As you might be aware, I have already made a hal9000 replica. Looking up the dates, it’s just about ten years since I made it.
Anyway, a while back I wanted to make an improved one, after seeing a bunch of kickstarters. So I decided to make a parametric CAD model, because I couldn’t source the right lens anymore.
Much time has passed, but I’ve finally managed to cut, assemble and test with a 720×720 screen and lens.
There are many things that are wrong:
- No logo
- Wrong height of standoffs
- Screen not aligned to lens
- Speaker grill not made
Most importantly, I’ve not installed these sexy bicoloured switches.
However, what *is* right is using a screen to render the lens glow. Whilst it’s not quite as realistic as a real glowing lens, it looks better than my previous version.
I can now animate the “eye”, replace it with text, and generally get much more flexibility.