BHawthorne

Hrrrm, keep the motion platform and throw away the worthless thing attached to it and there might be something cool. :thumbup:

No, then it would be 5x1L, not 5x1P. :music_whistling: The bezels are no more in the way than 3x1L imho.

Ug, who wants a child for a panel set? Children are a more expensive hobby than simpits. :lol:

With the new AMD cards being released there have been sales on the 5870 Eyefintiy 6. I got my second one from Newegg on sale for $180. There is also a 6870 Eyefinity 6 coming out too along with the new 6990. Not sure yet if the 6990 can do 5x1P yet though. My particular displays are Samsung 245BW 1920x1200 for around $230 each, so I'm also 1920x1200 displays too.

Not sure laser works with exact Z measurements. Depending on what stock material is being cut, feed rate and wattage to the laser is dialed in. Although I have no experience with laser, I do with waterjet. It's most likely more an art to dial in than a science. Once you do it a few times you know the ballpark settings though. Most laser tables are 2.5 axis like waterjets.

I just wish some manufacturer would come out with a 1:1 aspect ratio screen to use in these bezels. Sure, for the quantities used the cost would suck, but I can dream. :)

It's part of the tools of DIY anymore. Laser engraver, mini mill, mini lathe, and cnc router table + the CAD/CAM eduction required. You can easily drop $10k on the machine shop tools to do things right. There are those that want to buy kits and there are those that want to DIY everything in high fidelity. Those that want to DIY everything have to get some pretty serious tools. You would know that because of the tools you have yourself. Just as example, I picked up a manufacturing engineering and a composites engineering degree partially because of my simpit interests. It is a ton of play and no work for me, because I don't have any expectations of selling anything. You've gotta enjoy things as a hobby. For me, bringing money into the equation ruins it. It's why I volunteer my assistance with NTHUSIM and not look at it as anything job related. I have zero interest in A-10C, but I'm tooling up myself to rebuild my F-84F fuselage into a simpit. For me, half the fun is the build and research. I want to be self-sufficient with my knowledge. I know many would prefer to do away with that part and will be your customer. Some people just want to fly.

I picked up one so now I can crossfire my 5x1P setup. :)

I am. What do you want to know?

Ah, the syntax is different than I'm used to for other forum BBCode. Thanks, all fixed.

If I recongose it right, that picture is a multi-face geodesic dome that the projection is on is actually rear projection -- 1 projector per face. It's not a box, but a dome (and more than 4 faces)... Consumer projectors have some pretty demanding thermal characteristics. They don't like to be mounted or turned outside of their engineered specs. Pointed up/down or rotated left/right projectors can take thermal damage. At the very least, you could instantly burn out a $200 projector lamp. If you do plan on projecting at odd angles, use mirrors.

Yor prices are way out of whack. Any modern video card setup doesn't need a $240 TH2G, and 1080p screens are around $200 each. You can do triple head for around $650 total -- sometimes even cheaper if you want to go 22". The Samsung 245BW 1920x1200's I use in my 5x1P Eyefinity setup can be purchased for $230 each.

Interestng setup. I was confused for a second by your choice of words in the title. I iniitially thought you meant "motion" cockpit not "portible" cockpit. One thing I don't really like about 1080p projectors is the lens throw. How long is the throw on your setup?

Just do 5x1P Eyefinity, it's the best of both wide and high pixel count. Significantly more pixel height and width than a 30". Whether you do 3x1L or 5x1P, be prepared to have a 6 foot wide table be taken totally over by the displays. It is a lot of display to deal with. The people who voted 1 large...I'm taking bets you have very little seat time behind a triple display gaming setup.

2x TH2G has always worked as long as it didn't exceed 8192 pixel width on the resolution. Noone was willing to try it though until around 2008. Frankly at the moment, 5x1P Eyefinity is better for an LCD setup.

Gotta fill your time up with something if you're comfortably unemployed. :joystick:

I think the price is a bit crazy, but essentially, you're trading a barrel load of cash for the convenience of not having to build it yourself. Isn't half of a simpit's fun actually the building process? I guess I understand some people simply aren't mechanically inclined. I see no sense of accomplishment in owning that thing.

For those of you looking for a cost effective DIY how-to, this might be interesting reading. It's planetarium based in focus but the same concepts apply: http://www.worldwidetelescope.org/Docs/worldwidetelescopeplanetarium.html

If you really want to know a secret, there are applications like 3DVIA Printscreen where you can pull the real game art assets to use for simpit building reference. That might be a better suggestion than using a random Google 3D warehouse model. As long as it's for personal use I see no ethical issue in you doing it that way to get detailed 3d model reference.

