The next money pit

[Alphatreedog]

So I call Cool Fire whinin and asking when they will make one for my pistol and BAMMM , first of the year they tell me . If you're not familiar with it
https://coolfiretrainer.com. So now I'm looking at the Shoot off app . Well that needs a webcam and a projector. Webcam is gravy but the projectors are an endless quest of picture quality , brightness , picture size and distance . You can conceivably have HD theatre sized TV and movies in your home . Not to mention setting up steel and action pistol stages . This stuff goes all Don Perignon and I'm on a Meister Brau budget . The Cool Fire will be in the bag after profit sharing in January but the projector's gonna have to start out Bo ludget from Amazon . I'm hoping to improve my times and splits with this . Funny I'm always the first guy to dissuade people from laser trainers cause it seems that people start chasin the lazer instead of looking at their sights . I guess I'm a hypocrite. Yeah I know , first qorld problems .

 

[QuickNDirty]

So I call Cool Fire whinin and asking when they will make one for my pistol and BAMMM , first of the year they tell me . If you're not familiar with it
https://coolfiretrainer.com. So now I'm looking at the Shoot off app . Well that needs a webcam and a projector. Webcam is gravy but the projectors are an endless quest of picture quality , brightness , picture size and distance . You can conceivably have HD theatre sized TV and movies in your home . Not to mention setting up steel and action pistol stages . This stuff goes all Don Perignon and I'm on a Meister Brau budget . The Cool Fire will be in the bag after profit sharing in January but the projector's gonna have to start out Bo ludget from Amazon . I'm hoping to improve my times and splits with this . Funny I'm always the first guy to dissuade people from laser trainers cause it seems that people start chasin the lazer instead of looking at their sights . I guess I'm a hypocrite. Yeah I know , first qorld problems .

Hold off on the projector. I'm gonna try one of the $89 ones with decent specs. I'll let you know how it works.

I've been messing with the laserammo ones.

I want to extend the scenarios in shootoff to include a path I walk regularly and shoot hogs. Wanna train my drawing and shooting while moving game up on a treadmill.

 

[Alphatreedog]

Hold off on the projector. I'm gonna try one of the $89 ones with decent specs. I'll let you know how it works.

I've been messing with the laserammo ones.

I want to extend the scenarios in shootoff to include a path I walk regularly and shoot hogs. Wanna train my drawing and shooting while moving game up on a treadmill.

You never cease to be da fuggin Man .?

 

[oneisnone]

I’m in for reviews. Looks promising.

 

[Sean the Nailer]

Well, I'll chime in more when I learn more about this link posted above, but I will say that I know one or two things about "ceiling mount projectors." As we've had one here for well over a decade. On our second, actually. This last one we got for $220 bucks, just over a year ago. Just before everything went to hell here. (but that's another story)

The first projector we got, was cheaper than a new tv. And at that time, our tv outright died, and we went to get a new one. We got a projector for a scream of a deal, that was considerably cheaper than a tv back then. With the motorized wall screen included in the package, it was less than $550 bucks out the door.

1080p
140" diagonal wall screen
16:9 aspect ratio

(all of the descriptors above are correct, to the best of my memory. further information is available, just pm me.)

That first one was a BenQ MP625p and we were REALLY happy with it.

Over the years, we'd learned a few things, such as "bulb life" as well as "bulb cost".
rule number one, don't buy the supplier bulbs. Order direct from the maker (in china) for 1/3 the price. That's big numbers when they're asking $350 for a bulb.

Each time you replace a bulb, the picture is degraded. Things fade over time. That, and the newer projectors just have better LCD's in the color department.

When our last projector died, and we had to get a new one, I did a bit of shopping around, and comparing. Lucked in to another deal, spend just over a 1/4 of the going market price (at a store, with a receipt,,,,not out of the back of a truck) and the difference between our old projector and our new one is PHENOMENAL. We're even able to watch the new one with lights on in the room, door open, and window wide open. (that would have been absolutely unheard of with the previous one, and we actually DID have to fashion some blackout curtains for certain times.)

