Screen paint

[jackpilot]

Very interesting ...

http://www.flightdecksolutions.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4416

[Maurice]

I haven't used it yet but I bought a gallon of Paint on Screen (S1 Screen Paint Silver) and I will report on the results when I get it sometimes in the next week or so.
http://www.paintonscreen.com/ 

Maurice

[Kennair]

Just checked the price of ScreenGoo and for a full 3 projector wrap around project (10m x 2.4m) it came to around $1000 USD!  Blaaaaaa!  Better make a bloody big difference!

Ken.

[Maurice]

Edit:  See correction in my post below

Well, I just painted my screen with Paint on Screen and it definitely made a sizable difference and that for less than $200.00 for 1 gallon of paint.  I don't have before & after pics but here is a picture that shows the contrast difference between the painted & the 'unpainted' surface (which actually had been painted with Behr Silver screen paint

I don't think the brightness difference is quite that obvious but the image is a bit brighter if my memory serves me right (and that's debatable :-). But the contrast...you can see for yourself (as well as the 'nice' DLP grid)

I seriously doubt that Screen Goo or any other product would make that much more difference and certainly the cost difference for a big screen would never be justified in my opinion.

I agonized for a long time on whether I should spray the paint or use a roller. They say spray is recommended and their instructions for painting with a roller make it sound very complicated. So I was torn between the two and I finally decided to use a roller and ignore their instructions altogether.

But as long as you paint side to side instead of up & down because of the screen curvature, the result was quite acceptable and I only used 1/2 a gallon so far. So I will add a second coat although it does not even look like it really needs it. That is for a screen roughly 30' x 5.5'.

Anyway, I'm not doing anything else on that screen except paint the borders black. That step is absolutely necessary since the projected image before warping is larger than the warped FSX image. Makes no difference on day flights but you can clearly see the shape of the unwarped projection surrounding the FSX image at night. That should not be visible on a black border (I hope).

This of course is my experience and yours may be different, so don't blame me if you don't like it 

Maurice

[Maurice]

Actually, I made a mistake. The reason one of the shots had much less contrast is mostly because there were reflections from the white surface below. Without that reflection, there was more contrast but not nearly as dramatic as the picture showed.

Sorry about that 

Maurice

[Kennair]

Thanks for this info Maurice.  Upon further investigations on the AV forums I found out that if you have a fully darkened room with black ceiling and walls and very little ambient light "Pure White" is the best screen treatment giving the best contrast and color reproduction.  Grey(ish) screen paints are only required when compensating for lounge rooms or other areas where you just can't get it completely dark.  In fact there are some very interesting comparisons made with screen paints and Wilsonart Deluxe White Laminate that show how beautiful the white can be.

Cheers,

Ken.

[Maurice]

Thanks for this info Maurice.  Upon further investigations on the AV forums I found out that if you have a fully darkened room with black ceiling and walls and very little ambient light "Pure White" is the best screen treatment giving the best contrast and color reproduction.  Grey(ish) screen paints are only required when compensating for lounge rooms or other areas where you just can't get it completely dark.  In fact there are some very interesting comparisons made with screen paints and Wilsonart Deluxe White Laminate that show how beautiful the white can be.

Cheers,

Ken.

I'm now thinking as well that pure white in a fully darkened room may well be the best  & cheapest option. When I painted with the screen paint, I was painting over Behr Silver screen paint which is darker than the new screen paint so the image does look slightly brighter overall. So I now think it has nothing to do with the screen paint itself, only the fact that it is lighter than the Behr paint.

What is yet to be determined though is whether a slightly grey paint may improve night flying since there would be fewer reflections to light up the black parts of the scenery. So logically, in that case, a black screen would help 

So the conclusion is conclusively inconclusive in my opinion. You will always find someone who will disagree with your opinion, so ignore the noise and just do what feels good to you 

Maurice

[Trevor Hale]

So the conclusion is conclusively inconclusive in my opinion. Maurice

LOL..  Thats very true Mau.  And I think that the inconclusive conclusion conclusively is that as well.