Thread: Project NiteVision - NiteMax + HUD + carputer

NICE!!! it looks kinda big...make sure it goes on yoru dash without destroying your view. could be a ticket. but seriously, youv'e done ALOT. your angle may not need to be that high though.

Hehe, yeah, my mom's an attorney, which is why the legal concerns me so much.

how much was all that hardware?$10-$15? Not bad at all...

btw, hehe, i'm being na engieer now...have you thought about using bolts and a washer above the module, with a spring beneath the module? I'm just curious because one day at my place, taht was a solution to an ajustment problem that we had.

Oh, and i trield to emulate it on the celica. Its definitely a night thing only! I'll see if hte G20 is differnet, cause i seriously wouldn't mind projecting an Iguidance map on the window

my idea worked prefectly.

Here's the results. Lost Reception was there with me and showed me a thing or two about iguidance and provided the digi cams. When we meet up next, it will be with a 7" LCD

To show that it is easily seen


To show that you can see htrough the image


Mission accomplished. Almost.

This was in Lost Reception's new xB. Its light senstive only to outside light, but you can see it even with interior lights on. It uses the basic idea behind two way mirrors,m so as long as the LCD remains brighter than the outside world, you'll be fine for even daylight viewing. All you guys wiht the ultra brite LCDs, rejoice. My transflcetive screen PPC wont' cut it in daylihgt.

The final things htat p****es me off abou tit is this: becuase i'm just doing proof of concept and i'm no where near completing hte install, i won't have it installed and working on my car until the summer NYC meet. Everyone going to the NYC meet WILL however see it in action...and how easy it is to set up. I suggest getting a dual monitor display and working with it through a display in the dash and a display to project the map.

When Lost and i get togehter again, we'll do it with the nightmax and try to figure something out with that. I still say there's too much white. Red is the best way to go with it, or green. Mark, you'll be needing to explain how to change the color of the LCD in great detail if you havne't already done so.

Our biggest problem right now though is the double display that we got iwht the xB's windscreen. I'm not sure how to solve that. My G dind't have that problem as bad if i remember. I'll hvae to check again. If it DOES have that problem, then clarity is impossible without alterng the actual window as far as my working knowledge goes. I'll need to research. Quantum, if you cna correct this PLEASE let me know cause...yeah...

Originally Posted by Genesisfactor

NICE!!! it looks kinda big...make sure it goes on yoru dash without destroying your view. could be a ticket. but seriously, youv'e done ALOT. your angle may not need to be that high though.

Its not going on my dash (that would be rather unclean looking) its going under the dash (recessed into it in a project box, see pics at start of thread) Also the whole point of the mechanism is that it is now adjustible so i can change the angle between around 20 and 65 degress, I can also slighty manipulate the angle left ot right be makeing one sides adjustment screw higher or lower then the other.

The problem you are experiencing on LR's windshield goes back to what i mentioned eariler in the thread regarding the need for some sort of film or tint that will reflect the image. The two panes of glass in the windshield case a 'double vision' effect on a untreated windshield.

Originally Posted by alti

Its not going on my dash (that would be rather unclean looking) its going under the dash (recessed into it in a project box, see pics at start of thread) Also the whole point of the mechanism is that it is now adjustible so i can change the angle between around 20 and 65 degress, I can also slighty manipulate the angle left ot right be makeing one sides adjustment screw higher or lower then the other.

Hehe, believe me, i wrote a MUCH alonger thread about a simpler design until it hit m e that 2d image manipulation was what your'e looking for. I was making the bolt and washer sugesstion because a bolt is easier than a screwhead to twist for "on the fly" adjustments, that's all. . I'm serious though, thatr really looks nice, and i'd love to see it in action. I'm curious, these are minute adjustments, right? I ask because the more offset the image is from location 0 (perfect), the more distorted it will be unless you slide the actual screen (to get my image on the upper windshield, i moved the PPC back up the dash). Please excuse the questions and what not, I'm trying to see all the things the mechansim will accomplish and how, trying to better understand it, you know?

Originally Posted by alti

The problem you are experiencing on LR's windshield goes back to what i mentioned eariler in the thread regarding the need for some sort of film or tint that will reflect the image. The two panes of glass in the windshield case a 'double vision' effect on a untreated windshield.

See, the thing is i don't remember having that issue on the G20. The thing that worries me about he tint is the whole "ghosting" that might occur, although, that was the original purpose of the tint, wasn't it . Sorry, i forgot...i do that lot these days. But that is the finsl problem for to to solve.


@quantum, i'm really interested in how far you got! You're probably done with some full screen comtraption that puts everything we're doing to shame.

EDIT: http://www.dupont.com/safetyglass/en...ts/hud_gm.html. Its seesm GM solved this by having a bit of Dupont's PVC in the windwshiled between the two layers of glass. I'm no longer sure if what i saw in my G was just me being blind or it was really a double image. I had no idea it was two layers of glass (i really didn't!). Something tells me this is going to be REALLY hard to do ourselves...quantum...you can pop in anytime here with a solution...please?

Couldn't resist!! I had to start experimenting!
I have the same problem, double display. This happens because the image is reflected first in the inner side of the windshield and then on the outer side of the windshield. That is also why the second image appears to be a bit higher.

I also did some test with a clear piece of plexi and since it was about 2mm thick i got the same double image problem.

Then i tried Genesisfactor's idea about the the gauge cluster but unfortunately the plastic in front is very curved and really distorts the image... Then I thought what if I put a thin flat piece of plastic in front of that only where the HUD would be... well that gave me some results... I can see the image very well with it but then in the back i still have that distorted image. Maybe something more reflective would have better results. Check out the photos! I still don't know how to add comments under every image....

@spaceskater – thanks for the pics. What are you reflecting the image on in the in with the person in the image and the keyboard in the background? That one looks really sharp and opaque.

@Shadow – hmmmm, vinyl eh? Do you know if it is wedged in-between the to panes of glass of the windshield, or if it is just stuck to the inside? I ask because all of the other OEM solutions I had read about used a piece of wedge shaped polymer in-between the two panes of glass.

@ GF – I like the gauge cluster idea, but I would not do in my setup for a couple of reasons. 1. The image looks to be too small to be usable that far out of you main focus of vision. To be able to make any sense of the image on the reflection, it would seem to me that you would have to focus you vision on the reflection. If it were larger (say 5-6”) then I think it would be possible to make sense of using your peripheral vision in the same way you check your speedometer, however for the gauge cluster I would look at installing a 5-6” LCD in the gauge cluster rather then using reflection. The only reason that I am using reflection on a windshield is because I have to (unless I found some of the super expensive organic lcds) It would be much cleaner and nicer looking IMHO to install an lcd right into the gauge cluster.

My dash unfortunately allows me no room to play with this idea.

I have done allot more work on my setup and I should have the camera up and working in its separate parts, hopefully today! I will post pics.

sorry I forgot to add that I have pretty much deterimed that a lens of some sort is an absolute must because the image size will be so small without it, it must be larger.

SO who knows anything about where to start with this??????????? I dont know the first thing about it.

BTW does the addition of a lens make it a projection as opposed to a reflection?

I am going to start by spending some time reading up over at the DIYaudio forums.