Sound manipulating water

**keefy** · 03-15-2013

Looks really crazy

**Morganator** · 03-15-2013

That was fucking AWESOME. Hell yeah.

**DreDayDetox** · 03-15-2013

That's unreal. An implosion of awesome happened in my mind.

**PeanutButterMunky** · 03-15-2013

That may be one of the single coolest things I have ever seen.

**podsaurus** · 03-15-2013

I'll take 20 and shower myself in sound.

**Sylar** · 03-15-2013

that's pretty cool!

**Completely Average** · 03-15-2013

Neat effect. Too bad you have to use a camera to see it. It's a strobe effect, an optical illusion, the water isn't really doing that.

Straight from the guy who did it....

The main thing to keep in mind for this project is that you need a camera that shoots 24 fps.

The effect that you are seeing can't be seen with the naked eye. The effect only works through the camera. However, there is a version of the project you can do where the effect would be visible with the naked eye. For that project, you'd have to use a strobe light.

For this project you'll need:

A powered speaker
Water source
Soft rubber hose
Tone generating software
24 fps camera
Tape.

Run the rubber hose down past the speaker so that the hose touches the speaker. Leave about 1 or 2 inches of the hose hanging past the bottom of the speaker. Secure the hose to the speaker with tape or whatever works best for you. The goal is to make sure the hose is touching the actual speaker so that when the speaker produces sound (vibrates) it will vibrate the hose.

Set up your camera and switch it to 24 fps. The higher the shutter speed the better the results. But also keep in the mind that the higher your shutter speed, the more light you need. Run an audio cable from your computer to the speaker. Set your tone generating software to 24hz and hit play.Turn on the water. Now look through the camera and watch the magic begin. If you want the water to look like it's moving backward set the
frequency to 23hz. If you want to look like it's moving forward in slow motion set it to 25hz.

**PeanutButterMunky** · 03-15-2013

Originally Posted by Completely Average

Neat effect. Too bad you have to use a camera to see it. It's a strobe effect, an optical illusion, the water isn't really doing that.

Well... the water IS doing that... it just can't be seen with the naked eye. If you film water at 24 fps just coming out of a hose, it isn't going to be doing any of this crazy crap.

A little disappointing that you can't see it without a camera, but it's still cool, nonetheless.

**keefy** · 03-16-2013

Yes the illusion is the water moving backwards or forwards, its slightly out of sync with the camera's 24FPS a similar effect can be seen with wheels which can often look like they spinning backwards when filmed.

**Completely Average** · 03-18-2013

Originally Posted by PeanutButterMunky

Well... the water IS doing that... it just can't be seen with the naked eye. If you film water at 24 fps just coming out of a hose, it isn't going to be doing any of this crazy crap.

A little disappointing that you can't see it without a camera, but it's still cool, nonetheless.

No, the water isn't really doing that.

The hose is wiggling back and forth. The water is coming straight down out of the hose. It only appears that the water is wiggling because of the strobe effect, but it's the hose that is moving, not the water.

You could achieve the same effect using your hand and wiggling the hose if you could film it at the right speed. It's just easier to do with a speaker and a set tone frequency to provide the vibration to the hose.