Post deleted by FireFox31

[edit] Poll was not working, I'll try again.

Is it fair to compare an SLA prototype to a finished casting? The two might have different illumination styles, but I'd think that would be more due to the differences in material than differences in the shape. That SLA stuff is a lot different than the casting plastic, isn't it?

True, the SLA and final materials are different, but it's the best comparison I have right now. Best case scenario is: the polycarbonate in the final part will allow light to flood the walls so they don't look like a darker outline, thus filling the entire button face with light. Worst case scenario is: the polycarbonate will fiercely block the light, leaving only the inner triangle of light.

Either way, it seems like you get more light with the hollow buttons. If it's the worst case and only the inner triangle lights up, it's still a bigger area of light than the filled buttons, who's light appears only the size of the LEDs themselves.

Posting the poll at 2am, I totally forgot the third option which was "Neither, FireFox31 should take a month or two to track down some optics specialists to design optimal diffusion... potentially at a cost, potentially yeilding no results."

The knob is also in question; filled or hollow. I don't have an SLA MKIIa knob to preview (yet) so I can't compare. My hunch is that the light is dampened by passing through all that plastic. If the light filled the big hollow space and hit the thin walls, it would look really full.

My bottom line hunch is "The light illuminates the inside face of the button (the surface nearest the light). We see the light through a centimeter of plastic, which makes it dimmer." Look at your lit filled buttons from the side with the player on in the dark. You'll see the face of the button doesn't really seem lit. Yet, as you slowly turn the player 90 degrees to face you head on, you'll see the lit inside face come into alignment with the clear outside face, thus showing you the light. This is most notable with the top button; from where I sit in my car, the top button almost seems dark because I can't see the inside face. ::sigh:: It's hard to describe. The point is, on the hollow buttons, the outside face is lit directly instead of through a centimeter of plastic.

I'll keep trying to find a way to prototype these in the final material, but I'm sure it won't happen at a cost the project can afford. I just need to get it right the first time because modifications will be expensive.

(and i have no idea why it set the poll to start 8 hours after i created it....i want to vote!)