Finally - a big screen laser cinema projector that ACTUALLY fits in your pocket. With standalone and Raspberry Pi compatible versions.
Latest Updates from Our Project:
We're fully funded! Next steps?
almost 7 years ago
– Thu, May 09, 2019 at 03:21:48 PM
Dear backers,
Thanks to your support in backing and sharing our Kickstarter campaign we finished on a fantastic 158% funded - with a huge surge of nearly 30% funding in the last 3 days of the campaign! We couldn't be happier...and we are very much looking forward to fulfilling all the backer rewards in the coming months and seeing what you create with these tiny projectors :-)
Next steps
Now we are fully funded, we are pretty sure that you are eager to get your hands on the products. And we are just as eager to deliver them to you! We are just putting some of the finishing touches on the packaging designs, user guides and other product information. As soon as that is done we will be ready to finalise the manufacture and get the products ready for shipping.
We will be using BackerKit to collect your addresses and pledge information as it is a far more powerful piece of software than the built-in surveys that Kickstarter provide. It also enables us to collect details of any add-ons you might like as well as for you to add additional items to your pledge should you wish to.
Once we have finished setting everything up over at BackerKit, we will send out the surveys and you will get an email to the address you have registered on your Kickstarter account. This will take you to the following page where you will be able to fill in your survey - https://anybeam.backerkit.com
Once complete, you will then be able to update your address all the way up to a few weeks before we ship - in case you move house or change your mind about where you want the rewards shipping to.
We will be shipping the rewards directly to you from our UK warehouse and we will provide tracking information for all shipments - either by Royal Mail or DHL depending on the overall value of the shipment.
Where to buy after the campaign?
If you have found this update after the end date (6pm UK time, 6th May 2019), or you have already backed but you would like to purchase / pre-order more units then you will not be able to pledge via Kickstarter. However you can still get the AnyBeam products by visiting the following link:
You will also be able to add devices via BackerKit once we send the surveys out. The AnyBeam products will also likely be available in the future (once we have fulfilled all of the Kickstarter rewards and pre orders) via a number of distribution and retail partners. We will announce these as they come on board.
Some people have been asking to see reviews and other coverage of the AnyBeam products. We have sent out quite a few samples to journalists and bloggers but are yet to have many extensive reviews. However here is a selection of coverage:
As we get more reviews and coverage we will post them in future updates for you as well!
Thanks,
The Nebra team
124% funded, factory tour, air display / head-up-display, some questions answered and more!
almost 7 years ago
– Mon, Apr 29, 2019 at 03:47:28 PM
Hi all,
Quite a lengthy update today as we have quite a lot to share. So let's get started...
124% funded!
Thanks so much for all your support in getting us this far. We have 6 days left on the campaign and we are already 124% funded. We could not have done this without your support in sharing our project and spreading the news...and of course backing for all those AnyBeams!
We had some planned stretch goals - different colours, accessory products we could throw in but unfortunately we really would have needed to hit £100k in order to start to offer some of those. It is possible that we will get to those figures in the next week but it seems a bit unlikely. In anyway, rest assured that if we do we will make sure to include extras :-)
Factory tour
We recently had a trip to Asia to go to an event in Kuala Lumpur called BETT Asia with our "daughter brand" Pi Supply. Afterwards, we headed to Hong Kong, Shenzhen and then Taipei in order to meet with some of our suppliers and customers.
As part of this, we made a trip over to the factory where they make the PCBs and laser projector module assemblies. We toured the facility - which has an approved clean room - which was one of the most impressive facilities and setups we have ever seen. Ultimems, who make the laser projection modules actually also design and make the machines that make them as well!
We took a few pictures and video, which you can see below:
Ready in our clean-room gear!
Here you can see we are dressed up in jumpsuits and with facemasks - this is due to it being a clean room. On the left of the photo you can see the two air-showers. Which you have to stand in for about a minute whilst they blow all the dust and particles off you so that they do not get into the room. This is important in areas where they are making optical devices because any dust can get sealed into the devices which is not good.
There is also a PCBA assembly line in a different part of the factory and final assembly for making them into the finished products and packaging them up ready to send out.
All in all it was quite an amazing facility and we hope you enjoy seeing it in the video!
Air-display / head-up-display
We mentioned in the campaign text some use cases that you can use laser projectors for. Some of the most visually impressive of these are the "air-display" and head-up-display that we mention in the video above.
These are made possible by a unique feature of laser scanners where you do not need to project the black part of the image (because it is a pixel-by-pixel combination of three coloured lasers rather than a white light projecting an image).
You can see the head-up-display below:
Head Up Display with AnyBeam
This is called head-up-display because it allows you to take in information whilst keeping your head-up. This is particularly useful in applications such as cars, motorbikes, planes and other machinery that requires a driver or pilot because it allows you to place the information where you need it - in your line of sight - but semi transparent so you can see through it. The above example is showing some pertinent information about a car on a mock-up windshield.
