Home curved sim build (In planning phase)

[Ryan5508]

I decided to start a build log for my home simulator project. This will follow the process from start to finish.

Currently we are getting quotes from three builders on the build. We are doing a major home remodel with the addition of building a new room for the simulator. Currently my sim is using a stall in the garage. We will be building a new room above the garage to accommodate the sim.

The room will be approximately 21' 6" by 25' 3" with a 10-12' ceiling.

I will be putting in a 30' curved screen that will occupy around half of the total usable space in the room.

From the garage I will only be carrying over the GC2 and pc/software. Everything else will be new to the build.

Estimating around $60k for the building of the room its self.

Run down of simulator related costs- $17,528.79

9' x 6' Studio Golf Mat	$1,749.99
IMPACT SCREENS 10 x 30	$1,966.24
Sony VPL-PHZ50 (need 3 @ $2499)	$7,950.00
Pixelwarp software for curved screen	$812.00
Putting green flooring	$1,500.00
Ceiling protection foam tiles	$533.38
Ceiling Speakers x 7 + sub	$581.94
200ft speaker wire	$66.34
Banna plugs (12+6)	$43.71
Subwoofer cable	$16.94
Hue lights x 9	$429.25
Fabric + foam	$418.00
Pub table sets (2x)	$712.30
Mobile Standing Laptop Desk	$185.49
Club cleaner	$49.41
Corsair k100 keybord	$243.79
3x projector mounts	$85.73
3x 50ft HDMI cables	$94.25
2x DVI to HDMI converters	$38.13
2x 16ft USB 3.0 cables	$51.90
Total -	$17,528.79

Current sim setup


room overview

Measurements from a local golf club with a curved screen (taken quickly with a laser measure)




Model of what I am looking to copy for my build




This is going to be a long project. We are currently looking at a start time of early spring.

[Ryan5508]

we have some progress

[Ryan5508]

We are stuck because of an issue with the roofers. Holding up everything else now. Electric and lights were all ran today.

[jasonreg]

That is going to be an awesome space!

[Ryan5508]

Put in 200ft of conduit Sunday. Roof was finished Saturday and insulation for the walls today. Drywall is this week.

[Ewelsh17]

Looks awesome. Can't wait to see this finished.

[Ryan5508]

Drywall

[leibin]

It’s coming along nicely!

[Ryan5508]

Today drywallers will finish up. Tues/weds painters will spray and most likely finish.

I cut out all the holes for speakers and finished the networking box/connectors. I am hoping to test hang the screen this weekend sometime. Next week they take over the room to cut trim and tile for the rest of the house. We are hoping to be completed on that part of the project in around 6-8 weeks. Then finish the flooring in the golf room.

Hoping to hit the first shots in the room around early November.

[drewmilnergolf]

looking great! good luck with the build

[14MPH]

Ryan5508 how is the sim build progressing? Curious also on how you connect 3 projectors to one pc. I understand what the pixelwrap s/w does but how is output from pc split across 3 projectors? It might be obvious to some but I’m not getting it clear in my understanding!

[Ryan5508]

As far as the room goes its finished outside of flooring. I am hoping to get in there sometime mid November and setup the sim for the first time. The trim guys are still using the room to cut trim for the rest of the house.

For the 3 projectors they are connected to either the hdmi out or the dvi to hdmi active adapters I have.
The entire setup is then treated like a 3 monitor or nvidia surround setup. you just tell the pc where each projector is located on the screen. Try to line them up with each other as evenly as possible but with overlap where each comes together on the impact screen. Then in my case you use a web cam that will calculate the overlap/merge for me. the pc will then show all three projectors as one source. You can play with curve and aspect after everything is up an running. The pc will show everything as one higher resolution.

I have limited real usage of the program at this point. I only did some quick testing when I first purchased everything. I fully expect to have some learning curve with everything in the beginning.

[Ryan5508]

[14MPH]

Ryan5508 Thanks. Look forward to how this pans out. Was there any particular way on how you decided how much of a curve you need? With a single projector set up, chances are you lose some resolution quality because of the curve and distance from projector (sides vs centre). The wrap software helps calibrate the corners but wasn’t sure if there was a way to get to an optimum curvature without losing too much of resolution quality on the edges. Of course, the 3 projector route overcomes this in a much better way.

[Ryan5508]

I more or less curved it to my available size for the room. After finding that we just measured from where the middle projector hit center screen and copied it for the side projectors. They end up being slightly ahead of the center and a few feet over.

The total curve is a difference of 10' from the sides to the center. Pictures don't show it well. I test hung the screen tonight so I can figure out measurements for finishing up the room.

[Ryan5508]

[Ryan5508]

It needs more supports still but I needed to see where the sides were going to end up. We are going to build pillars on each end to hide everything.

