Continued Refinement

Below is a collection of images of the table running at the improved scale.
The operating resolution is set to 1280x720.  With a max resolution of 1400x1080 or some such.  I've run it at max res and it looks good.  The InFocus XS1 does a good job of scaling resolutions over it's native 1024x768.  It is also worth nothing that the machine I'm using to drive this table is a Toshiba M200 which does not have digital output.  Using DVI I could probably get higher fidelity of image.  Still, I'm not about to start complaining!

Worth noting, the image projected is still blurred due to the double reflection of rear faced mirrors compounded by using two of them.  I'm waiting till I'm completely done testing to attempt the task of removing the protective coating from the rear face of the mirror due to the delicate nature of the then unprotected mirrors.

When in use, I added rigid cardboard along the long edges to minimize the camera seeing a passer by.

Apparently Rosco Grey suffers from hot spots fairly significantly.  Unless viewed straight on, the image is very muted into the far distance.  The photos below actually do not show the level of muting which is visible to the naked eye.

  

  

 

Happy Accidents

As I've stated numerous times in previous posts, mirror placement has been a complete bear.  Well, for various reasons I found myself needing to move the test table temporarily.  This process was slow and involved as the parts are not fastened down in a solid way.

The table moved, cleaning of the space commenced and I hear that there was an accident involving a vacuum cleaner being shoved into the projector side of the case repeatedly.  Egads!

When I got home the signs were there that tampering with the delicate parts of the table had occurred.  The IR Ribbon power cable which I'd reinforced was protruding at a very unattractive, freightening angle.  Fearing the worse I rolled out the support cables and powered the bad boy on.

My first shock was in discovering that the projector wasn't displaying.  Opening the case I was greeted with the sight of the projector resting on it's lense pressed heavily on one of the mirrors! Oh noes!

I gently tilted the projector back into place cursing my not having crafted an upper latch yet, and inspected the mirror for damage.  Since the projector hadn't been on for too long there were no signs of heat damage and there were no new scuffs in the already scuffed section of mirror I've been using for testing.  Whew.

Next I plugged my laptop/control computer back into system and fired it up for real.  The first thing I noticed as an even blur across the image.  Ugh, the projector mishap had messed up my focus.  Grumbling I reopened the case and adjusted the focus.  Close, check, open, adjust, close, check, good.

The second thing of note wasn't apparent until after I'd logged into windows.  The focus was nearly completely even.  I could easily read text in both the near and far height of the screen.  Sweet!

This test was with a different laptop, as I'd left my normal machine at work, I quickly jumped in to the display properties and set it for my normal 16:9 1280x720.  This produced the third most significant discovery.  The screen now contained 98% of the actual display being presented.  Roughly 5 pixels along the bottom edge (start bar) and maybe 2 pixels across the top edge (ui cruft) were clipped by the screen edges!

Tonight I will be spending some, very delicate, time measuring the mirror placements and recording angles.

Finally, I feel confident that I can begin planning and working on the final hardwood coffee table/case.

Here's a pre-party photo of my son playing on the table... literally.

Party Time!

This past weekend we had a party in which the table mock-up was setup.  Fun times!  It survived a number of under 10-year old's as well as their parents.  Thanks to the fire flash demo (the party was fire themed), it was a big success and the various mirror placement problems were not evident.

Multi-Touch Success at last!

Crude but working!  Now it's refinement time, then on to final build.  Decided on Maple for the primary wood for the final box/coffee table last night as well.  Maple for the framing and major portions with Birch ply for the paneling.

 

Screen layering as follows:

=======  10mm Endlighten
-------  Rosco Grey (saggy but working)

 

The camera for this setup is still the GigaWare 640x480 cam with a 160 degree fish-eye lense.  It certainly looses quality at the edges of my screen.  


I've gotten two 720P camera's for use but need to desolder the autofocus elements and remove the ir-filters.  Then solder the focus mechanism back into place -- ugh.

Gaming on the Mock Up

Over last weekend my gaming group actually got a chance to use the mock up in non-touch mode.  At the time I was still waiting on my camera and lense for the setup.  The camera arrived today, so hopefully I'll have something to show with full touch in the next day or so.  

But back to the gaming!  Even in low tech, no special reveal during exploration the group loved using the table.  I was able to quickly illustrate large section of world maps and tactical areas without the players having to guess at what my hasty symbology was going to mean.  The down side is that when running games in the future, I might actually have to prep my maps in advance.  Still, this is absolutely the bed I'm planning to make for myself I better get used to sleeping in it (or not sleeping as the case may be).

The images I've included in this post do not show the actual setup we used.  Silly, tired self didn't take any photos of the game in session.  In the images attached I'm just demoing the screen with paper for a projection surface.  For the session I used a cut of my Rosco grey stapled to the wooden frame.  


For stretching the Rosco I've actually found stapling to be quite effective.  Using a large gauge staple gun staple similarly to stretching canvas.  I left the Rosco on for a 4 days of constant touch and test usage without any snags or distortion in the material.  

Important note:  Rosco grey blocks IR.  Yes this is information that is posted in the nuigroup's forums.  No, I hadn't found it in the forums when I switched from an FTIR to DSI setup.  As to the FTIR effect using the Endlighten + Rosco Grey -- excellent but required much pressure, so much in fact that I was concerned for the safty of the Endlighten.

The Framing

Initially, I designed the table for a minimal number of relfections.  Using one mirror I'd planned on having the measure roughly 36" across.  After creating the mock up inner frame, I decided that while 36" would be ideal for a game table, it was simply too wide for my space.

The final design I've settled on is 26" - 27" wide and 45" long.  This version uses 2 mirrors and has the projector at a jaunty angle.  Currently my mirrors are acrylic rear face jobs which I plan on using a DIY method I found on-line to remove the protective coating.  There is an interesting link in the comments to the article about an alternate product.  I'm probably going to try both depending on what I can get my hands on tonight.  Additionally, nuigroup has a post linking to lumenlab with a procedure very similar to the instructable.

[diagram]

In both cases the total height to projection surface is 19".

This is excluding the convertible I was considering.  A table top which rotated and maintained aspect ratio through magic.  Reality finally caught hold and I had to ditch the idea for its geometric reality was greater then I.

Building the Screen

This first image is of the endlighten, L brackets, Foil tape and IR Ribbon -- exciting!

Here we have the first length of ribbon added to an L bracket.  The depth of the shot really gives you an idea of how long this bar really is.

And put together, no tape yet:

Before taping, I tested the IR with my phone's camera...

I tacked the frame to the screen with small sections of foil tape and reinforced the power connector area from the IR reel with foil tape as well.  The flexibility of the connectors contacts made me rather nervous.  I insulated the connector with small pieces of electrical tape first.  Tacking the frame on allowed me to make sure that all of my edges lined up as I'd hoped.

Once I was satisified with my arrangement I applied a layer of foil tape around the entirty of the frame.

And then I apparently over wrote the image files for the remaining steps I took to create the the prototype I've been using.  How sad...