First Try at a HMD Monoscopic!

[VRgamesterz]

Well this is my first try at putting a Monoscopic HMD together from scratch, ofcourse using parts of:

1. 5.6 LCD
2. VGA board to run the lcd.
3. Welding helmet
4. Welding googles
5. 4x2 3x magnifier lens
6. PSP gaming disk case
7. Plaster/Bondo to make a cover
8. Spacers to give the right distance from the LCD to the Magnifier
9. Head ratchet style to fit anyones head size
10. Time/creativity


This is working but not totally finished, I need to get a small box to house the vga/power/on/off board ontop of the helmet.
I had to keep making adjustments to get a good focus of the screen, im around 3" 3/8th away from the magnifier. Dead center is very sharp, roll your eyes to the corners and it's alittle blurry but this is because of the magnifier's shape and size. But having the screen size just in your view is really nice, say if you stare at your Monitor and have a picture frame on the side with words, well that is blurry as well untill you focus on it, same with this but you just don't get the whole screen because AGAIN the magnifier size.

So I first started to have the screen around 1"1/2 to 2" Figured this is what I saw from the MRG2.2 when I messured from where the old lcd was to the lens, but it really needed to be around the 3" mark without having your eyes try to focus to much. I feel relaxed and no strain, I also had the wife put it on with glasses and no strain for her, so im doing good so far!

No sound or headphones connected to the helmet, it's better off using the headphones that fit around your neck, im trying to make this helmet light as possible, most of the weight just sit within the forehead from the ratchet device, nothing sitting on the bridge of the nose like other HMD's.

Im gonna edit this part as there is some weight on the nose as the weight of things tend to make the helmet weight down alittle, I tried to glue in the rachet pieces so it made it tighter for it not to slide it downwards. I played more with SOF2 online and did find that because the game is fast paced, this Magnifier just causes enough strain overtime to say EHH, try another way, the people that bought the MRG's back in the day must of suffered from some bad headaches, overall it just needs to be farther apart and the 4x3 3x mag can only do so much. I did manage to get 22 and 6 while playing but for only 15 min or so. Like you said before Cyber, it needs to be alittle further away.


Nothing is glued so I can take this apart real easy. Im going to have this airbrushed soon and will put up Finished Pic's but for now I'll see if I can load up some pic's for now..

007 is the inside before pic, 017 is without the box that will be ontop, 002 is the rightside showing how it is spaced, 012 the lcd mounted in the cover case with the vga board on the outside, 023 shows the goggles with lens, 027 otherside seeing the lens from the front, also added spacers so the goggles reach the face once on, 021 this is the cover to block light and protect everything, this will attach by bolts, something easy, not perfect as it was my first time using plaster and bondo, and last pic is with the ratchet and ready to put on.
More to come fellas!!

Ku


[/size

NewHMDmod 001.jpg

NewHMDmod 012.jpg

NewHMDmod 002.jpg

NewHMDmod 017.jpg

NewHMDmod 007.jpg

NewHMDmod 023.jpg

NewHMDmod 027.jpg

NewHMDmod 021.jpg

NewHMDmod.jpg

[cybereality]

Wow, looks cool. So does it work yet? Have you tried any games, what do you think?

[VRgamesterz]

Hey Cyber,

Yeah it's working fine, as of now I just use my desktop speakers and just sit, but I plan on using the the Trimersion gun with the tracking that I added to the gun, I also like that spacepoint for $100 im gonna pick up and try.

Games so far were Doom3 coop mod ver. I love the old doom sound and the maps rework.
Dead Space, SOF2 the wife and I still play online, yes I did finally get a women that plays games, took a divorse and many years but it happened, been married for 2 years and sometimes I half to get her of the computer to get to bed. Alittle of Half Life 2 and Unreal 2004 and a mod version of the old Quake.

The games that I could use in 1280x800 I used, but the others that didn't support that res I just kept it at 1024x768. Alittle wieght around the forehead ofcourse but nothing like the MRG. For the amount of stuff I have and the cover, IM not complaining at all.

Next time around I'd like to a bigger screen like the 8.9 lcd Vitrolight has, like I said before I also have the 7in1 board, so an easy swap out and I can setup HDMI, DVI, Component etc..

[VRgamesterz]

Ok changed some things, didn't like the 4x2 mag, so Im using the 5x4 2x one from walmart, Palmer also got one of these, only thing is the image has to be 4 inches away, I also used a fresnel lens cut down to size of the LCD screen. Attached that in the front and then the other magnifier inside behind it, I cut that down to the size of the googles. Using both makes the screen bigger then just using one. All aspects of the screen are sharp, from corner to corner. Nothing sitting on the nose but most of the weight is felt on the forehead. I need to find plastic brackets to lighten the load.

