Wooo!  Look what I won! Short throw projector FTW!

It was a little on the pricey side, but I think it’ll work out well!!

Very nice! 2.3 feet minimum throw… that’ll fit in a 3’ table without mirrors.

Looks like the bulb is in decent condition as well, which makes me very happy.  Having this projector shoot straight up shouldn’t be an issue, so long as the projector area is ventilated well, correct?

You should watch for heat warping your lens. Most if not all projectors are made with the idea that you will not point it straight up. So if I were you. I would test it and see what happens. Yes venting it would help a little. I also know that a few people have done this. Maybe you should do a search and take a look at there posts.

I just took a look at the projector. I know you don’t want to use a mirror but maybe you should. Just to fold the image to the screen. Keep the projector flat on the bottom and have a small mirror just point the image up. This way it saves your projector and investment. If you use a FS mirror you shouldn’t have much problems.

justin, I was wondering the same thing… obviously I want to protect my investment, and that *should* allow me to have an even lower profile table which is always a good thing.

Just so I know… what is the best way to detect lens warping?  Parts of the image getting distorted and the rest isn’t?  I did some searching around the forums and found several instances of people mounting their projectors facing down into a mirror… I imagine this is the whole “hot air rises” fact in action and this prevents lens warping from being a concern.

I also see some people that also mount their IR camera facing into a mirror.  What would prevent you from mounting the camera facing upward directly into my FTIR surface and the projector into a mirror?  Is that recommended?

Dante8 - 29 June 2008 01:19 PM

justin, I was wondering the same thing… obviously I want to protect my investment, and that *should* allow me to have an even lower profile table which is always a good thing.

Just so I know… what is the best way to detect lens warping?  Parts of the image getting distorted and the rest isn’t?  I did some searching around the forums and found several instances of people mounting their projectors facing down into a mirror… I imagine this is the whole “hot air rises” fact in action and this prevents lens warping from being a concern.

I also see some people that also mount their IR camera facing into a mirror.  What would prevent you from mounting the camera facing upward directly into my FTIR surface and the projector into a mirror?  Is that recommended?

Sometimes mirror placement prevents the camera from being directly under the screen. If you can mount it there, it’s ideal.
It seems that IR blobs loose something if they pass through a mirror on the way to the camera. I’ve had trouble doing that, as have others.

If you have your web cam facing the mirror your blobs are going to be weaker then if you faced it straight at your screen.
I use my projector facing down at a FS mirror. My web cam is facing up at my screen.

My Xbox Live Vision camera arrived today!  I immediately tore open the box and tried to make an MTmini out of a cardboard box and a frame.  The only problem is that I didn’t have a suitably sized frame and my box was slightly oversized for the piece of paper that I had handy.

The good news: it appeared to work, the software ran, but I was getting a lot of extra blobs detected around the non-papered area around the edge of the box.

I’m going to give it another go tomorrow after I get an appropriately sized cheapo frame.  I want to get my camera configured appropriately with the IR filter still attached, that way I can verify a certain level of “working” before I start tearing things apart.

I’m pretty excited, even with just these simple successes!

Thats awesome. I remember the feeling when things started to go together. “I’m remember”<-----------LOL like i’m a old fart

I talked to a technician about how much you loose when going over a FS mirror.. its about 7% sensitivity, so its not ideal, but not that bad either..
Not sure how “normal” mirrors react…

BTW, in one of my setups, the projector is facing straight up… not to ggod for the cooling, but works pretty well, and its only 70cm high.

What kind of projector do you have facing up?

All my materials are flooding in!  I received my projector, planning to run a few tests to see if it will respond well to being upright.  Otherwise, I will certainly employ a FS mirror.  Having a short throw projector is amazing, this thing was putting nearly a four foot picture out from a throw distance of around three foot throw distance.

I have ordered 200 of the same IR LEDs that Tinkerman mentioned in some of his posts, and I’m eager to get underway.  I’m still checking a few local shops to see if I can find some suitable acrylic and I’ve not made it around to modifying my Xbox Live Vision camera yet but that will come soon.

Very exciting stuff!

Awesome keep us posted! 

Had some success tonight!  I got my Xbox Live Vision camera modified to see IR!

I still have to mess with my configuration, but I see bright white flashes when I use my TV remote pointed at the camera and I can illuminate my face with it as well.  I want to figure out how to capture from the camera as well so I can take some pics of my progress thus far, but for now we’ll call it a win!

It seems to me that I should be able to see the flashes of IR light as blobs in the rectify window of the configuration, but I don’t… I assume there’s some tweaking that needs to occur to my setup.  No big deal though, I can cross that bridge another time!

Thanks for the help everyone