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Black Widow Beta Testers Needed

22K views 101 replies 21 participants last post by  xflapx 
#1 ·
We're getting close to having lighter versions of Black Widow ready to be beta tested.

What we do that is a bit different than other places and other screen developers is we do the screen engineering and testing and refine the process and work out any problems. Then we have actual users beta test it before publishing it as a finished screen option.

Don't misunderstand, we still do performance testing with screen images too, by having people beta test with full size screens and their setup it provides us with feedback from actual users and a variety of settings and projector types. We then take this feedback and correct anything if necessary. Typically once we get to the beta testing stage it doesn't need any changes made but we always want to confirm that with actual users.

Often DIY developers can become biased and even placebo themselves into thinking their application is 'the best' and sometimes it hasn't really been tested or even gotten any feedback from actual users. We like to make sure, so we have a few people do some testing and provide us with feedback before we make the final formula public.

If anyone is interested let us know. We should have BWN8 and BWN8.5 ready very soon and BWN9 is being worked on.

Keep in mind that the nature of these screens is that they perform lighter than their Munsell rating denotes, typically around a half step (Depending on the shade and amount of aluminum used) lighter. So Black Widow N8 (BWN8) would have the black levels of an N8 shade of gray, but the brightness and whites of an N8.5 shade of gray (or thereabout).

When in doubt, ask and we'll help make a recommendation of what shade bests suits your particular setup and projector.

We do ask though that beta testers are ready to test as soon as possible and that they provide timely feedback to us.

If interested, let us know.
 
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#77 ·
Maybe it would be better to try it this way... Jan what brands of paint do you have available to you? EasyRGB just added some more brands and maybe you have access to one that's already in the DB. If so, we can find the closest match that way.
 
#78 ·
Hi Bill, thanks for your reply.
I just browsed through the listed paints at EasyRGB. I couldn't find one that sounds familiar to me. Virtually all home improvement stores over here have their own 'house brands' . They are simply resellers but won't reveal the original supplier. In addition to these house brands, Brillux, Alpina and Dulux (apparantly not using the australian scheme here) are widely used paints.
Funny though, I just researched for companies that can mix using different color schemes and the first one i found is a somewhat pricy decorating company, roughly 100 feet from my home. Fresh off their website they claim to handle
'Caparol 3d, Keim, Ral, Herbol, Alpina, NCS, Farrow & Ball, Brillux, Villeroy & Boch, Glasurit, STO, Alligator, Bondex, Capamix, Crown, Dispon, Dulux, Flamant, Histor, Sigma as well as others'.
As stated before i heard that NCS S0907-y70r is equivalent to Bermuda Beige. Has anyone ever measured and verified that claim?
BTW, do you have any idea what the miraculous particles in Craft smart metallic silver might be?
 
#80 ·
Hi Jan,

Thanks for the link to sigmund-lindner. The problem we have been having is that these large companies don't want to sell to small guys like us. If we can't buy at least 25 kilo of the stuff they don't have time for us. Please let us know how you make out getting samples, it might give us some hope. :T

The main "miraculous" quality Craft Smart Metallic Silver has is that it isn't iridescent as mica-based metallics are. This matters because mica flakes refract light as well as reflect it and this can cause color shifting and shimmering if too much is used in a mix. Also, the CSMS seems to have larger flakes than the mica-based paints I have tested. These flakes are more visible in the mix and seem to reflect light better. As I have said, since the metallic flakes in CSMS are not mica or aluminium I believe they must be coated polyester or some other plastic. Companies are very tight lipped about what is really in their paints and Material Data Safety Sheets only give so much information.

All of the paint that has aluminum flakes as the metallic element have really darkened the mix when added to paint; it also adds a lot of blue to the mix, that is the reason for using a tinted base for making Black Widow, the tint counters the blue of the aluminum. CSMS is also a bit blue, but not anywhere near as strong as aluminium.
 
#82 ·
Mechman I can post more pictures using my small testing cardboard :scratchhead:, I don't think that will do the justice. Actually I did made up my mind on using Scorpion N8 once my basement is done. :waiting: I did buy 3m of stretchable black velvet and I will use either mdf or poplar wood (painted black under velvet) to build frame for it. Once I have it, I'll post tons of pictures....:bigsmile: The only thing I have to figure out is how to mount the frame onto the drywall, so I'll be able to use 2.40:1 masking schema ..:scratchhead:
 
#85 ·
Harp was for awhile. I'm not sure where he got with it. He's on the road for a couple more days. When he gets back I'm certain he'll chime in. :T

You'd need a really bright pj to go darker. But a lot of the newer ones are probably bright enough. :huh:
 
#86 ·
A nice 3-4 chip DLP with a quality lens or most of the newer LCD projectors + 1400 lumens with + 80% uniform brightness and 1000 lumens calibrated would throw a pretty good image on a darker screen. It's pretty slim on finding those right now I think. Most will be in the budget range of +20K and be something like a christie projector where they are going +3000 lumens but those will torch our smaller screens.
 
#87 ·
Well I ask only because I have taken down my screen to do some work. And in my black out room on my dark brown walls I am ver impressed with the blacks. Whites aren't too bad either. I may have to play with my AAA mix by adding some black in order to darken up the color.

Any specific suggestions on product to do this... Folk Art???
 
#90 ·
I do own HD65 and IMHO I find original BW ~N7.5 a little too dark. I could be wrong but I don't think HD65 has enough juice to be able to drive N6 screen based screen. :scratchhead: Based on my personal limited testing on a small piece of cardboard hanged on my living room's wall, I find the new Scroprion N8 mix perfect combination (for blacker blacks without compramising whites/colors too much :T. Another thing that might help a little black levels (according to many users) is to build the frame wrapped in black velvet.
 
#91 ·
Hi folks,

Just got back from a visit to my old stomping grounds (MI) and it's going to take me a while to get up to speed again on DIY screen stuff.

As for making a N6 screen mix, very early testing leads me to think that such a mix would be an off-shoot from the Scorpion mixes and use both AAA-F and CSMS as the reflective ingredients, or perhaps just the CSMS alone.

I did do a bit of testing along this line about a year ago, but the results of those tests are buried somewhere in my aging memory and some old PM's that are almost impossible to search through.

No single black paint I have found is neutral. I did get a very neutral black by mixing Craft Smart Black and Premiere Mars Black 1:1. The Premiere (I'm leaving out an accent mark on the last "e") paints can be found at A. C. Moore craft stores, and perhaps a few others. I don't remember ever seeing them at Micheal's. They can be had from the 'net at http://www.fineartstore.com/Catalog...el/a/Default.aspx?SortField=UnitCost,UnitCost

I too am interested in a darker screen since my PJ doesn't do blacks well at all. I think I can do this because my PJ (Viewsonic PJ503D) is bright, and due to various physical screen location limitations my screen is relatively small (still playing with sizes, but the largest would be 75" diag.).
 
#94 ·
No one ever posted screen shots. :dontknow: I figured that sooner or later I'd have to do it. I know that bidzer is using it and likes it. I know there are several others using one of the two but I've heard from no one. :dunno:

Someday I'll spray some large panels I guess. :scratch: Lately I've been busy building cabinets and shelves.
 
#95 ·
I understand, I am working on my house doing the left over repairs from Hurricane IKE. I estimate it will be early winter here before I will find enough spare time to shoot a screen (unless another hurricane center punches my area). Apparently everyone else is just as busy as we are.
 
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