This new projector is so very good, and still with the ridiculoustly fantastic screen size, that things are a true pleasure to watch. Outdoor shows, wildlife, and all kinds of things really do 'come to life' here in the house. The room that the 140" screen is in, is 16' long as well, so things truly are magnificent.

Over 20 years ago, when I lived out west I was looking at building a Home Theater in my house up North. Back then it was primarily the 3 cathode ray tubes, that needed calibrating at least every year. And those puppies were 20 grand and up, to buy. Now, the same view AND BETTER is achievable for so much less.

So, take all that for what it's worth, and if you're near I'll pour you a coffee too. Will this work with what you're wanting, I dunno. Interesting topic though.

As stated, if you need anything further, hit me on the side.

And, I may be blind, but I didn't see ANYWHERES on that site that spoke of app's 'n projectors. Where do I find this?

 

[2ndamendfan]

I know shit about projectors. But it sounds/looks awesome. I too did not see any mention of projectors, so whats is the plan boys.

 

[powdahound76]

I got a new Landice treadmill for training (I have a running problem too) and this sounds like a great way to keep it real.

Working on a belly band set-up to carry my G43 while running, would be awesome to try. Momma will know I am completely crazy after this....

future BIL knows about projectors, will defer to him to tell me what to get. He is a software engineer.

 

[Alphatreedog]

http://shootoffapp.com Yeah the projector comes in with this .

 

[Alphatreedog]

http://shootoffapp.com Yeah the projector comes in with this .

 

[Alphatreedog]

Sorry bout the multi post . Phone went full retard .

 

[2ndamendfan]

You should be able to edit and delete.

You SOB's are bound and determined for me to never retire aren't you. It is a good damn thing, my wife tolerates me.
This truely is the next money pit.

 

[2ndamendfan]

So it says (at least in the videos) "monitor or projector" i wonder if that means a 65" "tv" (they are not really TVs anymore but big monitors).
Just thinking out loud.

 

[Alphatreedog]

I'm pretty sure that your laptop is your monitor and a screen for the projector .
Supposedly you can program scenarios too . I'm trying to program in a porno gone wrong scenario . Just need six more midgets .

 

[2ndamendfan]

Just so people can get an idea of what we are talking about. This video is 3 years old. version 3.0 I believe. The tech has come a long way, as have the dry fire gun simulators. But this video shows them actually using it. newer videos show updated features and technical/debugging stuff.

 

[Strykervet]

Looks like Sean knows a helluva lot more about 'em than I do and has more experience.

But from what I've seen, with respect to movies, it's just not there compared to very large screen tv. One of the newer 4k ones. It'll be forever before I see one, I have a plasma, an LCD and an LED and from what I understand they last much longer than tubes did and those lasted a long time by 90's. I'd have to sell one to upgrade. But it's not worth it to me, not now anyway. I mostly stream stuff and I haven't been buying DVD's since the divorce. What games I play work fine on the LCD.

For use as a simulator, the projector will probably work fine in a dark room. They just don't have as much light and dark as a screen (it's just physics, light diminishes at the rate of 1/distance from source (squared)). So I can see bulb selection being key, and some sort of HID would work best I'd think. If available. They get hot though and draw a lot of power. My LCD has a small HID bulb inside it, but you'd need a bigger one for a projector.

They had simulators at Ft. Lewis that were pretty high speed. Cost a fortune and used real weapons with gas powered actions and electronic magazines. Pretty cool. The image wasn't good enough to show a movie and have it look as good as an HD TV, but for a simulator it'd work fine. Maybe you can find something better now, this was 15yrs. ago. At Ft. Benning, they'd project from the rear and show movies this way at 30AG when you have down time, and do presentations in training.

That worked okay. With some of the high end projectors, you can probably do pretty well today. But you HAVE to show us what it looks like when you get it up and running! I'd like to see how a movie looks in it too.

