyright of the "Red Cross" image. Hence why first aid signs and boxes are green and white?

[HolyPhish]

 

How did he get away with that? Didn't we have a discucssion a while back about the copyright of the "Red Cross" image. Hence why first aid signs and boxes are green and white?

 

I think the issue was more a red cross of equal proportions on a white background. As this is a single red cross, I don't think there would be an issue.