Much thanks to everyone who lent a hand, came to a fundraiser event,made a sequence, bought a hoodie, and helped spread the word! The Pyrosphere was truly a community accomplishment!

Thanks for making it happen,

Erin B

The PyroSphere Crew

Erin Banwell- creator, director, conceptual design, R&D, flame effects, fundraising coordinator

Chris Nowak- Structural Manager, design, heavy equipment

Steve Cronberg- circuit design, head programmer, R&D

Nathan Crane- flame effects, plumbing, electrical, head technician

Chris Pomodoro- architectural design, structural engineering

Robert Cordtz- creator of The Pyro Bowl

Zeke Koch- Sequencer programming

Corey Patterson- sequencer technician

Aaron Davis- welding

Hillary- welding

Mark Pauley-programming

Josh Silverstein- logistical support

Kristina Moreno

Vaughn Parsons

Christian Ardita

David Ampersand

Hali Stone

Ashley Pauley

Taylor Williams

Patty T Nowak

Julie Luster

Erin Pauley

Selina Koch

Randy Sherwood

Damiean Hollinga

David Plate

Haley Koch

Chris Medak

Donny Thomas II

Connell Burke

Dustin Raphael

Crystal

Red Floyd

Tom

]]> http://nexusorg.org/2010/burning-man/the-pyrosphere-video-and-photos/feed/ 1322 http://nexusorg.org/2010/blog/the-galaxatron-tesla-coil-project/ http://nexusorg.org/2010/blog/the-galaxatron-tesla-coil-project/#comments Wed, 04 Aug 2010 00:03:41 +0000 erin banwell http://nexusorg.org/?p=1034 Hello Nexus family

This year’s camp seems surreal! You all know about the ridiculous project the Nexus pyro team is undergoing but you may not know the project the Tesla Coil crew is putting together, so let me explain…

Nexus has long been an epicenter for art, creativity, mind expansion, friendship, and a place where ideas seem to take on a life of their own.

I think of Nexus as a collective of energy that transcends dimensional barriers that reach the very soul of all those who enter. It is not only a place of epic visual, auditory and performance art, but a place that creates an awakening deep inside that cannot be explained in words. This is why we have gone towards a project that focuses on a representation of the energy created during our transformation from the everyday illusion we live to the all things possible Playa; called The Galaxatron.

The Galaxatron is the power plant of Nexus. It is a 30 foot glowing dome that draws its energy from the Playa through large pyramid conduits that surround the dome (top secret alien technology) that focus this energy into mega conductors that each plug into the dome. These mega conductors are each programmed to show energy flow through thousands of programmed LED’s; and in the heart of this alien machine lays the Tesla Coil.

Many of you may have seen the coil at Burning Man in ’05, Decompression, or hopefully somewhere else when it worked without a hitch. It has been brought to the Playa in the recent years but has had many technical difficulties associated with grounding issues and magnetic shifts that made it extremely temperamental in the harsh desert environment. After much research, expert consultation as well as trial and error we have ironed out how to achieve ignition in an environment that eats electronics for breakfast (thanks again to the steering committee for putting together an awesome galactic tech support line).

Description:

We are building an art piece to be at the corner spot at Burning Man 2010. The project is called “The Galaxatron”. It is a 30ft geodesic dome that we are having powder coated to reflect high power led lighting.

We will have five 12 ft pipes running to pyramids that stand 8ft tall and are each encoded with a different element (Earth, Wind, Fire, Water, Air and Spirit) with both old school druid symbols along with Mandarin Chinese symbols. Each 4 inch pipe will contain pre-programed led lighting to emulate energy being transferred to the dome through these pyramid energy sources.

There will be a letter on the top of each pyramid all five spelling N-E-X-U-S. Each of these pyramids will be painted and textured to simulate pyramid sandstone to mach the Playa and will be lit with high power led wash panels. Finally we will have the giant Tesla Coil in the middle that will arc and hit the dome and Koleman juggling fire battling 1,500,000 volts!

We have also have acquired 2 full color lasers that will blast the camp with a shower of light. These things are very cool.

Color Laser 1

Color Laser 2

Today was a productive day for the Nexus crew. It all started with big poles.Many, many big poles. 1300 linear feet of 1.5" steel conduit were manhandled mercilessly.

A few hours later, 280 of these bad boys were cut to size.

Then we had lunch.

After lunch, we threw the poles into trucks and brought 'em on down to 'Ye Olde Nexus Metal Shoppe.

It took some custom jigs to assure consistent craftsmanship on each and every pole. Chris made the jig for the holes, and Aaron modified a jig for the press.

Robert fine tunes the press jig

Here’s a video of the press in action.

Now we just need to do that 559 more times…….

……to be continued.

Click on the images below for PyroSphere info and updates

Coming to a Burning Man 2010 near you…

The Nexus PyroSphere

The PyroSphere is a 22 ft diameter geodesic sphere, elevated on five 15 ft legs for a total hieght of  37 ft. The sphere itself has 92 flame effect valves, each located at one of the sphere’s 92 vertices. Each flame effect valve is an 1/8 inch solenoid (electronic) valve, which emits a small, 3 to 4 ft fire ball. Each of the 92 valves is controlled individually by a microcontroller, creating a “persistence of vision” illusion similiar to the Burninator installation of 2009, only spread out over the surface of a sphere, creating 3 dimensional fire animations. Directly below the sphere, sits a 6 ft diameter clear bowl full of water. LEDs light up the water from below, as  it bubbles fire, creating a camp fire style gathering area.
In it’s essence, the PyroSphere is a gathering place. A place of warmth, and conversation. The PyroSphere’s dramatic silhouette combined with hundreds of elaborate, rapid fire patterns, will be visible from far across the playa.
Interactivity:
The PyroSphere’s patterns will be designed by the masses! Mark Pauley aka: Pauley Unsaturated , who works for Apple, programming Safari among other things, is finishing up the “PyroSphere Editor”: a simple program hosted on the web that allows the user to make patterns for the PyroSphere. The user selects which flame effect valves fire off, and in what order, etc with a simple, visual, point-and-click interface. When the user is finished with their pattern, the Editor outputs a 3d animation which is viewable by anyone visiting the site. People view the pattern animations, and rate them from 1 to 10. The most popular patterns will be assigned a pattern number and used on the playa, and the creators of these patterns will be emailed the number of their pattern so they can request it from the PyroSphere Operator at any time during operation on the playa. The PyroSphere editor will be widely publicized well before the event, to allow as many people as possible an opportunity to contribute.

Click on the images below for PyroSphere Updates

Donate $50 or more and get a Nexus Hoodie!

The Pyrosphere Crew:

Erin Banwell: Artist/creator, design, management, R&D, flame effect expert, electronics, junior programmer, foreman, etc.

Steve Cronburg: Lead programmer, R&D, electronics, design

Nathan Crane: Flame effect expert, Fuel plumbing, design

Robert Cordtz: Sphere construction manager, visionary

Vaughn Parsons: Expert brainstormer, resident wise guy, any job that entails bloody knuckles….

Mark Pauley: iPhone App programmer

Josh Silverstein: Organizer, motivator, crew management

Chris Nowak: Base design and construction

Chris Pomodoro: Architectural design

Donate to Help Our Crew Build the Pyrosphere 2010!

Every little bit helps…