Ghostmatrix, A Light Printer That Creates Glowing Text That Spookily Fades Away

Ghostmatrix is the latest project by Johnathan Foote, is a light printer that it creates ghostly letters that glow in the dark and then fade away. Eerie.

Well, this was supposed to be a weekend hack. Only it took a few months. In any case, it’s kind of working now! What is it? It’s a light printer that uses an array of UV LEDs mechanically scanned across phosphorescent paper, leaving a matrix of glowing dots that slowly fade. Hence “ghostmatrix.” I scavenged the linear motor from SRL discard pile, and used an Adafruit Mini POV3 with custom software as the light engine.

Johnathan has all the gory techy details on his blog, which also has a number of other interesting pieces.