[14MPH]

Ryan5508 looking really good! Forgot to ask but seeing your test set up, reminded me - what's the best approach to maintaining screen surface stretch vertically from top to bottom and from end to end horizontally across the curve? In flat screen approach, use of a heavy rope/weight threaded into a hemmed pocket keeps the screen taut and flat. But how would you maintain that in a curved screen? The top and the 2 sides can be held/stretched with ball bungees as per the picture, but how would you maintain curve and surface tension towards the bottom and the middle of the screen AND still allow for reduced bounce-back of golf balls hitting the a taut screen?

I am presuming the cutouts in the floor are your stance matt position. I didn't appreciate until the picture that it is almost inside the curve! I can only imagine how immersive that will be when the set up is complete!

[Ryan5508]

The screen itself is rather heavy much more so then my last one in the garage. Also even without the sides connected to the wall the curve alone tends to keep the screen in place a little better then a flat screen would. I especially noticed this with a 30' impact net I was hitting into when we first built the room.

I plan on keeping the side rather loose but will be based on the finished setup. The trim guys are going to build a 14" x 14" L shaped pillar around the ends of the screen to hide where it mounts up. I will need to just keep it tight enough where it cant possibly start to hit those at all.

The cutout is for a fiberbuilt mat. center of the mat puts you around 12' away from the screen. You really feel like the entire room is the screen when standing there. Its kind of overwhelming at first when you come from a standard flat sim. We decided to go this route after seeing one in person and how much nicer it felt to play on one. Its awesome to just aim your body a direction vs having to aim with the keyboard. This is also why I choose a ceiling mounted sensor as I felt it would be easier to naturally hit those shots. Not having the thought of hitting the gc2 if I aim right is very helpful.

You would have to hit at 90deg shank to even possibly miss the screen at all. which is a big plus coming from some of the crazy bounce ricochet shots we had in the garage at times.

[Ryan5508]

I had the framers add blocking in the ceiling for the screen before the drywall went up. It ended up working out very well and the screen is very secure. I ended up using 13x 3/8" eye bolts to connect everything. With angle iron on the side walls to pull it tight.

Mounted 1 projector last night to test the screen size. looks like I will lose about 4" on top and bottom due to the screen being a little closer then planned. They had to add an access door but they put it right in the middle of the room behind the screen.

[Ryan5508]

This picture really helps to show the size of everything

[14MPH]

Ryan5508 I'll say it again, looks pretty impressive mate! Also throws up more intriguing questions

1) so do you have a backing behind the heavy-duty screen? I ordered a 26' baffle netting by mistake instead of a 16' netting, so I can drape overlapping folds in the centre section to provide that much more extra backing layers as a bonus! The other of course is I have more opportunity to curve the screen too with this extra netting now.

2) Also, how will you finish the top to protect your ceilings? I was going to use horizontal baffles hanging from the ceiling but curious what kind of finish you are going for with a massive curved screen.

If I go with a flat screen approach, I will model it on Hybridme's 7-part rebuild that he has posted on youtube (Rebuilding my golf sim - part 1 shows use of tensioned cables + side curtains + top cloth to remove the risk of ricochet from emt pipe frame in a 3 dimensional space, not to mention the positive acoustic characteristics by using fabric - very clever set up IMHO). But your build is pushing my boundaries to explore further! 😂

[Ryan5508]

1. I plan on putting the 30' impact net behind the screen just to take a little of the impact off the screen. There is also a mattress behind in the center more to muffle sound and just in case. I will also be placing foam on the ground behind the screen to stop putts and low balls in case they go under the screen. I will most likely attach to the floor around 18" from where the screen hangs.

2. ceiling is going to get built more to an angle down to just past the top of the screen. starting just past where the uneekor will go. I have some 8mm rubber tiles that will be glued to that. depending on how loud that is I may add baffles as well. My main goal is to eliminate hitting the bar the screen is attached to in anyway. the tiles can take a beating and you generally only hit them with a higher flop type shot. we used to just use a mma mat glued to the ceiling just above an impact net. worked well for what it was.

[Jaysim]

Been following this thread - looking great! I've been putting my simulator together lately and the BenQ projectors I had slated are all on back order now. Found the sony you're using and also noticed they mention "golf simulator" in the specs. Seems like a very good option. Have you done any more testing with the Sonys? Any idea how it compares with a BenQ? Specs seem very comparable and the Sony is less expensive so i'm inclined to give it a try!

[Ryan5508]

No idea vs the BenQ

I have not spent a huge amount of time with them. Just watched a football game, a little TV and played a game of PGA tour 21.

They are bright but you still need to control your light from windows. I can keep all the lights on in the room and that is fine. But a sunny day with no shades will wash everything out to almost unusable

Colors are vibrant. Everything looks really crisp. Input lag is low enough where I could game on it no problem (I plan on using this for flight sim/racing sims).

I will hopefully spend more time with them next month. We are hoping to get started on paint late this month/ early November.