I know this is mildly off topic, but I love the raw brain power around the Arduino forum, so any input would be appreciated!
I am planning on making a huge 8'x8' wide and about 1' tall platform with oh, around 625 individually addressable LEDs (in a 25x25 grid) underneath. Each LED is coupled, and I understand this is overkill, with an IR transmitter / detector to detect with good accuracy where people are standing and at what distance from the platform.
I've been doing a good chunk of research, and I think I have most of the electronics side licked (thanks Due! 1 million ADC samples a second! Woowee!), the general flow I'm planning is going to be IR > Holy Mux Town! > Arduino > Raspberry PI > Arduino > LEDs. Like I said, most of this I have figured out, although any examples of people multifudging 625 phototransistors would be helpful (I should probably take it as a clue that I can't find any examples ^_^).
The part that I'm completely out of my element on, and I hope y'all have some insight on, is the structure itself. I'm really picky about the aesthetics, and I would love it to be made of frosted acrylic and lit from the bottom. I've seen examples of a webcam / projector approach, but I doesn't really accomplish the look/reactivity that I want. So, that being said, I know I need support underneath for a 8'x8' (will probably be 4 - 4'x4' sheets) sheet of acrylic, but the only supports I see would cast shadows from the LEDs, and the above surface won't look it's completely evenly lit. I've only seen a few examples of someone doing this, and the few I've seen typically accomplish this by segmenting the platform into a grid, making it kinda a pixelated thing which isn't really the look I want.
So, I ask the collective genius of this forum if y'all have any ideas of supporting (btw, how much support do I need? Can't find any good equations on that) the platform without casting shadows. I've thought maybe some acrylic rods, but they will refract, although maybe with enough diffusion, it's a non-issue. Also, how thick does it need to be? I'm guessing 1/2" should be good with enough supports, I understand the thickness and the amount of supports are inversely correlated. Anywho, I'm having a hard time even thinking about how to approach the problem.
Well guys, thanks so much y'all, I rarely post to forums but I feel like I have looked everywhere.