So f15 does this mean I could build a simpit inside a sphere of reflective stuff and be able to see out the windows? Can the projectors project far enough and would there be back scattering from the pit? Also is there a reflective coating that would work or is there only fabric? I always figured that a collimated display as you built would be better because of latency but couldn't see how you could make a sphere out of it without a defense contract.
Yes, you could build a sphere out of the fabric for use with a cockpit. I'm going to be building a 96" diameter half-sphere test rig shortly. I'm hoping it'll attract the TI team into giving me some hands on time with castAR before April. *laughs*
My understanding is that because of how the projectors work, unless the material is retro-reflective, you're not going to see an image reflected in it. That being said, you might see something if the only light available is that coming from castAR.
There's only one surround collimated display in commercial use at the moment. L3 makes them for military flight simulators that are based on fighters. The "cheap" ones start out around $20M USD each. The display is built from individual geodesic panels, each one being a "sandwich" of optical material that delivers a collimated display. When combined into a dome AND when you're in the center of the space defined by the sphere, the display is insanely great. If you get off axis, things start creeping around the "corners" that make up the cells and it looks all wrong.
You CAN build a total 360 degree display system without any AR/VR gear. It's called a "cube map". You create a space (say a cube, 8-9' to a side) and set it up so there's one projector aimed at each inside face of the cube (6 projectors total). You place your cockpit such that your head will be in the geometric center of the cube and you'll have a fantastic display. There's a couple of people doing this with DCS: A-10 (Flim and others) right now.
From what I've heard, Jeri & Rick have done some limited testing of spray-on retro-reflictive paints, but haven't had much luck. I sent them two screen samples I built a couple of weeks ago. They're basically 1/8 hardboard painted with Behr Silver Screen paint and have really, really, really tiny glass beads (bead blasting media) embedded while the paint was still wet. I haven't asked about a testing report yet as I wanted to avoid bugging them about it until they'd had time to recover from the media blitz they did towards the end of the Kickstarter.
g.
