Light sculpture system and method

A moving, pulsed-light-source light sculpture display with communication between a stationary portion, i.e. the knobs and buttons and their corresponding electronics, and rotating and illuminated PCBs. An optical data link is implemented with an IR LED in the stationary base unit and an IR receiver on the rotating PCB. A user interface allows the user to easily draw in the 3D volume of the display in real time. The portion of the user interface used to create sculptures in the 3D volume of voxels includes multiple physical elements including knobs, pushbuttons, and a multi-position slide switch. Another element of the user interface is a movable blinking cursor in the display volume that indicates the current voxel being manipulated. User interface controls also provide functions for data in memory for saving/recalling user sculptures and animation. Animations are facilitated in which 3D volumes of the volumetric display move in synchronization.