My Build 3.0 - Maybe the final one???

[gene438]

Well, I have been at this for a couple of years now and I thought I would try to put everything in one place. I've had a lot of questions, some discussions, some failures and some success...so here is my current setup. I'll start with the pics and then try to give as much detail as it can.








OK, now some stats:

1)Room is 22 x 25
2)Screen is 17 x 10
3)Protee System
4)Screen direct from mfg. (Ordered with all guys on this forum), tied with bungee cords and tarp clips. I have emt frame bolted to ceiling/floor. Behind the screen are thick moving blankets and a canvas tarp. I get zero bounce. You will notice that there is 1.5 feet trough between screen and putting surface. All balls hit screen and collect in this area.
5)Optima 1080 projector
6) Synlawn turf
7)Putting green is 15 x 22. Turf comes in 15ft width some made the most sense so as to not have any seams.
8)The subfloor system is 3/4 in plywood on top of 2 x 4's laying on their side. Then 1/4 carpet padding then the 1/2 synlawn turf. This comes out to about 2 3/4 which matches up with protee mat
I purposely overdid the 2x4's plus I stuffed with insulation to kill any noise when walking. Results were great...solid floor, no noise, feels great.
9)Electronics (computer, projector, sound system, protee mat, lights, etc) are all controlled by Google Home. Simply go in and say "Hey Google, start the golf simulator" and everything comes on.
10) Added wood flooring in viewing area and I have one row of 3 theater style seats with recliners on order.
11)Frame around the screen is simply heavy black curtains.
12)5 holes on putting green and I think my longest put is about 20 feet.
13)My protee mat is about 9.5 feet from screen. This is the same as the projector...so, my projector is basically over my head right next to the light for the protee. Works great, no issues.
14)Yes, the original protee mat has been replaced with one made by The Simulator Guys. Great mat, tighter turf which gives better feedback than the fiberbuilt and luckily matches my putting green.

That's the basics.....also wanted to share that I think this has been a great investment. My family uses the room for various functions:

1)Me - Golf
2)Kids - HTC Vive or Virtual Reality Room
3)Wife - Loves watching her exercise videos on the big screen and having all that open space on the putting green to workout.
4)Family - Movie theater
5)Added karaoke system - Don't ask.

The above is my attempt to help you justify the costs....just do it, you'll be glad you did,

OK, I tried to cover as much as I could think of.....any questions, just let me know.

Gene

[gene438]

Yes, when I am using the swing cameras I tuned on some additional recessed lights to improve the picture....

[PeterRobitaille]

Awesome setup and informative write up! This is my first post in the forum, although I have been stalking everyone in the background for months now, as I start to lay out my build. One question that has been bothering me is this...For those of you using this SIM setup as a theatre/screen for other activities (PS4, Sports, Wife Workouts, Etc), how does the ball impact spot not impede on the quality of viewing experience when you are watching a movie or a football game? I plan to multi-purpose mine as well, and want to make sure I am giving myself the best shot at a great golf experience, as well as a durable screen that presents well for friends/kids on movie nights!

[wbond]

Just brush out the last impact with your hand. Keep in mind I don’t think you should expect movie theater quality even with the best impact screens out there, but they are still very good.

[gene438]

Let me add....I am amazed at how with all the lights on, you can see some wrinkles and maybe even a few ball marks...but when you turn out the lights and turn on the projector, I am amazed at how the wrinkles do not show and the ball marks are completely invisible....I'm not sure of the technical or scientific explanation but, I'm sure others will agree, it's just not an issue like you think it would be.....

[PeterRobitaille]

Thanks gentlemen! I have been speaking with Corey from P2P and intend to go with the SQ.

[Solstice72]

Awesome setup and informative write up! This is my first post in the forum, although I have been stalking everyone in the background for months now, as I start to lay out my build. One question that has been bothering me is this...For those of you using this SIM setup as a theatre/screen for other activities (PS4, Sports, Wife Workouts, Etc), how does the ball impact spot not impede on the quality of viewing experience when you are watching a movie or a football game? I plan to multi-purpose mine as well, and want to make sure I am giving myself the best shot at a great golf experience, as well as a durable screen that presents well for friends/kids on movie nights!

I'm going to follow your posts. I've been following forum for some time and your build will be very similar to mine. I haven't decided what impact screen I'm going to use I have samples from par2 pro and Carl premium. I'm going 16 by 10 screen size. Graphical Fidelity is critical to me. Did you look at other screens I didn't catch that?