Good luck!

 

[2ndamendfan]

@Alphatreedog , what pistol are you waiting for coolfire to make?

 

[Alphatreedog]

@Alphatreedog , what pistol are you waiting for coolfire to make?

Springfield XDM 5.25 Competition .

 

[Alphatreedog]

Looks like Sean knows a helluva lot more about 'em than I do and has more experience.

But from what I've seen, with respect to movies, it's just not there compared to very large screen tv. One of the newer 4k ones. It'll be forever before I see one, I have a plasma, an LCD and an LED and from what I understand they last much longer than tubes did and those lasted a long time by 90's. I'd have to sell one to upgrade. But it's not worth it to me, not now anyway. I mostly stream stuff and I haven't been buying DVD's since the divorce. What games I play work fine on the LCD.

For use as a simulator, the projector will probably work fine in a dark room. They just don't have as much light and dark as a screen (it's just physics, light diminishes at the rate of 1/distance from source (squared)). So I can see bulb selection being key, and some sort of HID would work best I'd think. If available. They get hot though and draw a lot of power. My LCD has a small HID bulb inside it, but you'd need a bigger one for a projector.

They had simulators at Ft. Lewis that were pretty high speed. Cost a fortune and used real weapons with gas powered actions and electronic magazines. Pretty cool. The image wasn't good enough to show a movie and have it look as good as an HD TV, but for a simulator it'd work fine. Maybe you can find something better now, this was 15yrs. ago. At Ft. Benning, they'd project from the rear and show movies this way at 30AG when you have down time, and do presentations in training.

That worked okay. With some of the high end projectors, you can probably do pretty well today. But you HAVE to show us what it looks like when you get it up and running! I'd like to see how a movie looks in it too.

Good luck!

From what I have been seeing at about a grand plus you can get very good picture quality from Epson , Sony or LG . They also offer different lighting power .
2000 lumens needs a dark room . 3500 to 4000 will work in a lit room . I
Believe Sony may have a unit that costs 28K . Just scroll thru Amazon check
specs and read the reviews . It looks as though you coule get in under a grand with an Epson .

 

[QuickNDirty]

They had simulators at Ft. Lewis that were pretty high speed.

Have you or anyone else come across a treadmill-like thing that is 2 axis?

Basically, what I think would be tits is a walking apparatus that lets you stay stationary even while walking/running forwards/backwards/left/right/diagonal.

With that I could project a scene, and by moving in any direction, the scene advances in that direction. I'm sure someone's done it, and it's expensive AF, but would be a lot of fun. You'd be able to walk or run as fast as you wanted, rather than being stuck at a fixed speed and direction.

For now, a 3MPH pace or so and a somewhat seamlessly looping path (so once you get to the end it restarts, but you don't notice) with a chance to encounter a hog, or deranged knife-wielding naked midget that you can shoot and measure the time it takes you from presentation to put down would be pretty cool.

As far as TVs/monitors for this purpose go, I don't have a single one that doesn't absorb almost all the visible light from the laser. Folks at a tech store would probably think it reallllly odd for some dude to be dry-firing at all their TVs in search of the right one.

So I asked my wife for a projector and screen for Christmas, since she insists on buying shit.

To really get the best experience, I could easily see dumping 50k+ into the technology and environment.

1k+ FPS camera and super bright short-throw HD projector on a CNC gimbal, body position sensors, and on and on and on.

But, for under $500, a fully functional setup that gets the job done is a reality.

 

[Sean the Nailer]

I have a fair bit more researching to do, but this is very interesting.

The first thing I have to find out, is what it takes to put a 'webcam' in that room with all the equipment. Simply because, the computer tower is at the other end of the house. Everything is already connected via CAT5 and HDMI. How does one go about installing a webcam with a 50 foot cable? Can it be done?

As one hopefully guesses, I don't do 'wifi' so that signals can't get hacked.

