That would be awesome with the curved screen FairladyZ40th! But every time that I have found the curved screens they are super expensive. May even cost as much as the rest of the build... and that's saying something.

I had another minor set back in the dash design. Doing some clean up and welded vertices in the back that I didn't notice until it was too late. Nothing to big, maybe an hour or so of extra work.

http://www.the370z.com/members/asorg...sign-today.jpg

Aww crap :/ yeah I figured as much hah well maybe add it to a more "luxurious" line/option? Haha for the 1% XD


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Just call me Mig gents X)


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I'm still impressed. I was looking carefully at cubby box behind passenger seat; I think with some minor modifications I will be able to mount a PS 4 there, then run connection wires along console to dash....
Also I came up with another "over-the-top" feature that I would like to incorporate into my Z. I want to add a "Amazon Echo"! Have you seen the ECHO's? I got onboard with AMAZON 6 months ago to be part of trial survey. I got my ECHO for $99.00... Ha,ha, mine answers to the name "Alexa" (very hot voice) . I think AI is going to be awesome.

Dude cortana :D and make a 3d model chick that appears on your screens "ready to serve" man that would just be the cherry on top


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Hell Yeah! And she dance to the beat of the music coming from stereo! I want mine to Pole Dance to song by Motley Crue- "GIRLS, GIRLS, GIRLS"! ....

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Use photoscan for the scanner
 

I would recommend a 3D scanning software. Something like photoscan, the best way is to use a DSLR and take a bunch of pictures, then pass it through the software. Here's a cool tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LeU_2SHwhqI

How about this one?
Amazon.com: JBtek® 10 Inches High Resolution 1280x800 Raspberry Pi Screen Display LCD TFT Monitor EJ101IA-01G with Remote Driver Control Board 2AV HDMI VGA for Rasbperry Pi: Computers & Accessories

That's so cool! I hadn't heard of the Amazon Echo yet! Thanks for passing that on, and if you need any help with the PS4 conceal hit me up at the next MAZOC meet maybe we can figure something out together on it!

I'm definitely going to have to follow the Echo for a while though!!!

Cortana is awesome! Been using the Windows phone for a year now.

OMG! That looks amazing, I have heard about the photo scanning but never looked into the service. I ended up using a local service in Baltimore called Direct Dimensions though a few weeks ago. I'm working on reworking a easily modifiable mesh so I can change it to perfectly fit my screen instead of having ugly gaps and things.

I will definitely keep that in mind for next scan! That will be very helpful thanks DevilWarrior!!

Well I was able to get those problem areas fixed last night. Now I am just going through and making sure that all the points are in the correct places to keep the shape of the original. This week I will be adding the tabs on the back for connecting the vents and mounting to the rest of the dash.

It's been a long time coming, but in a couple weeks or less I will be starting to adjust the size to fit the screen. The next leg of the journey will be placing the rest of the computer components, designing the computer case, and nailing down prices with vendors for the first prototype!

Amazon Echo is $130 today for Prime day instead of $180 if you were genuinely interested :P

Dang it looks like it has already been 100% claimed before I got there...

Picked one up last year for $99 and love it, wife uses it everyday for shopping list & todo.

I finished closing in the back side of the dash and fixing my screw up last night. Now I am cleaning up the design before I start on the tabs for mounting!

I'm also talking to a few different reps on screens to find a good monitor for the build for my next steps. So far the front runner is a really nice looking infrared touchscreen. Take a look and let me know what you think.

http://www.the370z.com/members/asorg...-use-build.jpg

They also sell the framing in black, silver, and gold. But since I will be doing the dash out of carbon fiber it will make more sense to go with black. so that it won't clash as much with the dash color.

Dam! I forgot all about today being Prime Day. Anyhow I'm on the "wait list" for ECHO. ( it will be my 2nd Echo, got the first one for $99.00, when I signed up to join test market for it 6 months ago if not longer) PS - that screen you put a pic of looks great!

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Great looking screen!

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I must have completely looked over this post. Just saw it today.... It would be nice if the Pi had more processing power and unfortunately they were able to get cost down on this by not offering a touchscreen. and for convenience in a car a touchscreen is a must. Otherwise you will have to worry about a toting a mouse and keyboard. Some people may do that anyway but I get the feeling most of us wouldn't want to use a mouse/keyboard to change the radio station or temp every time.

I agree. Got to be a Touch Screen!

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+1 touch screen or not worth it

It's been a slow week on design on my end. I may also be going a bit OCD on the design as well lol. Making sure every point is in the right place.:shakes head:

Progress is still being made though... I plan on spending a lot of time designing this weekend. The goal is to be ready tabs and all by the time I get drawings from the manufacturer on the screen measurements.

On a random note PM me if anyone is interested in a Kinect for Windows. It served its purpose and now I have no more need of it. It's brand new and only used once...

