How to: Avatar-Style Fiber Optic Pandora Jungle
By now, you’ve probably seen the bioluminescent jungles of Pandora in the movie Avatar. Throughout the movie, I kept thinking of how to re-create some of the environment with the help of EL wire, fiber optics, and modern lighting technologies. Before we dive in too deep and try and create the “tree of souls,” let’s start out with something basic: Touch sensitive, fiber optic grass.
Some elements of the jungle became illuminated upon touch, which is what this tutorial focuses on. In the video above, you’ll see how to integrate conductive thread, fiber optic strands, and LEDs to create touch sensitive grass. If I were to re-do the project, I would add far more fiber optics per square inch to add to the bioluminescence effect. View more details on the project.
Although this is simple setup comes nowhere near the complexity of the Pandorian jungle, it’s a neat start to inspire your future lighting projects.
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