NewHMDmod 029.jpg

NewHMDmod 031.jpg

NewHMDmod 032.jpg

The sides pic shows the brackets, need to replace with something lighter, I tried to show what it looked like close up.

Thats all for now.

Ku

[cybereality]

Looking good.

[PalmerTech]

Thought I would bump this topic to see if you have made any improvements, and also to break the news that Vitrolight no longer sells the Hydis panel.

I was looking into why that would be the case, and it looks like the main buyer of the panel (Fujitsu, for the Lifebook U series) has moved on a different supplier. That means that this panel, which is pretty much the best thing to happen to the DIY HMD scene in a while, is gone.

[user1678]

hi, the 5.6 LCD is back again !!


http://cgi.ebay.de/5-6inch-TFT-LCD-1280 ... 45f830fc23" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[VRgamesterz]

Been put on the lost back burner, im glad he is still selling these fine units. Im gonna buy 2 more of these LCD's and try some wacked out mod, 3 wide screen.. Hope this summer....

[VRgamesterz]

Hey anyone , Vitrolight has a 1024x600 4.8 inch screen,

If using these as 3 of these for widescreen, do you think using my AMD eyefinity card or a matrox triple would work fine, or would these get to pixely.
I plan on trying this and taking my time working on a helmet, a full helmet so you wont feel any front weight from these sticking out.

[3dvison]

Hey VRgamesterz
I have a question about a 3 screen setup with the 5.6 LCD panels.

Since you have one of the 5.6 LCD's could you tell me if it looks like it would be possible to reduce the width of the metal frame that surronds the LCD panel on the right and left sides, so that in a three panel setup the edges of the LCD's would be closer and tighter together. Adding to the appearance of one wide screen not three separate screens ?

[PalmerTech]

I can answer that, I have had some of these.

The metal frame is not the problem. LCD glass panels extend a bit beyond the viewable image, the metal is there to both protect the edges, and to keep the backlight from leaking. Removing it would hardly make a different, and greatly reduce the structural integrity of the screen.

If you were using fresnels, though, you could arrange them so that the magnified images blend together, as most flight simulator cockpits using fresnels and triple monitors do.

[3dvison]

Thanks PalmerTech for the reply.

I do not have an ATI/AMD Radeon video card but I have read that thier drivers have some kind of a monitor bezel compensation setting for multi monitor setups.
So maybe a combo of your fresnel idea and a video card driver with a monitor bezel compensation setting would work well together ???

[PalmerTech]

Ideally, no compensation is needed. Here, watch this video, towards the end, you will see that he makes the seams vanish with the lenses: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TrhGiVl1RNs" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

He has not made them vanish completely, but it is entirely possible. I suppose the compensation software would make that part easier, too.

[VRgamesterz]

Yeah just as palmer said, doesn't matter taking it off, mine at one point fell off and it needs to be on to protect it, im gonna go after vitrolights 4.8 1024x600 res ones, I know the 1280x800 are really nice but the 4.8 have very thin bezel on the sides and are all the same, should line up nice.

Palmer, you think using one fresnel lens wide enough so I can see all 3 screens would cause image issues or should I cut them the size of the screens and make 3? I know I'll need some kind of lens because of the screens being to small and having to be alittle farther out so there no focus issue like with the mrg2.2. Im thinking around 5 to 6 inches is where the screens will be from my eyes without any strain and the fresnel will be needed to make these look bigger I hope.

My computer room is getting a make over and all my stuff is put away for a few weeks but once im all back to normal I think im gonna get 3 sets from vitrolight, he just emailed me back with a package deal.

So unless I get talked out of trying this im gonna give it a go and will keep posts on this, also I'll be making some videos of the gun with the pico attached to it, the hillcrest tracker is awesome for $100, has some tiny drift but it stops on a dime when you stop and doesn't drift from there... Way better then using a gyration mouse and I have a bunch from past projects. The trimersion tracking he had must of been some cheap ass gyro's because they won't stop from drifting even when your not moving, its like a gyro on crack.....

ltr

[3dvison]

VRgamesterz
"hillcrest tracker is awesome for $100"

Hi VRgamesterz,
Is that the hillcrest Loop Pointer you are using modded ?
Or do they have one made strictly for head tracking ?

[PalmerTech]

I cannot be 100% sure, but I would use 3 separate lenses. That way, you can turn in the left and right screens a little bit for a curved screen effect, and higher FOV.

Look forward to seeing the results!

[VRgamesterz]

VRgamesterz
"hillcrest tracker is awesome for $100"

Hi VRgamesterz,
Is that the hillcrest Loop Pointer you are using modded ?
Or do they have one made strictly for head tracking ?

