PICTURE PROJECTION 14-25

Screen Surfaces
Their respective reflectance characteristics determine the condition under
which the four general classes of screens can be used to satisfy the preceding
brightness recommendations.
1. Matte surface screen. Matte surface screens reflect incident light in
such a way that their brightnesses are substantially the same at all angles of
viewhence they are recommended where the viewers occupy a wide
angle. A surface coated with a flat white paint has this characteristic.
Several screen materials are available which produce a similar result (Fig.
14-11 curve). This type is required in practically all theaters because of
the wide viewing angles and is recommended for classrooms for the same
reason.
2. Beaded screen. The surface of a beaded screen is covered with small
glass spheres which reflect the major part of the light back in the direction
from which it came, as shown in Fig. 14-11 curve. To observers sitting
near the axis of projection, pictures on beaded screens are several times
brighter than pictures on a perfectly reflecting matte screen. To observers
about 22 degrees off the axis of projection, pictures seen on both types would
appear equally bright, except that the far side of the beaded screen would
appear somewhat brighter than the near side. This brightness difference is
greatest at the shorter viewing distances. Such screens rarely are used for
theater projection
because they do not satisfy the brightness requirements
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VIEWING ANGLE IN DEGREES (FROM AXIS)
30 35
FIG. 14-11. Reflectance characteristics of screer surfaces. The reflectance
values shown are expressed as a per cent of the reflectance of a magnesium carbo-
nate block. The reflectance of a fresh clean magnesium carbonate surface is approx-
imately 98 per cent.