 

[QuickNDirty]

I have a fair bit more researching to do, but this is very interesting.

The first thing I have to find out, is what it takes to put a 'webcam' in that room with all the equipment. Simply because, the computer tower is at the other end of the house. Everything is already connected via CAT5 and HDMI. How does one go about installing a webcam with a 50 foot cable? Can it be done?

As one hopefully guesses, I don't do 'wifi' so that signals can't get hacked.

That's gonna be pretty unwieldy. I think you'd be better served by a dedicated laptop/tower for that purpose, since you control the app from the computer.

If you insist, though, this might work.

https://www.amazon.com/RELPER-30met...argid=aud-466360936450:pla-450498619643&psc=1

 

[Alphatreedog]

One . You guys have OCD . Two . It's awesome . I've been doing m9re research and the ShootOff app seems to only qork with certain lasers . Cool Fire now offers an IR laser for additional cha ching . I need to find out what wavelength ShootOff recommends . Q&D , once you get that set up you need to charge admission . It sounds pretty bad ass .?

 

[QuickNDirty]

One . You guys have OCD . Two . It's awesome . I've been doing m9re research and the ShootOff app seems to only qork with certain lasers . Cool Fire now offers an IR laser for additional cha ching . I need to find out what wavelength ShootOff recommends . Q&D , once you get that set up you need to charge admission . It sounds pretty bad ass .?

Any laser the camera can detect should work with Shootoff. Shootoff basically just waits for a red or green dot to appear in a target area.

You're mating the laser to the camera, so an IR laser and a camera that filters out IR wouldn't work. Also, a shitty dull laser probably won't work so well. The benefits of IR is that you can't see it, so there's none of that chasing the laser stuff going on. The downside is ensuring your laser, for a given POA, matches the real-world POI you'd get with whatever you're slinging.

Obviously, lasers don't give a shit about gravity.

For reference,

a Micro$oft LifeCam Cinema (H5D-00013) paired with the laserammo 9mm cartridge (or others with adapters) works pretty good.

 

[Sean the Nailer]

Well, I gotta say, there is MUCH potential here considering the infrastructure needed and the infrastructure already installed/tweaked. I just talked to My Lady about this, and she is HIGHLY interested in this venue. Especially for her to practice with her sidearm.

This is why we picked up a pellet pistol for her, as well as a trap, so that she can practice indoors. Her biggest lament over the 'toy' issue, is she constantly has stated how much she'd prefer to use HER OWN pistol, instead.

Now, for me, (highlight of the year, believe me) I'm just trying to decide which kidney to sell.... because this 'relatively small amount' is so far outta our realm, at the moment.

But the interest is HUGE, believe me. Now the idea of charging admission is an even better thing,,,, except who do we want to advertise this to? (oxymoron right there, for morons). HAaaa

***Edited to add, we have a treadmill here, a stepper, an 'upright' cycle as well as a 'recumbent' cycle. Just think of the venues that can be created instead of the typical boring 'watch a show or news when you exercise' scenario. I'm gonna be the fittingest of the fittest. (in about eleventy years, that is....)

 

[QuickNDirty]

This stuff hits pretty close to what I'm thinking, but the support structure would piss me off.

 

[Alphatreedog]

Well, I gotta say, there is MUCH potential here considering the infrastructure needed and the infrastructure already installed/tweaked. I just talked to My Lady about this, and she is HIGHLY interested in this venue. Especially for her to practice with her sidearm.

This is why we picked up a pellet pistol for her, as well as a trap, so that she can practice indoors. Her biggest lament over the 'toy' issue, is she constantly has stated how much she'd prefer to use HER OWN pistol, instead.

Now, for me, (highlight of the year, believe me) I'm just trying to decide which kidney to sell.... because this 'relatively small amount' is so far outta our realm, at the moment.

