Twin LED panels spin into a floating 3D image

Difficulty

Advanced

AI-buildability

3/5

The rendering pipeline and timing code is software AI can help with, but balancing a high-speed spinning assembly, wiring power and data across a rotating joint, and trimming the globe are hands-on mechanical work.

Time

A few weeks

Cost

$150–300

Estimates based on the original write-up. How AI-buildability is scored. Building with an AI assistant? Connect it to Afterware (free MCP server).

Vortex uses two back-to-back LED panels that spin at high speed, with a Raspberry Pi 4 driving the whole thing. The result is a true 3D image hanging in space that you can walk around and view from any angle, independent of anything else in the room.

The hard part is timing. The images rendered on the panels have to match the physical rotation precisely, or the 3D image drifts or looks distorted. The spinning parts also have to stay balanced at high speed, which took plenty of trial and error. The cover is a large plastic globe from a lighting fixture, trimmed with a one-off jig that clamps to a rotary tool with a cutting wheel.

The software is on GitHub with a simulator and CAD models for the 3D-printed parts, so you can study the rendering pipeline before you spin anything up yourself.