Meant to be Seen

I've seen some discussion of the Frex CanopyScreen product on this forum (http://www.frex.com/gp/canopy/canopy_en.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;), which is essentially a quarter-dome made of some plastic material and is typically used with a single or triple arrangement of rear-facing projectors. Typical application would be driving and flight simulations. It looks really impressive and immersive, albeit a touch small with only 12" of height.

Very interested in this product but not the insane price-tag (~$1500 I think), so was wondering what you think of using an acrylic half-dome, of the sort usually used in skylights, displays, canopies etc.? I think this has been proposed on this forum previously, but I haven't seen anyone follow through with it.

For example, as seen here: http://www.globalplastics.ca/2480.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

It looks like you can get a half-dome (made of acrylic) of 60" diameter for around $400, which will obviously make for 2 displays when chopped in half. Obviously that would give a depth and height of 30" and a nice width of 60".

Other than the usual issues of projecting onto a non-planar surface, what are the main issues with this sort of approach? How important is the thickness of the acrylic in a rear-projection setup? They appear to offer both 3/16" and 1/4" thicknesses. Also, what type of coating/paint would you recommend for the clear acrylic?

Thanks for any input on this!

bump. Anyone?

OK, I did this project and now I'm moving to a much larger six foot diameter dome. I'm selling my 3 foot diameter dome. Its on Ebay. This project cost me almost $500 with materials. Selling it for $350 plus shipping. Way below what you would pay TOOB for a 3 foot diameter dome as they charge $1200 for the same size dome.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/180736060837?ss ... 1555.l2649" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

thanks

Thats cool, have you blogged any info on the project we can see?

Unfortunately no, just wanted to add that I'll take 225 bucks plus shipping and I'll throw in the spherical mirror, brand new.

Thanks

@mayaman
I'd love to see how you set this up and what software you used to correct the image distortion from the dome.