But the interest is HUGE, believe me. Now the idea of charging admission is an even better thing,,,, except who do we want to advertise this to? (oxymoron right there, for morons). HAaaa

***Edited to add, we have a treadmill here, a stepper, an 'upright' cycle as well as a 'recumbent' cycle. Just think of the venues that can be created instead of the typical boring 'watch a show or news when you exercise' scenario. I'm gonna be the fittingest of the fittest. (in about eleventy years, that is....)

That's what appeals to me . The pellet pistols and airsoft don't have the weight or trigger of my pistol . My AR was easy . I bought the .22LR conversion and it was tits .

 

[Alphatreedog]

[–]dmaul 1 point 1 year ago

A lot of users use the ps3eye which can run at 100+ fps. However, there are driver issues with the ps3eye and the quality of the sensor is very poor (A dark room causes a lot of false imagery on a ps3eye). They are very cheap, though, as little as $10.

The Logitech c920 can do 60 fps. However, the c920 has a minimum resolution of 720p (ShootOFF normally runs at 480p) which means ShootOFF has to process 3 times as much data on each frame. That's 6 times as much data as 480p @ 30fps. So if you have a decent computer it is a good camera, but much more performance demanding.

There are other cameras, like the oDroid oCam that are known to work at high fps. The craftsmanship is pretty poor, though.

Those are the three that I have personally tested. Not sure what else is out there.

I messaged ShootOff and they answered the above . Said that yes Cool Fire's regular laser will work but has a short p0uls requiring a faster frame per second camera .
Still researching .

 

[QuickNDirty]

Update:

My wife got me a Vankyon Leisure 3 for Christmas, along with a cheap screen that covers most of the wall. This thing is fucking awesome. I kicked it to the back of the room, and the image is clear enough to read e-mails and just about fills the top half of the wall. It's a little washed out with the lights on, but oh well. Works well for movies, too. Being up high like that, there's no interference between me and the camera, or me and the projector.

The projector mount was ~$20 at Fry's. The universal mounts won't work as-is on this projector because it doesn't have the expected screw placements. In theory you could get some long screws and do it that way, but fuck it. I don't want to spend any more money and zip ties work. I put the ceiling mount into one stud with the rear screws and used anchors for the front two. I'll probably replace those bolts with some others and hit it from the attic with a piece of plywood, washers, and nuts just in case some dumbass were to fuck up and bang his head into it, I don't want my sheetrock coming down with it. I used some screws from flex-clips to screw the "projector plate" to the piece of plywood, then zip-tied the projector to that.

Ran into some issues with the webcams, though. left and right edges are, I guess, too dark to process well and putting targets on either side results in a lot of missed shots. I either need a better camera (still have a few more to try, if I can remember where I put them) or to balance the lighting. Targets placed in the inner ~60% of the screen are good to go.

All that's left for the setup is:
1.) Run power from the attic
2.) Clean up
3.) 3D print a mount I can screw into the plywood that'll work better for the webcam than the bullshit they come with to hang from a monitor
4.) Make a laptop stand to mount on the wall
5.) 3D print adapters for my Henry 45 colt and 12 gauge
6.) Make some badass 'courses'. In reviewing what's available, between this, this, and this, I've got what I need to have some ANTIFA assholes popping up and coming right for us
7.) Improve auto-calibration
8.) Make it easier to scale fixed-size targets to real-world distances

a DAO gun would be ideal for this type of thing. Closest I've got to that is my Sig p220 with is DA/SA with no half-cock bullshit. My CZ is OK, but with the half-cock bullshit, it's just not the same. For the last 3 days I've been waking up, doing 20 squats, 20 pushups, running 9MPH (fastest the treadmill goes) til my pulse is > 150, then slowing it to 3MPH and picking off little targets for another 20-30 minutes. I'm improving pretty quickly. Totally fuckin' awesome. Gotta have a good trigger pull or ShootOFF will reject it.

Ideally I'll get to a point where I can do a better job fuckin' up hogs than a pack of dogs.

 

[Alphatreedog]

So effin jealous right now . Your a stud . I'm searchinFrys as soon as I post this .
What are the specs on the projector ?