[PeterRobitaille]

Corey from P2P has told me that although the screen shows a dimple when you impact it with a ball, the next ball creates a new dimple and the other one disappears, etc. He said that by going up to the screen (IE if you change to watching a movie) and brushing it with your hand, the last dimple will disappear. He also said that the SQ screen has shown minimal distortion and sagging through testing.

I bought a BenQ TH671ST and an Alienware gaming desktop to run the software in 16:9. The bonus room should be completely framed later this week, so I am going to probably play around with the projector and some whtie sheets to determine final screen size, distance to projector, distance to hitting zone, etc.

Some things currently on my mind while laying in bed...If any of you have thoughts or ideas, they are more than welcome!

- Can't do a full 16' wide screen, so if I am limited to 12'-ish width, will the corresponding height at 16:9 be good enough for feeling "in" the SIM? My roof line is pitched, so the ceiling height where the screen hangs will be roughly 8.5' and will be just over 10' in the hitting zone.
- Trying to figure out a track system for side black curtains that will be functional for protection (the ball strike is facing a shed dormer that has large picture windows) where the curtains can be brought out far during golf, and bunched back up around the screen during movie nights.
- Trying to figure out how I can have a badass audio/theatre sound system for movie watching, that won't be getting destroyed during golfing.
- Trying to figure out an "easy" control system (Like Harmony Etc) that can do a single-button push for "play golf" or "watch movie" including power shades in the room if that is possible.

[gene438]

I may be mixing up answers for questions from different people, but here goes:

1)I bought the screen direct from mfg with the guys on this forum. I liked the first one so much that I went ahead and bought a second screen on the second run just to keep as a backup.
2)I agree with what Corey says regarding dimples. At least on my screen, they brush out very easily and I use a steamer to clean mine about once a month.
3)Unless you have used a screen before, you probably will not understand or believe when I say that most wrinkles, dimples, etc. even when in the screen, will not be noticeable when a full screen movie is playing....they just don't show up.....You really only see them in normal light when projector is turned off.
4)As for easy control, I have tried and been through everything. I tried voice control, wireless keyboard, foot pedals, touch screen monitor, and remote keyboard on Ipad. All work to some degree and I enjoyed playing around with them. For me, I have settled on a combination. I use Google Home and smart switches to turn on and off projector, protee lights, and protee mat. I simply come in and turn on computer and "click" on an autoscript I call "Golf". That loads protee and then tgc and puts me on my favorite driving range with 8 iron in hand and auto rewind turned on. While that is running, I simply say, "Hey Google, turn on the golf simulator" and my projector, lights and mat come on. As far as in game, I prefer to use the ipad with remote keyboard....it works flawlessly and I like the layout.

[dunginhawk]

Gene.. i have a question with the Google home stuff... So i have smart things hub and about 100 smart items. OUtlets, etc.. So i have the stuff to make it work. Question is, how do you get the projector to actually turn ON, vs just become powered (meaning when you plug it in, it has power, but does NOT turn on). So how do you get it to actually turn on?
I plan to use google home and smart things as well.
thanks

[gene438]

Sorry Dunginhawk, you are partially correct. I have an optima 1080 and you are correct in that I am actually just powering up the unit with a smart switch. I do still have to use the remote to turn on lamps. I'm not sure if I am really saving anything, but I hated the idea of the little red light being on 24/7.

Also, I basically use a power cord with the projector, protee lights and protee mat plugged and then plug that into a smart switch.

BTW, I used the smart things hub for a couple years. I recently bought as Abode security system which has it's own hub and I switched all my lights, etc. on to the abode hub, which I find is very, very easy to use. I love the Abode app and the hub just seems to recognize all the devices so much easier. My smarthings hub would drop connection 2 or 3 times a day, but the Abode has not lost connection at all.....

[dunginhawk]

Ok, Gotcha... so right now im struggling to find a couple things. 1. My laptop which does not have (AC POWER boot) which means once I give it power it boots, so Im trying to figure out a Wake on lan + IFTTT workaround (without using android). 2. I want to find a way to enable the projector to turn on and actually light the lamp, if possible. 3. I HIGHLY doubt without the use of a servo arm to hit the button if its possible to remotely turn on the skytrak unit but that would be cool.

