Projector stuff - looking at Glass projection film VERY expensive

After seeing the importance of good lighting conditions during the installation earlier this year I have decided to battle this part of the challenge early on. Today I did a hunt on the net to find out about projection screens and how to successfully project in sunlight. I start this with very little knowledge of projections apart from what we have done in college. I focused my search on rear projections, and here are the results.

(1) So first I looked into a DIY attempt at building a screen. The best suggestion was using wax paper. It is good for rear projections but I have my doubts on its success for this project. Due to its size it needs to be weaved together then ironed. Two layers does created a good strength material with less hot-spotting but even ironing it doesn't get rid of all the creases. This was the only really useful DIY attempt I found. Other suggestions included shower curtains and plastic style sheets. Although all of these may work well for rear projection, due to the fact that it is a window display I have decided on this material would not work well due to reflection etc. so I thought I'd keep exploring.

(2) Next I started looking at blogs as I have always found these to be very useful. After a while hunting I came across this one....

http://nuigroup.com/forums/viewthread/4457/

In this post he compares six products:

• Polymex 50 micron double matte drafting film ($2 USD sq. m)
• Rosco Grey ($12 USD sq. m)
• mind.unity@gmail.com’s film ($90 USD sq. m)
• IFOHA Digiline White (169 EURO sq. m)
• IFOHA Digiline Contrast (230 EURO sq. m)
• 3M Vikuiti ($566 USD sq. m)

As you can see the price difference is large. He compares contrast, brightness, hot spotting, etc. I found it to be a very useful post, especially the image attached to it, which shows the six materials together. So I went on to all the websites and got a contact name, email address and phone number as well as a few details on each for further research. After a delve into the world of projection lingo (with the odd dictionary search for the terms I didn't understand) I put together a draft email. The email had the following layout:

* It stated that I was a student in the Interactive Media Masters in UL.

* That I'm working with a number of novel concepts for an interactive window advertisement.

* That I have a great interest in this area and a bit about my background.

* That on successful completion of this project I would hope to work in this area in Ireland as there is currently no one providing such a service.

* How I came across their product / company

* If they could give me a loan / large sample for use in my proof of concept project

* That I would be happy to share my findings and results with them, as well as video footage of the display.

Currently I am awaiting a reply, and will post back here soon....