Another Blade Runner thread: The Portable Voight-Kampff Scanner

This is SO cool!

So, here's a conundrum. The TFT display I'm working with is a decent width to be a substitute for the device, but it is not as tall. I put together a quick model for scale comparison of the display I've been toying with and laid it over one of my to-scale reference images:



The module in question is this 1.8" TFT LCD Display from China, which I picked specifically because it looked like I could cut the SD card end of the PCB off. Most displays have circuit boarding that extends past the display itself in such a manner that would show or otherwise interfere with the device - this one didn't.

I don't think there actually are TFT or OLED displays that match the dimensions of the screen prop closely, and there's not a whole lot of room in the case or I'd just use a bigger screen and make a plastic frame that covers everything but the necessary parts.

I can cheat it a little bit by bringing the top of the screen down and the bottom of the screen up, but it starts to change the overall appearance of the device. I photoshopped a quick example of what I'm talking about:



What do you guys think? Is the working screen a cool enough feature to divert from making it accurate in terms of dimension?

Ein said:

So, here's a conundrum. The TFT display I'm working with is a decent width to be a substitute for the device, but it is not as tall. I put together a quick model for scale comparison of the display I've been toying with and laid it over one of my to-scale reference images:

[url]http://i.imgur.com/kTeycN3l.png[/url]

The module in question is this 1.8" TFT LCD Display from China, which I picked specifically because it looked like I could cut the SD card end of the PCB off. Most displays have circuit boarding that extends past the display itself in such a manner that would show or otherwise interfere with the device - this one didn't.

I don't think there actually are TFT or OLED displays that match the dimensions of the screen prop closely, and there's not a whole lot of room in the case or I'd just use a bigger screen and make a plastic frame that covers everything but the necessary parts.

I can cheat it a little bit by bringing the top of the screen down and the bottom of the screen up, but it starts to change the overall appearance of the device. I photoshopped a quick example of what I'm talking about:

[url]http://i.imgur.com/0ycfNNql.png[/url]

What do you guys think? Is the working screen a cool enough feature to divert from making it accurate in terms of dimension?

Click to expand...

Is there any way you can make the screen look bigger than it is? Perhaps the screen could have black borders at the top and bottom and the actual working screen can be in the centre. That way while it's off it looks screen accurate, but when it's on you get some really awesome functionality

I may have a solution. I've tracked down a 2.4" TFT display (as compared to my current 1.8" one); it has the same general PCB layout as the one I'm using, which means I could cut the top end of it off (the portion with the SD Card module).



It'd just barely fit, from what I'm seeing, and I'd have to adjust some of my bevel and trim lines, but it's a lot less drastic of a change than the smaller screen I was considering. The red portion of the backboard that sticks up over the lip would be removed, so don't worry too much about that.

That's the good news. The bad news is that these things all ship from Hong Kong, and I can expect about 20 to 30 days until I actually get these things in hand, which means I'm somewhat stuck at this point.

EDIT: Tracked the same (or comparable?) board down on Amazon, so I should hopefully have it by Friday/Saturday.

Id be happy with something that just pops open and has the LEDs if it means it wont cost a ton more, but the screen is cool either way.

Kylash said:

Id be happy with something that just pops open and has the LEDs if it means it wont cost a ton more, but the screen is cool either way.

Click to expand...

For what it's worth, I feel like the screen is not that much extra work over LEDs. My initial design idea for this was to just ape what the props guys did for the movie, which is to build a black acrylic piece in and edge-light it with white when I needed it to light up. Soldering SMD LEDs is a total pain in the backside, and I'd have to do 2 or 3 along the bottom edge to get the sort of lighting I'm looking for. The screens represent a more 'drop in' solution in that regard, and even have backlight controls, which means I can easily flash the display with nothing on it or strobe it during scanning in the same way that I would with the white LEDs.

The reason I'm going with cheap chinese TFT displays is precisely because they are cheap, anyway.

My ballpark estimate right now for electronics costs for the portable VK is around...

• 3V Pro Trinket Arduino ($9, can probably find chinese substitute at half that price once I get the specs settled)
• Lipo battery charger ($5-9, depending on which one I end up fitting into this device)
• Lipo battery (Rechargeable props are so much better than ones where you're feeding it batteries, imo; $5)
• 8 Ohm speaker (I have a rectangular unit in mind that is about $2.50 per)
• Neopixel LED ($~1.00 per)
• SMD Red LED ($~.20 per)
• Switches (Tactile and limit, ~$4 for the ones I like)
• Screen (If the 2.2" one works, ~$7 or 8 once you factor in shipping from China)

All told, that's about $40 of components going into the device. That's not a small cost, but at the same time, it should let me make the thing with practical effects that exceed what they actually had on the movie. I guess there's an argument to be made that screen accuracy would dictate that a working screen would actually detract from the simulacrum of the prop, but I'm not sure I'm convinced.