The "air-display" is shown below:
Air-display using AnyBeam
This is much harder to get a "good" image of - because it is somewhat of an optical illusion. But it basically "does what it says on the tin" - projects an image into mid-air sort of like a hologram. This is done using the laser projector, a back projection screen and some special two-way mirror fabric/glass in order to project the image in to mid air. This literally gives you a 720p image - in mid air. It has to be seen to be believed!
Projection mapping, broadly speaking, is projecting images on to curved and irregular surfaces and conforming with them to provide projection on surfaces that perhaps would not usually be possible to project onto or with optical illusions mimicking movement.
In the above examples you can see both of these things in action which opens up some pretty useful applications both for fun, art and industrial use cases. We thought we would share a bit more about these to give you an idea of some of the possibilities of laser projection - particularly with the dev kit and the Raspberry Pi HAT.
Some important questions
Is laser beam scanning better than other projector technologies?
In our opinion - yes! But we would say that of course...so let us provide some explanation as to why we came to this conclusion.
LBS projectors are better for a number of reasons:
- better colour saturation
- lower power
- typically better resolutions at the same size of device
- better contrast
- better brightness
- sharp images without the need for constantly focusing and adjusting
A direct quote:
"Laser Beam Splitting (LBS)
This technology uses three different lasers to project each of the colors. An optic combines the three lasers into one and then a mirror guides the laser. The mirror actually targets each pixel individually and as long as a refresh rate of 60 hertz or greater is used the scanning is not noticeable. LBS uses the least power of the three. LBS pico projectors excel with their excellent color saturation, contrast and brightness and can deliver sharp images without the need for focusing and adjusting. LBS pico projectors also tend to have higher resolutions than DLP and LCoS. Of course, all of these advantages come at a price—you’ll pay much more for an LBS pico projector."
This states you can expect a higher price - but we are trying to change that!
What is the output resolution?
We have had some people confused about the output resolution of the projectors. Just to clarify the output projection is 720p (1280 x 720) resolution at 60 fps (frames per second).
Is the laser safe?
Yes, we use a class 1 laser which is CE/FCC approved and it is safe for general use. We still recommend that you do not look straight into the beam but it should not cause any irreversible damage if you do.
Is there a warranty?
Yes, there is a 12 month worldwide warranty.
How do AnyBeam projectors compare to XYZ projectors?
Unfortunately we are not able to test every single projector on the market, so we can often only talk generally on how ours could potentially be better as we do not like to provide conclusive answers when we have not tested them side by side.
However hopefully we have provided enough information here for you to make an informed choice on the product.
If you have any further questions please do not hesitate to leave a comment on the Kickstarter or email us at [email protected]
Keep sharing
In the final 6 days of the campaign, we would be extremely grateful if you could keep sharing the project on your social media profiles and with anyone you think might be interested in purchasing one.
Nearly 50% funded! And some further product development info
almost 7 years ago
– Wed, Apr 03, 2019 at 10:49:47 AM
Hey backers,
It has been about 5 days now since we launched the Kickstarter and in that short time, and with your support, we are just shy of 50% funded and a total of nearly 100 backers. We are delighted with the response and with every day it seems more likely that we can bring this into reality!
Thanks for your support!
We just wanted to say a huge THANK YOU for your support in bringing the AnyBeam range to life. As a lot of you probably know our background is heavily in Raspberry Pi and hobby electronics and we can't wait to see what you all do with these tiny projectors in your homes and projects in the coming months!
More product development information
We received a message from Kickstarter Trust and Safety on Monday evening stating that even though they had previously reviewed and approved our Kickstarter campaign before we launched, after a further review they were concerned that we had not included enough information about the product development and updates that had occurred since the beta units and asked us to provide more information on all of this.
We have now updated the main story with more information, but as Kickstarter were keen to have this added we thought it was also important that we should bring it to the attention of our existing backers. If you have any further questions or would like to request any further information then please feel free to leave a message in the comments section, send us a private message here on Kickstarter or email us directly to [email protected] and we will be happy to help.
Below is what we have added to the story...
We have spent a considerable amount of time developing and testing the AnyBeam product range in order to get it ready for launch here on Kickstarter. We conducted a limited-release beta test with the early development samples of the main AnyBeam product in order to get feedback and gauge the viability of the product.This has lead to a number of improvements to bring a market-ready product to Kickstarter, which will feature in the end products:
Lower power laser diodes to bring them within the "Class 1" laser specification required for commercial sale to consumers in Europe and North America - while still retaining a best in class 720p picture!
Reduced power consumption to increase the usable time when running from batteries.
All four of the products in the AnyBeam range have been CE and FCC tested to ensure safety and radio compliance.
Development of 3D and 2D dimensional design drawings of all parts of the products to enable you to use them more easily in embedded projects and build cases and accessories.
Development of a variety of user guides and other content to support the operation of the AnyBeam range (see below images).
Translation of the user interface (UI) on the menus of all of the four AnyBeam products into a wider range of languages.
If we can hit over 2000 units sold, we can offer different colours of the AnyBeam device.
Investigatory work into further improvements - larger speakers, higher resolution, higher brightness, more compact size - is also ongoing and will likely feature in future products should this Kickstarter be successful.
