Another Blade Runner thread: The Portable Voight-Kampff Scanner

I may have overestimated just how hard it would be to actually work with the existing red PCBs on the 2.4" screens. On a hunch (and because I had one spare) I went ahead and did some surgery on it. The TFT display is stuck down to the PCB with some thin double-sided tape. If you aim a hair dryer (not a heat gun, we don't need that much temp) at the display, you can start to soften the tape up enough to slip a long xacto knife or similar blade behind the screen, between it and the PCB. A bit of patience and gentle persuasion lets you pop the whole TFT assembly right off the board:



Getting the screen detached from the board means it's a lot easier to just chop the bits of the PCB that are no longer required off completely, and also means that you can see both sides of the board to make sure you're not about to cut something vital.

I held my breath and went at it with a cutting wheel on a rotary tool. Got a little close to one of those traces, but not enough to break anything.



Moment of truth!





Still works.

If I had to do that to a hundred of these things, I probably could. I'll still play with the custom PCB option as it may also give me a place to mount other needed bits for the internals, like the supercapacitor that was discussed up-thread. This is a totally workable way of doing things, though.
 
Ein said:
For "custom" profiles, it generates a unique security code per user based on their name. Specifically, it'll take the user's name, hash it into an integer value, then use that integer value in a randomSeed() function. After it does that, it generates a code in the format of #####-%-####, where the #s are randomly generated numbers from 0 through 9 and the % is the first letter of the user's last name.

My favorite part about this is the fact that the code it generates, although random, will be consistently the same for the user every time because I'm using the user's own name to seed the random number generator. This prevents the device from display a different security code for the same user on subsequent displays. It's a little thing that nobody will ever notice or care about, but I'm happy that it is consistent.
Click to expand...

Actually, whether or not the security code would remain consistent for each user was the first thing I thought of when the idea was pitched. So it is great little detail that will most certainly be noticed and appreciated. :thumbsup
 
Good morning Ein,
You mentioned earlier that there are several people wanting the finished product, but does that number include those that don't need the electronics installed, just the body?
Thanks :)
 
Interesting to note in that clip of the original movie, the eye “scanner” first shows the entire eye, but then spends most of its time in a close-up...

e8dd719d53e561e15df4f16f71e5a280.jpg


I realize this device scans for the number at the base of the eye, but I’m still convinced a more abstract close up of the eye (and replicant Number) is better than a wide shot of the entire eye. I’ll stop harping in about this now. :p

I remain in awe of your dedication to this prop! Inspiring.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Last edited:
Again Great progress!!!
Also on the pcbs design! (thought i would recommend to make the traces wider).
Would be great of you could get back to my pm if you find time. :)
 
Flixen said:
Again Great progress!!!
Also on the pcbs design! (thought i would recommend to make the traces wider).
Would be great of you could get back to my pm if you find time. :)
Click to expand...

I'll get back to you as soon as I have solid measurements on the parts you're asking for - right now, those things are a little bit up in the air as things shift and get tweaked.

Here's a dumb question for you guys pertaining to my efforts at animation today that will show exactly how much of an ignorant American I am...

Is Chinese, when written horizontally, done left to right? I'm finding mixed answers on the internet. I'm assuming something like this:



would be done in that fashion if I wanted to populate it character-by-character?
 
I just discovered something a little bit frustrating, in that I have been drawing some of the bitmap graphical elements the hard way.



Top is how I've been drawing the graphics, and is made of 4 colors. The bottom is a 16-color version of the same image. The file size differences with the Teensy are negligible.

For another comparison:



Versus



I'd be inclined to go with the 16-bit-color version just because I think it's a lot clearer, but I figured I'd ask in here as the lower-res look of the 4-color version might be more what people prefer.
 
I'm into the 16 bit, although I get the appeal of the lower rez version too. I feel like if you have flying cars, you definitely have at least 16 colors in your portable android detector.
 
If it's not too distracting (too much of an upgraded look) compared to the rest of the UI then I think the 16 bit works. It's difficult to tell from those pics though since the camera appears to be angled in a way that makes the bottom part of the UI screen fade away in the last pic. In other words the 16 bit eye image noticeably stands out in the last pic, but that could be the lighting in the room and the angle of the camera.
 
Agreed, the 16 bit image looks more fitting for the device but still sits well with the rest of the graphics. Another win!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
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