Not the loop pointer, there are 2 devices you can buy, one is wireless and about 5 inch long, maybe an inch wide for $150
I bought the usb wired deivce that is no bigger then a quarter, tiny, flat. $100 and their support is awesome, emails are quickly replyed and they pick up the phone. The cool thing I found out if you were to use it just for 2DOF is that it can be place sideways like I had to do to fit in the gun and it still tracks fine for up/down left/right.. Don't try and get the spacepoint, no longer for sale for us small buyers.

[3dvison]

VRgamesterz
"hillcrest tracker is awesome for $100"

Hi VRgamesterz,
Is that the hillcrest Loop Pointer you are using modded ?
Or do they have one made strictly for head tracking ?

Not the loop pointer, there are 2 devices you can buy, one is wireless and about 5 inch long, maybe an inch wide for $150
I bought the usb wired deivce that is no bigger then a quarter, tiny, flat. $100 and their support is awesome, emails are quickly replyed and they pick up the phone. The cool thing I found out if you were to use it just for 2DOF is that it can be place sideways like I had to do to fit in the gun and it still tracks fine for up/down left/right.. Don't try and get the spacepoint, no longer for sale for us small buyers.

Do you have a link to where the tracker you are using can purchased ?
I can only find the loop pointer ???

[3dvison]

Is this it ?
http://www.hillcrestlabs-devstore.com/s ... h-1/Detail" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

If so, could you hook it right to a computer with just a USB cable and have it be recognized as and act like a mouse ?
Or do you need to install a driver or some other programing to start.

[VRgamesterz]

Yup thats the one, just plug in the usb cable into the pc and wallla!!1 It reads it as a mouse, now they have free software that you can load and use for more testing but no software is needed because it is detected as a HID usb mouse. This thing is thin like a dime and tiny.. Well worth the $100

[3dvison]

Hey VRgamesterz,
With the small LCD's like the 5.6 panel, is it better to just use a magnifying lens that is big enough to cover the lcd screen as opposed to a fresnel lens for magnifying the image ?

I ask because whenever I have used fresnels, even with the tightest groove pattern, I still see the grooves.

Have you found some good large magnifying lenses that can cover the 5.6 LCD ? Could you give a link to what you have used ?

I thought fresnels were made for big things, like light houses, where a huge magnifying glass lens was not possible because of size.
It seems for image quality with these small LCD screens that a non-fresnel setup would look better ?
Or is the fresnel used just to cut wheight ?

[VRgamesterz]

Sorry for the long delay in the reply, didn"t see you asked something. There is a 5x4 mag which cost around $20 and I got it at walmarts eyecenter. The best view was having the lcd screen 4 inches away but yeah it's clear, I also used a fresnel cut down to size and placed that in front of the other mag to shorten the distance of the lcd screen and it worked nice, just when using the welding helmet it put to much pressure on the forehead and because it was a plastic head ratchet, I couldn't lock it down to tight from it wanting to slide downwards, but if you dont like the fresnel then try that 5x4 mag, I think from baush and lamb, Palmer put up a site for it in another post...

Ku

[VRgamesterz]

Okay!!

Some pieces to the puzzle have started to arrive.
I went a cheaper route for now getting the

1. 8.4 lcd screen 800x600 does work higher.
2. My fresnel lens came in but are at the Post office for pickup, missed them sat bummer. Will be cutting down to size.
3. Im gonna try and still use the welding goggles with the 5x4 clear lens that I molded to it. This and with the fresnel cuts the distance down abit and makes it alittle larger. The closer to the eyes without strain is KEY!!
4. Im using a Motorcross helmet, going to be modified to keep it cool, the thing I like about this is the weight is everywhere, not sitting on the nose or pressing against the forehead, also gonna try and give it a tron led affect around the helmet just for show. Now if I can get this to work comfy enough as to what the MRG would like to of done then I'll be very happy. 3D is awesome playing but I'd rather have a big screen and not strain my eyes, this is also why im trying just one screen.
5. Hahaha just trying these projects I think is the most fun of it, I don't think we will see anything great for FOV they way we want unless you have a 6 figure job. I know this will look bulky and goofy as hell but it will get done for under $300.

6. Wish me luck and off to work I am..........

[cybereality]

Good luck.

[PalmerTech]

Good luck! Let us know how it goes.

[Johnny-Mnemonic]

6. Wish me luck and off to work I am..........

Good luck!
Big FOV, big resolution, low price HMD recipe is what we all need!

[ripcurl123]

dont forget to give us an update of latest project would be interesting to see how you got on ,pics would be great video would be even better ...

[mayaman]

Updates?

I find it very heart warming that after 25 years and still waiting for big companies to get off their asses it's home brew that is actually getting stuff done. Kudos.

[Bishop51]

This is a really inspirational project. I think you've pushed me to get off my butt and start experimenting. My HMD may be ugly but I bet it would end up kicking Sony's ass in all the ways that count