Being new to the DIY scene, I'm hoping to take a few precautions in order to lessen the chance of something bad happening to my key components. One such precaution is I would like something to fill in for my LCD while I am testing lighting options. A simple ohp transparency wouldn't really give me an accurate idea of how well the lighting would work with an actual LCD, so I was wondering if any of you had come up with a clever way of conducting tests without risking screens.

I would like to at least be able to display some colors and lines to test how the lighting affects color values and focus. In a perfect world, I would also like to be able to write "top, bottom, left, right" on it so I can plot the appropriate orientation of the LCD.

To summarize what would make a good fill-in for an LCD during testing?

I was thinking of printing up a test image (maybe that girl with the flowers and colors, oh my) on an OHP transparency (my printer should give me a good image) and then tape that to a piece of plexiglass.

Can you print on OHP transparencies with just any old inkjet printer, by chance? I might be able to locate some plexiglass at some point. That sounds like a pretty good idea. I wonder if any more layers would be necessary to complete the effect?

I'm not sure whether all inkjets will print to transparencies, but if you're wondering about your printer you could check the print options page. If "transparency" is a choice in the "paper type" drop box then it'll probably work.

Oh, also any print/copy shop (like Kinko's) should be able to print you a transparency for like $2 or less...

Ah, thanks. I've never printed a transparency before, honestly. I shudder to think at the amount of ink I'll have to use to print out one of the test shots, but I'm sure its worth saving an LCD. I wonder though, should a special version of the image be used? The screen would create the image with RGB pixels, while the printer is going to mix colors. Depending on the type of light used, you could be getting a lot more or a lot less light through the image just because of the colors used, couldn't you?

I wonder if there's a way to print the image or alter the source image to be RGB "correct". It would also make sense to change the resolution and size of the print to match the panel stats.

Ah, thanks. I've never printed a transparency before, honestly. I shudder to think at the amount of ink I'll have to use to print out one of the test shots, but I'm sure its worth saving an LCD. I wonder though, should a special version of the image be used? The screen would create the image with RGB pixels, while the printer is going to mix colors. Depending on the type of light used, you could be getting a lot more or a lot less light through the image just because of the colors used, couldn't you?

I wonder if there's a way to print the image or alter the source image to be RGB "correct". It would also make sense to change the resolution and size of the print to match the panel stats.

Hmmm... the transparency will help with focus and stuff, but I think it'll be virtually useless for adjusting colors. As you mentioned, prints aren't RGB (they're CMYK, sometimes more), also the transparency is going to be something like 80%+ transparent while the LCD will be somewhere in the neighborhood of 5%. I also wouldn't worry about the resolution of the print too much (unless you want to see exactly how big the pixels will be).

Now that I think about it more, a transparency full of text would probably work better than an image because it would be easier to focus.

There are also transparencies which are supposed to be for doing printed circuit boards that work well with laser printers.

Or, instead of printing the girl onto a transparency, you could always just print out the girl herself:
http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,...1679115,00.html

Yeah! Like this famous scene...