I found another screen option yesterday and wanted to see what you guys thought. I saw a few dimensions on a review of it and it may be too big for the space but I will have to verify it. It also has a lower brightness than the one I posted before but that may not matter in the car. The best thing I found with it was it comes with true 1080P capability whereas most are not for cars. There is also a cheaper one list that looks identical to it that is not true 1080p but can support it less than half the cost. The monitor got really good reviews except the brightness. What do you all think?

Here is a link to the monitor:
PRODUCT- Gechic Corporation

http://www.the370z.com/members/asorg...een-option.jpg

I like it! 15.6" LCD Screen size would definitely make playing PS4 "The Crew" doable!

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I picked up "The Crew" on a weekend sale for my computer on Steam. I've been pretty pleased with the game so far..

Awesome! I'm "Suburu151" on that game & NEED FOR SPEED RIVALS.

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I've been following along with this thread for awhile and am genuinely excited to see where it goes, but I'm not so sure about this screen. I like a lot of things about it, but I'm concerned that the 220 nit rating is kind of low. Not saying that I absolutely don't think it can work, but it doesn't give you a lot of headroom for adjusting brightness, particularly for daytime use. The saving grace is that it has a matte finish, but I'd definitely want to see it in a real world scenario before committing to it.

Hey thanks for your advice, that's kind of where I was at with it as well. The other option on the table right now is 300 nit rated. The nit rating was one of the biggest reasons I haven't pulled the trigger on it yet. The other really awesome thing about this monitor its only 1/2" thick (slightly thicker than an iPad). And could be removed and used as a plug and play screen for consoles, laptops, phones etc...

Being able to easily remove it also makes it possible to protect it from the wide temperature variations such as we experience here on the east coast. :eek:

I see a lot of good things going for this monitor. The resolution is very good without going overboard, the antiglare/fingerprint coating would be a big help in this application for obvious reasons, and you shouldn't run into any serious issues with off axis viewing. It's thin, relatively light, and the capacitive multitouch effectively eliminates a potential issue of the other display you are considering (occasionally not registering touch input due to IR flooding). Also, at 5V/2A it's not a ridiculous power hog, all things considered.

I'm not a huge fan of the white bezel, but I guess you can't have everything.
I would say that if the brightness proves acceptable for sunny day use and the screen fits your size restrictions you probably have a winner. :tup:

Man, sounds like you really know what your're talking about when it comes to these monitors!! And looks like you went through all the avenues to get the same answers I've came up with too lol. I really don't want that white bezel either, I asked a sales rep about getting it in black and he told me no and recommended the 13.3 black bezel monitor they offer. If I wanted that one I would have asked about it. :gtfo2:

I've built several CarPC's over the years (not in the Z) and I've played around with a lot of different monitors and monitor technologies. I've never been 100% satisfied with any display but firmly believe that at this point capacitive screens are the way to go for automotive applications.

I don't blame you for telling them to piss off over the 13". If you wanted to go with that size you could have opted for an industrial grade monitor that would arguably be better suited to the environment and your projects needs.

Yeah the first monitors I looked at were industrial grade monitors, and that was the goal until I found the fully smooth surfaced monitors. Oh and that sales guy was a total liar their website shows one in black.... Definitely going to have to get a better sales rep.

http://www.the370z.com/members/asorg...-one-black.jpg

Maybe have a contract to have the color of the screen match with the car?


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The email has been sent to a US sales team just waiting to hear back on the black bezel, whether the 220 nit is bright enough in daylight, and also a nitpicking thing with rotating the button icons by 90 degrees to be viewed right in portrait view.

Just hope they can work with me because this screen is cool!

Not sure if this has been mentioned already, but have you considered starting with a touchscreen laptop/convertible and making it fit? Not perfect but there's a lot more choices for screens.

I believe it has been brought up at one point or another. The problem with touchscreen laptop/convertible is that in order to get a 15.6 widescreen version it end up pushing the computational power up quite a bit. Normally that's not a problem but since its going in a car higher computation tends to mean more power needed. In the car you want the lowest power drain possible as well as best performance. That is the biggest reason I have decided to build the pc from scratch with one of the smallest boards available.

I know it has been a while since the last design update, I just wanted to make sure that I had something to show when I did. Its one thing to talk about getting points put in the right place. But it doesn't really show progress.

So today I've got a couple pictures for you of the tabs on the back side of the dash. I'm pretty excited, I still have to add the bolt holes that hold the vents/cubby in place and few tabs across the top and sides. It does look like the base design is nearly done and then off to the quick remodel.

http://www.the370z.com/members/asorg...ore-render.jpg

http://www.the370z.com/members/asorg...-dash-tabs.jpg

Nice! when you finish are you planning on selling this plug and play? all set up with the bezel, screen, and basic applications?