The screens I'm waiting on at the moment have a resolution of 240x320, which is nearly four times the pixel density of the 128x160 display I've been playing with. I'm hyped about that, because it should let me create some higher resolution imagery. Still, I think I've been able to get a decent amount of effect out of this tiny screen so far:



I've been learning how these work, and it turns out the default TFT libraries only draw pixels out of an array where noted, so I've been able to have it do things like color the iris and do the analysis overlay lines in red. I'm confident that once I have a slightly bigger screen to work on I'll be able to make this more legible, though.

Gosling's character scans Bautista's eye once he gets back to his car and it pulls up the associated records - this is kind of the aesthetic I'm thinking for the display readouts.



Might add some DNA Helix elements... anyone got any other cool ideas for this part?

In the Tested video, the prop master said that they CG the eye on to the screen and in the prop case they show a green screen stand in.
They also have two rubber stunt versions, one open and the other closed.

Seems to be 2 Hero pop-up with LEDs.
If the screen is going to be just an image of an eye, maybe the simplest way to go about is it to just have a back-lighted, thin panel
and a transparency.

Green screen for CGI.


The pop up action should be relatively simple to do as well as the lighting of the LEDs and backlit screen.
Do you think that the circuit board in the pop-up portion is an actual board.
Maybe it is the microcontroller itself which controls the LED flicker?

propmaster2000 said:

In the Tested video, the prop master said that they CG the eye on to the screen and in the prop case they show a green screen stand in.
They also have two rubber stunt versions, one open and the other closed.

Seems to be 2 Hero pop-up with LEDs.
If the screen is going to be just an image of an eye, maybe the simplest way to go about is it to just have a back-lighted, thin panel
and a transparency.

Click to expand...

This would absolutely be one easy way of doing it. I'm enjoying the working TFT screen idea at the moment mostly because I can animate some neat effects on the thing after the scanner button is released. Beats CGI, in my mind.

Do you think that the circuit board in the pop-up portion is an actual board.
Maybe it is the microcontroller itself which controls the LED flicker?

Click to expand...

It absolutely could be the microcontroller in question. However, I don't recognize it as a standard arduino board - those usually have pretty clear rows of solder pad connection points for the various components, and those aren't present here. It could be something custom that holds a microcontroller chip, but I have a hard time imagining why they'd go to that cost and expense when off-the-shelf options exist. Given that all the wires trail down into the device, I've been operating on the assumption that the displayed PCB is non-functional and the actual workings are controlled by something more typical inside the lower portion.

this will be a great prop and its fun to watch your updates. I hope I can add this prop to my growing blade runner collection in the end

Stefan Jones said:

this will be a great prop and its fun to watch your updates. I hope I can add this prop to my growing blade runner collection in the end

Click to expand...

I'd like to make these available, as part of the reason I went for a niche prop (instead of, say, the guns) was so that I could scratch that itch for collectors. I'll know a bit better once I get one of these done about how much work is required for a run of them. Might be like my last run of titanfall stuff, where I made ten and called it a day.

I’m with you on the working screen. Definitely worth the effort! And to have it animate is awesome. Means you literally took the prop further than the original prop makers in functionality. [emoji1360]


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Ok, well start an interest thread so I can be one of the first 10!

Same here, def. interested

Awesome thead by the way AND work done opcorn :thumbsup

Yep! Quiet reader here, enjoyed it very much so far! Interested as well

Ein said:

I'd like to make these available, as part of the reason I went for a niche prop (instead of, say, the guns) was so that I could scratch that itch for collectors. I'll know a bit better once I get one of these done about how much work is required for a run of them. Might be like my last run of titanfall stuff, where I made ten and called it a day.

Click to expand...

Hi, will you be having just the bodies available, no electronics or pop-up mech.?
I'd would just be adding my own functionality and paint.
Thanks.


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Interested here too. This is an awesome thread.

Maybe this can serve as an inspiration for the display graphics?

tmax said:

I’m with you on the working screen. Definitely worth the effort! And to have it animate is awesome. Means you literally took the prop further than the original prop makers in functionality. [emoji1360]

Click to expand...

I second that!! The screen makes it fell alive, and if you do end up making these available, sign me up for one. The guns are pretty, but these sort of things are the "obscure" props that actually advance the state of props, not to throw dirt at anyone, but guns will always be guns, this? this is the true innovations in that universe. BRAVO!

If it wasn't clear in my original post in this thread, I am definitely in for one should these be made available.

I think you may have to make more than ten judging by all of the interest lol

I'm interested too, maybe a kit version with everything needed would be a good idea to save you some time, and maybe give all of us a bit of fun in assembling it

Also, I think you said in a prior post that you wish you had a CNC or something to make the frame for the pop up mechanism out of metal. Do you think you could do it by hand? The part is so small and thin that a hacksaw and some files may go a long way