[gene438]

You are right, that would be cool. I will investigate also to see what can be done with the projector. I have a mouse mapping script that is working great on the PC side, I guess if I could figure out how to have it boot up when power is turned on, I could automate that as well....hmmmm

Also, take a look a stringify for automating

[dunginhawk]

So if you have an actual PC you can do it easily... Go in to the BIOS enable the option that says "Power on with AC power" or something to that extent. Then you just need a smart switch. You can then set up IFTTT (free and easy) with google assistant or alexa and just say "Ok Google, turn on the pc" and it flips the switch and it turns on. However im using a laptop which doesnt have that option in the bios.
Projector could be doable with a logitech harmony remote, but im not sure how else.

also, I do have stringify, however i use webcore for scripting with smart things. Much more powerful (just more coding) haha.

[simmb]

Maybe something possible using CEC over HDMI. If your PC and projector support it would it not be possible to use HDMI link to power them both on/off at the same time?

[dunginhawk]

My projector has CEC, so I should try to figure that out.

[gene438]

OK guys, I got this all working and made a short video. I can now cut everything on and be ready to hit at the driving range with one verbal command.

Here is the video

Actually I will make another video showing the one command, I actually created the first video when I had it broken into 3 commands because there are some times when i want to turn on only the projector, then times when I want to turn on only the computer...so I actually broke it down to 3 commands, but then created an automated command that executes all 3 at once. So, I can say turn on the ProTee, turn on the projector, and turn on the computer (to turn on separately) or Hey google, turn on the golf simulator and everything turns on.

Let me know if you have any questions.

[gene438]

Forgot to add that to get the projector to come on when power is turned on, go to menu, options, advanced and find "Direct Power On".....you need to turn this to "on"

This is for an Optima 1080 GT....not sure on other projectors...but look for anything called direct power or auto power, etc. etc.

[dunginhawk]

So do you use the power on bios option for the PC? basically when AC power is applied, it starts up? thats not available on my laptop, so i have to find another way. As for the projector, going to head out and see about that option, its an OptomaHD 143. The scripting thing is pretty cool... I think it would be cool to say "Ok google, lets play pebble" and have it launch all the way in to that.

Alsok thank you very much for doing the video

[gene438]

Yes, I used the bios option. I checked for you concerning the laptop and the consensus is that because a laptop is battery based, none of the mfgs built in the option to auto power on in their bios.....I cannot find a solution other than switch to a desktop unit....sorry.

[dunginhawk]

So do you use the power on bios option for the PC? basically when AC power is applied, it starts up? thats not available on my laptop, so i have to find another way. As for the projector, going to head out and see about that option, its an OptomaHD 143. The scripting thing is pretty cool... I think it would be cool to say "Ok google, lets play pebble" and have it launch all the way in to that.

Alsok thank you very much for doing the video

Ok... i dug in to my projector a little bit and found the setting booyeah... just plugged it in to a Smart things outlet and its good to go. instantly worked "hey google turn golf projector on" bingo. Once i figure out how to get my PC able to be powered on ill be all set.

[dunginhawk]

There are options using wake on lan, a android phone or tablet, or a raspberry pi, etc... nothing super elegant thats for sure. ill keep searching.

[dunginhawk]

I fiddled around with all sorts of WOL tasker etc stuff the other day, and never got the PC portion working quite right... But i do have both spot lights, projector etc running under a single IFTTT command which back ends to Smart Things where the LEDs are turned on and set to X % power. I do want to find a way to automate the homecourse screen as well. Since it is just a remote controlling it, it should be possible somehow.

My goal is to have 1 command to turn on projector, lights, screen comes down etc.
And simply hit the button the pc to power it on (its a laptop) and using your macro suggestion have it set up similar to what you do. I havent played with that yet, but i presume there are wait/pauses in that macro as it waits for thinks to load before the mouse moves and executes its next command?

[gene438]

Absolutely, in fact it's easier than that. You just hit record and it will record every keystroke, mouse movement, etc.....timing and everything. Then it will convert to *.exe file and your good to go.....

[dunginhawk]

gene.. have you ever thought about making like 20 desktop icon macros? Im thinking setting up a bunch of different courses, etc, with four players so its just a single click (or voice) to launch it. Ill have to see if IFTTT can launch an exe from the desktop, im sure its doable.