I got back from my night time tests with the new sign on the front of the building a little while ago. Everyone was pretty down at first because while it was still light out they looked pretty horrible, the design treatments we tried didn’t mitigate the problem at all. I’m not even going to show you those videos it was splotchy and gross with giant hot spots in the middle. So we waited until it was dark and the sign filled out better. There were still hot spots but you could at least see the edges of the sign. I’m sure we can make a design that looks pretty and mysterious although since only very large type shows up it couldn’t have very much information on it.
The tips for any one else designing a big rear projection sign is to use a black background. Here is a movie with a dark background as compared to one with a white background
There were two good things that happened right at the end of the night. We were told the interior passageway would be darker than it was in these tests but we can’t turn them off yet because the electricians are still working. Also we tested the sign using a rear projection film taped up to the inside of the frosted glass. Even that rough test produces a sharper more even image. The contractors installing the projectors think they can get their hands on a film that will let a lot of light through during the day but diffuse our projection enough to see an image.
Im curious what colors you are projecting during the day. Maybe there’s a color that works better in daylight, like a green? or something that could react to the color of the building, so it would seem like the glass is changing color. It’s hard though because you’re projecting light into light that’s being reflected off the building; like you need two different setups. I wonder if a sandblasted-like finish would help. The blackBG ones look really nicely intense tho! it’s worth it just for that; it’s going to look super cool in the summer at night…ripe for midnight sculpture garden wanderings…ah, summer.
Comment by jennifer j — 3/4/2005 @ 2:32 am
ack, duh. the glass is already frosted. that’s what i get for not reading the post all the way before commenting. nix the sandblast idea.
(*_*)
Comment by jennifer j — 3/4/2005 @ 2:40 am
ok did some obsessing and i found this site:
http://www.inwavecorp.com/MainPage.html [Inwave]
Apparently they make light-weight fiber optic screens similar to the weight of vinyl banners.(ugh-vinyl banners-ick)
also saw this tidbit of information:
Glass Beaded
This surface has the ability to achieve a higher gain by reflecting more of the projected image back along the projection axis. Glass beads impregnated into the screen’s surface provide additional reflectance. This attribute creates an unparalleled screen surface that reproduces vibrant life-like color at moderate viewing angles.
http://www.screens4u.com/front.htm [screens4u]
next here’s a company who specializes in special coatings:
http://optics.mellesgriot.com/opguide/oc_2_4.htm [Melles Griot]
hope any of this helps
Comment by jennifer j — 3/4/2005 @ 3:46 am
Colors do make a difference. Since the glass that it passes through is blueish everything comes through a little off color. You don’t really even think about the color shift to much when your looking at it, the blueish color didn’t even register with me until halfway through the tests.
I was surprised by how washed out all the reds, yellows and oranges looked especially.
The folks at SPL called a subcontractor in late last night and they were talking about rear projection materials for a long time. There is going to be some sort of test with a full pane of material soon.
I’m just looking through your links now about the screens. Thanks for posting them.
Comment by eric — 3/4/2005 @ 9:42 am
Small world - a guy in the show I just closed happened to be on Hennepin in the 15-20 minutes Eric was testing the projectors last week, and saw it running. He said it looked great, and was all excited about it.
Then at auditions last night for these guys I ended up reading with a guy who works at SPL and knew about the projectors, etc.
Whoa.
Comment by nate — 3/8/2005 @ 11:13 am
I am not an expert on the subject, but after reading this could’nt resist to leave a comment: We produce and market a glass based material that is 1). WHITE in color, 2). HIGHLY REFLECTIVE, and 3). totally CLEAR in transmission. Did some tests for both rear and front projection with stunning results if compared to traditional materials used - just might be able to solve your problems. Currently max size is 3,000 x 1,500mm
If interested, please contact me
Comment by Hoolsema, Ite Reinder — 6/10/2005 @ 10:01 pm