 

[johnnycat]

I'm blown away. And now I'm trying to figure out how to rearrange the furniture. My poor wife...she just shakes her head

 

[Alphatreedog]

I'm blown away. And now I'm trying to figure out how to rearrange the furniture. My poor wife...she just shakes her head

Its for the children .

 

[Sean the Nailer]

Epic,
Now ya'll see my frustration. I'm going to try to figure out how to incorporate this with our already existing "viewing room". My problem is putting in a camera, and running it all from a computer that is in a different room, 30ish feet away.

I know somebody previous gave me this link, https://www.amazon.com/RELPER-30met...argid=aud-466360936450:pla-450498619643&psc=1

But I'm going to have to do some braining to figure out how to put it all together, and it works. And My Lady really likes this idea still, too. How do you run/control the computer from that far away,,,, is there the chance of "on-screen input" via that camera?

Way too much going on around here to clearly focus on this dream. Life and adulting are getting in the way of playing.

 

[QuickNDirty]

I'm blown away. And now I'm trying to figure out how to rearrange the furniture. My poor wife...she just shakes her head

Alpha's right, it's for the children =)

My son has a little dart gun he wants me to modify for him. I think it's the right size, too.

Laser module, arduino nano, a rocker switch, a resistor, some wires, some button cell batteries, and some TLC with a dremel and a hot glue gun ought to do it.

@Alphatreedog - Specs are:
2400 Lumen
2000:1 contrast
800x480 native resolution
170" max screen size
LCD bulb

For about $200 you can get this Vankyo Leisure 510, with 3600 lumen, 1080p native resolution, and a slightly larger screen size. Judging by the one I've got, the 510 ought to be properly badass.

 

[QuickNDirty]

Epic,
Now ya'll see my frustration. I'm going to try to figure out how to incorporate this with our already existing "viewing room". My problem is putting in a camera, and running it all from a computer that is in a different room, 30ish feet away.

I know somebody previous gave me this link, https://www.amazon.com/RELPER-30met...argid=aud-466360936450:pla-450498619643&psc=1

But I'm going to have to do some braining to figure out how to put it all together, and it works. And My Lady really likes this idea still, too. How do you run/control the computer from that far away,,,, is there the chance of "on-screen input" via that camera?

Way too much going on around here to clearly focus on this dream. Life and adulting are getting in the way of playing.

Actually, there is a chance of "on-screen input".

This dude uses "targets" for special shit like setting POI offset (scoped handguns, for example), resetting the stage, and probably other things.

I could probably add a "full-screen" button to the UI, and add a "exit arena" target for when you want to change courses. Shot to click probably would work for that. Stage building wouldn't really work, but some canned courses would certainly fit the bill. Basically, you'd either need to use canned stages or build your stage then control it in the arena room by shooting buttons, lol.

What's old is new again =)

Alternatively, with a loooong ass USB cable extension like that, you could pair it with a usb hub, a webcam, a keyboard, and a mouse and just drive it like a monitor. Just mirror your primary display to the projector and bob's your fuckin' uncle.

 

[Alphatreedog]

Actually, there is a chance of "on-screen input".

This dude uses "targets" for special shit like setting POI offset (scoped handguns, for example), resetting the stage, and probably other things.

I could probably add a "full-screen" button to the UI, and add a "exit arena" target for when you want to change courses. Shot to click probably would work for that. Stage building wouldn't really work, but some canned courses would certainly fit the bill. Basically, you'd either need to use canned stages or build your stage then control it in the arena room by shooting buttons, lol.

What's old is new again =)

Alternatively, with a loooong ass USB cable extension like that, you could pair it with a usb hub, a webcam, a keyboard, and a mouse and just drive it like a monitor. Just mirror your primary display to the projector and bob's your fuckin' uncle.

Ahhh Uncle Bob . He had soft hands .