There are sources for circular projection screens, but they're ungodly expensive. The most effective route is DIY at the moment. There are different materials that can be used to achieve the same end. Depends if you want a fixed screen or portable. A fixed screen is much more cost effective to build, but has the disadvantage of once it's built it's there until torn down. Regular lumber and plywood is the best choice for that sort of build. Once built, sand, finish and paint the projection surface to your needs. I've also used raw canvas tacked to trim, 4-ply pvc screen material in bulk from ebay and stretch screen material such as Rose Brand Tendo. My current preference is Rose Brand Tendo cloth. You need to be very mindful to not over-tension the cloth though as the geometry of the curve will bow the material forward with too much tension. There are many ways to achieve a functional screen. It really depends upon your end use, the location it's used and if it's to be a permanent built.

The consumer market for this stuff is highly speculative at this point. Until recently I've been the only one really pushing entry level integration on the NTHUSIM side of things. There are now a few small players in the market though. Everything is highly DIY orientated though, which has to require significant experimentation and willingness to take the risks associated with the unknowns involved. While I believe I have worked through the issues involved to make a good circular screen installation, dome fabrication is all just make it up as I go right now. Basically, what needs to be done is to look at the size and shape you want to replicate in other consumer markets and adapt it for projection. That requires really thinking outside the box. It means researching out materials like Plexiglas skylights to be painted with rear projection Goo Paint or things like satellite parabolic dishes, geodesic dome tents, or interior dome vault kits for building construction. Things that would never typically be targeted at our end use. For circular projection, it's close enough to flat screen that materials and production methods can be similar. But for things like dome, you have to really think outside the box to find plausible answers. At this point in time I think the best compromise between circular and dome projection is Paul Bourke's iSphere concept. If I was to fabricate something next, this design really appeals to me because of it's 120/360 FOV. Now only to figure out how something like the DCS engine could harness something like that. At the time iSphere was conceived the hardware and software required to pull it off didn't exist. Now it does in AMD 4x1L Eyefinity mode and Immersaview Sol7 for four projector. I just wish NTHUSIM Plus could do four projector. It's currently limited to three with no edge blending. Sol7 can do it all though. If I had a matched set of 4 projectors (preferably 1080p) I'd DIY build this concept in a heatbeat. I currently only have 720p and 1024x768 projectors in matched triple sets though. http://local.wasp.uwa.edu.au/~pbourke/miscellaneous/domefisheye/isphere/

There are some advantages to something like that dish when it comes to smaller projection or if you don't have a full room to dedicate to the setup. Problem is most projectors the throw from the lens puts you between the projector and the dish That's why with such a shallow dish shape you'd have to rear project. It's what systems like the FREX and jDome do -- which closely resemble what the dish does as far as screen geometry. The thing is, something with more depth handles projection better -- for instance Paul Bourke's iDomes. If I was to use an old satellite dish, I'd prep it to be used as a vacuum mold. You'd need to make quite a large vacuum table to pull down a plexi piece that size though. Not very cost effective IMHO and expensive to refine the method to a point where you could achieve consistant success with vacuum pulls for parts. Once you have the process refined and pull a good plexi part and cut off the excess flashing, you could use Goo Paint rear projection paint on the plexi and rear project on it. I much prefer an overhead dome configuration over a forward dome. Something like a planetarium configuration but only 180 forward FOV with 30% of the polar area of the sphere removed to make room for floor and ceiling. Something close to what Paul Bourke calls his iSphere example but 180 instead of 360 degrees. My particular setup is not dome based, but I'd like to build one next as a proof of concept. For now though circular projection is pretty immersive. I just wish I could have 16-20 foot ceiling clearance so I could do a proper half-dome myself. Some of my more odd-ball ideas as of late would be to buy a 12 foot diameter beech ball from ebay and cast a composite layup mold from it to be sanded down and refined to be seamless and uniform. I could make composite layup screens from it. I have degrees in manufacturing engineering and composites engineering (among other things) so it's not too difficult to make a composites mold for something like that. Just takes time, space and patience (and a heck of alot of sanding).

Believe what you like, but I think I know what I'm talking about. Proper curvature is dependent upon lens throw and projector focus range -- not viewing distance. :music_whistling: The reasoning behind dome and circular projection is to have your full FOV filled with projection. You can't do that with a satellite dish, because the depth is not deep enough and you would obscure the projection trying to be close enough to do so. In my setup I can turn my head fully to each side and still have good full screen view while flying. That is not achievable with a dish. Your still thinking in terms of viewing the game though a portal or box which LCD displays and that dish would be like. Instead the projection should be fully immersive and you see projection wherever you look. That is how to properly do circular and dome design projection. You really need to understand FOV. If you are positioned behind that dish several feet because of the simpit location and your projection you never will achieve full FOV. The projection needs to be above you and beside you, not just in front of you for full FOV. That can only be achieved with a uniform spherical dome segment and multi-projection at the moment. This is something people don't ever really fully understand until they actually experience it in a functional setup.

The problem with one of those is the depth of the curve is too shallow. The surface needs to use the shape of a uniform sphere that has significantly more depth then use Paul Bourke's security mirror dome projection method with one or more projectors.