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Fascinating Formations: Aerial Light Shows Using Drones

Ermintruder

The greatest risk is to risk nothing at all...
Joined
Jul 13, 2013
Messages
6,200
This is really impressive: drones as sky-pixels, making 3D images that are astounding.
(just imagine how impressive a 200ft diameter 'flying saucer' would look, made-up from drones. Unfortunately....if you follow the logic in my concern)
 
only a matter of time before someone does formation drone porn

But surely it would be barely 8-bit. Which would result in rather 2-bit bits'n't!ts.

And if they increase the drone resolution much beyond that, it'd proportionately-increase the chances of an aerial cockup.
 
But surely it would be barely 8-bit. Which would result in rather 2-bit bits'n't!ts.

And if they increase the drone resolution much beyond that, it'd proportionately-increase the chances of an aerial cockup.
They could spell out rude words
 
That was a stunning sight
Ooo, i would love to see them do a UFO.
Can you imagine a real one turning up and everyone ignoring it
 
But can they do a murmouration like Starlings do?
Imagine a future in which AI can control the complex movements of a fleet of thousands of drones, moving in chaotic but orderly patterns just like a murmuration of starlings or gas molecules in a cloud. Bet you £10 it happens.
 
Imagine a future in which AI can control the complex movements of a fleet of thousands of drones, moving in chaotic but orderly patterns just like a murmuration of starlings or gas molecules in a cloud. Bet you £10 it happens.

It doesn't require AI to make this happen. Once one decides the division of responsibility between any central control (if any) versus potentially simplistic response coding onboard each of the drones it's pretty straightforward. At one extreme you centrally control based on a sophisticated model of the sort used to simulate (e.g.) fluid dynamics. At the other extreme you establish a baseline (e.g., the track of a lead or seed drone) and program the others to adjust position, vector, and / or speed based on responding to that baseline. There are a lot of variations between these two extremes.
 
In any case, it's already been done - at least in simple form. The earliest version I can find (35 drones in parallel with, if not synchronized to, a musical presentation) is from Bergen in 2013 ...

 
The display at 2.38 on the ground is also absolutely stunning
 
A Chinese drone display extravaganza has been awarded the Guinness record for longest animation performed by unmanned aerial vehicles.

VanGogh-Drones-2102.jpg

Hundreds of drones took Van Gogh's 'The Starry Night' to the skies -- and set a Guinness World Record

Van Gogh's "The Starry Night" has found a home on many surfaces.

The instantly recognizable work of art has been plastered on posters, coffee mugs and even a bike path. It seemed like the painting had made it everywhere.

That is, until 600 drones mapped it onto the night sky in northern China's Tianjin Municipality, setting a Guinness World Record in the process.

EFYI Group, a drone production company, along with Tianjin University in China, set the record for the longest animation performed by unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) with a time of 26 minutes and 19 seconds, according to the Guinness website. ...

"The Starry Night" wasn't the only Vincent Van Gogh painting to be recreated in the sky.

The drone performance told the story of the artist's life, moving through vignettes of his most famous work, including "Wheat Field with Cypresses," "The Mulberry Tree in Autumn" and the series "Sunflowers." ...

FULL STORY: https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/20/us/van-gogh-guiness-drone-trnd/index.html
 
A Chinese drone display extravaganza has been awarded the Guinness record for longest animation performed by unmanned aerial vehicles.




FULL STORY: https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/20/us/van-gogh-guiness-drone-trnd/index.html

Very impressive drone programming but as something of a whinge I'd never have known it was about Van Gogh if I hadn't been told. Looks more like a Disneyfied cowboy of some sort. The imagery produced was, although very clever, a bit dull. You probably had to be there.
 
Very impressive drone programming but as something of a whinge I'd never have known it was about Van Gogh if I hadn't been told. Looks more like a Disneyfied cowboy of some sort. The imagery produced was, although very clever, a bit dull. You probably had to be there.

I agree that I might not have guessed it was about van Gogh if the beginning / ending displays and video captions hadn't cued me about it.

It's an impressive feat of aerial coordination and scripting / programming.

I'm left curious, though, as to why van Gogh was chosen as the subject or theme for the display. If someone had asked me to guess the subject of such an airborne animation from China van Gogh would never have occurred to me as a possibility.
 
A Chinese drone light display for Genesis (the car company) has set a new Guinness record for most drones in a coordinated light show - 3,281.
Light show with 3,281 drones breaks Guinness World Record

A luxury car company broke a Guinness World Record in China by using 3,281 drones to put on a light show in the night sky.

The Genesis light show in Shanghai, which celebrated the brand's launch of the Genesis G80 car, featured 3,281 unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs, being arranged in multiple 3D images including depictions of the Genesis G80 and GV80 cars. ...

The total 3,281 UAVs was enough to break the previous record of 3,051 drones involved in a single light show.
FULL STORY (With Video): https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2021/0...esis-drone-show-Shanghai-China/7001621267214/
 
A Chinese woman arranged for a personalized (and unauthorized) 520-drone light show to celebrate her dog's birthday.


520 drones put on light show to celebrate dog's birthday

A Chinese woman celebrated her dog's 10th birthday by hiring a team of 520 drones to put on a canine birthday-themed light show in the sky.

Footage from the dog's birthday party in Changsha, Hunan Province, shows a crowd of well-wishers singing Happy Birthday to the canine while hundreds of drones prepare for takeoff nearby. ...

The drones ... arrange themselves into shapes including the dog's likeness and a birthday cake.

The drones also spell out the phrase "happy birthday to Doudou" in Chinese.

Local authorities said they were unaware of the event, which would require special permits to lawfully execute.

Drone industry insiders said it would likely have cost the woman about $15,700 ...
SOURCE: https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2022/01/05/dog-birthday-party-520-drones-Changsha-China/6191641411467/
 
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