 

[QuickNDirty]

Got my development environment setup last night and made a trivial change to a training scenario. It's a lot more fun than red and grey circles.

This game is great for building trigger muscles. Never-ending supply of moving targets.

 

[QuickNDirty]

Camera mount worked. My son worked the quill feed on the press. Now that the camera is square to the projector POA matches POI.

 

[TheGerman]

How far from the screen should you be? Can you reduce the size of the frame to make the 'target' distance further?

I have a legit theater room in my house with ceiling projector and surround sound. Problem is, I don't think its more than 7-10 yards away from the projection image due to the layout and furniture. Can I somehow do something to make the target at 25 yards, etc?

What level of webcam (or what do you actually use for ShootOFF?) do you need?

 

[QuickNDirty]

How far from the screen should you be? Can you reduce the size of the frame to make the 'target' distance further?

I have a legit theater room in my house with ceiling projector and surround sound. Problem is, I don't think its more than 7-10 yards away from the projection image due to the layout and furniture. Can I somehow do something to make the target at 25 yards, etc?

What level of webcam (or what do you actually use for ShootOFF?) do you need?

Yeah, you'd just scale the target down to real world size at that distance. I need to improve that process, but it works.

Pretty much any cheap ass webcam will work, but the Logitech c270 (20$) is better than the rest.

You can be as far away as you want, the camera has to be close enough to see the screen but not much further. Also needs to be square to the projector, which is a little challenging. Ill need to adapt my algorithm to shoot off at some point.

 

[Alphatreedog]

How far from the screen should you be? Can you reduce the size of the frame to make the 'target' distance further?

I have a legit theater room in my house with ceiling projector and surround sound. Problem is, I don't think its more than 7-10 yards away from the projection image due to the layout and furniture. Can I somehow do something to make the target at 25 yards, etc?

What level of webcam (or what do you actually use for ShootOFF?) do you need?

The website for shootoff recommends a few webcams and explains quite a bit on youtube . There is a little research involved . I would think that the program allows you to set distances but I may be wrong . You can I believe add your own targets so in theory you can experiment until you get the desired size . Oh and the suggested webcam is cheap due to that is what he used . Not that that matters to you . If you are looking more for plug and play and don't mind dropping $500.00. check out Warrior Poet Society on Youtube . He does a piece on a plug and play set up that looks pretty bangin .

 

[Alphatreedog]

I was at white trash Mecca ( Walmart ) last night and they have an RCA 2200 lumen , 800 x 480 native resolution projector for $80 . I'm tempted to pick it up but have yet to see cool fire release a set up for my XDM 5.25 Comp. .

 

[2ndamendfan]

If you are looking more for plug and play and don't mind dropping $500.00. check out Warrior Poet Society on Youtube . He does a piece on a plug and play set up that looks pretty bangin .

Just the software is $500 still need projector and screen. It does come with a high speed camera.
Just adding that info for reference.

Not sure which way to go. I normally dont have time to fiddle with shit,

 

[Alphatreedog]

So I went with a We airsoft Xdm trainer . Coolfire keeps feeding me a line of crap and I want something that I can supplement my training with . The airsoft pistol is a little lighter , same grip , take up , break and reset as my pistol . Trigger is lighter and I run a three pound trigger on the real thing . It shoots a tad high but it is accurate . All in all I would say that it is a close comparison to my XDM 5.25 Competition .
I am looking for a fiber optic sight as the We airsoft pistol is three dot .Ive run about 200 rounds thru the airsoft and I'm impressed . I've run targets simulating Steel Challenge , Mozambique drills , zipper drills , double taps and mag dumps . Gonna make up some traps to simulate action pistol stages and because the trigger is close I will work on reset/speed drills . Next up maybe the Seekins Precision from Evike . I'll be able to run mock stages in the back yard .

 

[craigos]

nothing decent to watch these days - if you want a real money pit related to shooting, try flintlocks ... a few custom makers, 4-8 yr waiting periods and up to $7K

 

[Strykervet]

Have you or anyone else come across a treadmill-like thing that is 2 axis?

