For my project I plan on using LEDs to make a piece highlighting the career of a famous athlete. I’m going to list their accolades along with a silhouette picture of them and cut that out of a piece of plastic (or some other material) so that the LEDs will shine through creating the image. I want each line of writing to fade in from to right, so it looks as though they’re being written. The picture will then fade in, as the same coloring as the writing, when it will then fade to gold. I want to cover the piece with the cuts with a slightly opaque piece of plastic (or other material, so the light can shine through it but it looks smoother than LEDs would on their own. I made a mock video of what I want this to look like using Kobe Bryant as the athlete.
Artist Question: What material would be best to cover the piece in that will still allow light to shine through?
How do you plan on etching the outline of the picture? I also liked the idea of using bulbs so that you can get the illusion of the words being written.
The idea of the text appearing left to right on your piece is very appealing and will catch the viewer’s attention. Acrylic is the best way to let light shine line through while covering the piece. I suggest using an LED controller like the pixel-blaze with many pre-established code libraries to get the desired light animations in this piece more easily. To place the design of your piece onto the material you decide to use, are you going to use a program to convert it to a file that an engraver can use, and if so, what program?
The clear material can be a polycarbonate sheet /lexan, and there should be separations so the lighting on one section does not effect another.
Frosted acrylic or other opaque materials would be a good material to cover the base with. You may have to experiment with different values of translucence to get the effect you are looking for.