Materials

The world of rear projection materials is a fascinating place.  The basic concept for all of these materials is the same: add microscopic glass beads to a polymer to focus projector light.  We’ve looked at the three major contenders on the market:  3M, Prolight, and Acrylite.  Each of their products is great, but we need to figure out what’s best for our application.

3M makes Vicuity Rear Projection Film.  It’s the easiest to apply of all of the films, but also the most expensive.  Besides ease of installation, 3M boasts an extremely effective ambient light blocking layer to prevent extra light from the projector side of the screen washing out our image.  It’s great for uncontrolled lighting situations, but does cut down on the total brightness and saturation of the projected image.  Fortunately for us, we will be inhabiting a vacant building, so we have complete control of the lighting.  We don’t have to sacrifice the precious, precious brightness we need.

Prolight makes a variety of great budget priced films.  They are less than half the price of 3M’s, but don’t boast such powerful light blocking technology and aren’t as durable.  During installation I accidently scratched one of our samples really badly following the same basic installation techniques I’ve used for years working in the signage industry.  With some modifications I was able to safely apply the film, it’s color reproduction and clarity is great, and the variety of materials: dark gray, light gray, white and clear seems to cover any working conditions.  Our initial reaction was to mount Prolight’s dark gray on plexiglass.

Sadly for Prolight, we discovered Acrylite’s rear projection acrylic.  This is an 1/8^th inch acrylic sheet with glass beads disbursed throughout.  The surprising benefit of this material is that, because it has thickness, it diffuses the light slightly.  This blurs the image just enough to remove the projector’s dot pitch (the space inbetween pixels in a display) without making the image seem out of focus.  Since we’re simulating a painting, dot pitch is our enemy.  The price is slightly more expensive per square foot than mounting Prolight onto clear plexi.  We’re excited to move forward with it.