Basically, what I think would be tits is a walking apparatus that lets you stay stationary even while walking/running forwards/backwards/left/right/diagonal.

With that I could project a scene, and by moving in any direction, the scene advances in that direction. I'm sure someone's done it, and it's expensive AF, but would be a lot of fun. You'd be able to walk or run as fast as you wanted, rather than being stuck at a fixed speed and direction.

For now, a 3MPH pace or so and a somewhat seamlessly looping path (so once you get to the end it restarts, but you don't notice) with a chance to encounter a hog, or deranged knife-wielding naked midget that you can shoot and measure the time it takes you from presentation to put down would be pretty cool.

As far as TVs/monitors for this purpose go, I don't have a single one that doesn't absorb almost all the visible light from the laser. Folks at a tech store would probably think it reallllly odd for some dude to be dry-firing at all their TVs in search of the right one.

So I asked my wife for a projector and screen for Christmas, since she insists on buying shit.

To really get the best experience, I could easily see dumping 50k+ into the technology and environment.

1k+ FPS camera and super bright short-throw HD projector on a CNC gimbal, body position sensors, and on and on and on.

But, for under $500, a fully functional setup that gets the job done is a reality.

No, the ones at Ft. Lewis were both setup like the team had bounded into position on a line. The screens were as big as a house, it's like you're in it. The nicer simulator on the airfield had piles of sandbags and was covered with astroturf. The weapons were real weapons but modified to use compressed air shot directly into the barrel and the magazine could have been wired or wireless, I forget. I think it was wireless because you had to mag changes and remedial action if it jammed. Scenarios ranged from random assholes in a field to overlooking a huge military installation in some desert shit hole that just went on alert. It wouldn't surprise me if some of these were actual training scenarios for SF because apparently they spent a LOT of time on it and knew it well enough to be able to hit targets with the lighting all the way down (it's just a black screen at that point, you HAVE to know where they are and when).

The call for fire simulators were similar but the ones I used were in classrooms with microphones and speakers and shit. You'd have a set of binos and a pencil and paper and learn how to call in fire. IMO, that was more fun than the shooting simulators. I got bored with those after awhile but never got tired of FFE on the first call and nail the piss out of some tank.

My buddy is big into video games. That's what he spends his money on. Haptics is the big thing and how to make a true virtual world. I haven't seen one of the treadmill deals but I have seen one setup sorta like you want on a running track. You had VR glasses on and were playing a sort of VR tag. It looked pretty fun. The track was used mostly because of safety, you're running around blind basically. Now I think that has more promise at a lower price than anything else.

All you need is the platform, then someone willing to write the program. The platform could either be here now or shortly in the future, I don't know what all is out there. Given how the shooting community works, it wouldn't be hard to do some kind of national gofundme project and actually hire a game studio to work with us and make a true 4d simulator (3d plus movement over time). Truly immersive. People that fund it get it for "free" and the studio is welcome to sell the rest for profit, because changing the "skins" in the game and making, say, a zombie future world shoot 'em up wouldn't be hard at all. All simulators are IMO/E are just boring video games. But if haptics keeps improving, you'll be able to take fire too and feel it. Watch that movie "Ready Player One" and you'll get the idea. It's a pretty good movie too.

Imagine, being able to call out someone on here and have a duel ten states over --and not have to bring Marbury vs. Madison into it and get banned!

 

[Strykervet]

How far from the screen should you be? Can you reduce the size of the frame to make the 'target' distance further?

I have a legit theater room in my house with ceiling projector and surround sound. Problem is, I don't think its more than 7-10 yards away from the projection image due to the layout and furniture. Can I somehow do something to make the target at 25 yards, etc?

What level of webcam (or what do you actually use for ShootOFF?) do you need?

The military simulators went for miles. The target is nothing more than a speck. I wanna say we were about ten feet away from the wall.